Gadgetman, Sometimes when I had Q showing poor the ANT was ON & sometimes the ANT was off Q showed mono or stereo, but I could still have hiss and crackle on the reception. First the co-ax cable was changed, then the head unit and finally the aerial. What does Q show in MW? mine always showed weak.

TBH dont use MW (although thinking I do given FM quality)

What MW stations to you recommend for a good test from anywhere?

I only listen to Radio 5 live when the footie is on, MW 693 or 909. I'm told Radio 4 on LW should be a good signal. MW was so bad that when I scanned it never found a station I had to find 909 and set it.

Errm...I think I may have found a solution, or at least it seems to have improved reception but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the aerial:

The signal quality was displayed as poor (by pressing Menu button for 10secs) - but after changing settings from Seek DX to Seek Local now displays Stereo, I can also confirm much better reception.

Go into normal settings by pushing Menu, then top right you can change Seek Dx to Local.

Give it a go & let me know what you think?

Note - This obviously only works for FM poor reception

Radio 4 Long Wave should be very clear and strong, it is a very high powered transmitter and you are in its home country.

Since I had my aerial changed I have had no problems on any wave band, but due to family circumstances I have not been able to travel to far from my home turf. That said, previously notoriously poor reception areas come in strong and hiss free.

All indicators when you surf the Net on this problem point to faulty aerials and that has been the case with my problem.

Aerials are not expensive and it is not a major job for any Skoda dealer to undertake, so in my view this is the first action they should be taking when reception complaints are made by Skoda owners.

Do not be fob off insist they try the change.

After driving up and down the country since the new aerial was fitted I have had no problems with the radio reception on FM or MW. I have also noticed that when using the info button on certain stations information is displayed, this never happened when I had poor reception. The signal strength on the FM is now between 70 - 90 % and always in stereo.