I got to test out the sensitivity/selectivity on my Ford Focus’s radio yesterday.
I parked at the Marie Byles lookout at Killcare Heights on the Central Coast for my testing and it does this quite well! It detected for instance (with no tropo about)
Radio National 104.3 in between two very strong signals in 2DayFM and Star 104.5
Wave FM with RDS next to the local Coast FM 96.3
More good results on the Focus today.
Went up to Port Stephens today, and attempted to get the Port Macquarie commercial stations (on 100.7 and 102.3), which my previous car radios had trouble getting, due to Port Stephens FM and to a lesser extent 102.1 JJJ.
Well,not only did my Focus’s SONY stereo pull them in, it also gave me RDS info!
“2MC 100.7” and “Star FM”, with the latter having the positioner “Hits and Old Skool”, but no title/track info.
2MC didn’t appear to have any positioner info, maybe because they were airing the NRL coverage.
There was a little overspill from Port Stephens onto 100.7, but JJJ didn’t seem to be causing any issues for 102.3 at all.
There was even a bit of reception on both Port Macq stations at New Lambton Heights (in Newcastle) on the way back home, the RDS also displayed then as well, but maybe that was in the car’s memory or something from earlier in the day ??
I’ll have to take my car to a car audio place and see if they can fix the aerial and replace it.I was fiddling around with it last weekend and I made it worse🙂
Is it one of those screw-in dealies? They are super easy to install (assuming the original thread is still intact). Try and unscrew the original one (if there’s any remnant remaining) and pop down to any old chain auto store like Super Cheap Auto or Autobarn. Replacements usually cost around $20.
I tried one of those ,it didn’t work,I couldn’t screw the replacement aerial rod into the fitting ,had to return it to store for refund.I’ll need to have the fitting on the car repaired and replaced as well.In the meantime I can plug in my iPhone to the aux socket or listen to a CD if I want music when I’m driving
Steve Wozniak says that if Apple removes the headphone jack from the forthcoming iPhone without also releasing a better version of Bluetooth, it will be a mistake.
[quote]“If it’s missing the 3.5mm earphone jack, that’s going to tick off a lot of people,” Mr Wozniak told The Australian Financial Review.
“I would not use Bluetooth … I don’t like wireless. I have cars where you can plug in the music, or go through Bluetooth, and Bluetooth just sounds so flat for the same music.”[/quote]
I always plug my phone into the car radio. I’ve tried the Bluetooth but it’s not good so only use it for hands free calls.
Bluetooth does have poor quality, but I find it so easy to just hop in my car and have the music stream automatically without having to plug anything in, though.
I’m sure they’ll release a 3.5mm adapter. It’ll cost $hitloads, but you’ll still be able to plug in your headphones or car radio.
I think the audio quality can be variable, depending on the Bluetooth receiving set up.
It’s pretty good in my Focus, but the voice control for track selection doesn’t seem to wrk very well… I think it relies on the file name, not the song ID tag.
I got TuneIn Radio (and Spotify) working on my Focus’s Sync 3 system yesterday (thanks to the Android Auto compatibility).
It was pretty cool driving around on the Central Coast listening to 3SH Swan Hill (who didn’t have any AFL on yesterday) with its stream being heard in stereo AND having the song name appear on the car radio display! It would even appear at the top of screen when using Google Maps.
Though the voice control doesn’t work very well for that - either that or I need to do more research on what voice commands I can use on it. I had to bring up 3SH via the touchscreen, though setting up some “favourites” would make it easier to change stations.
I did go looking for 6iX, but it hasn’t been added to TuneIn yet.
The RDS and FM selectivity of the Sony unit in my Focus continues to impress.
Today in Newcastle, despite a fairly weak signal, it detected RDS on 102.3 Star FM from Port Macquarie… It only needed a couple of seconds of clean - ish signal to detect it despite local powerhouse JJJ.
The RDS reception is probably the most disappointing part of the Mitsubishi car radio. The selectivity is fine - not amazing, but quite satisfactory for a stock radio. But it takes a good few seconds to load the station name and radio text, even on the local stations. On the weaker signals it fails to resolve most of the time
Having said that, it’s still vastly superior to a number of the stock radios I’ve experienced in new-ish vehicles, so I’m fairly happy with it.
I’ve finally had the aerial repaired on my Toyota Yaris,radio works really great now.they replaced the whole fitting on the back of car and the aerial rod,cost $165.Maybe one day I’ll replace the original factory -fitted CD/radio with one of those touch screen units
Am currently in Sydney, and tested out DAB+ and RDS on the Focus.
No issues on the metro area for DAB+, I tried it from the Somersby interchange and even even went out the other side of Sydney down to Sublime Point (not far north of Wollongong) for a spin.
On the M1 the only break ups from Somersby were just on the western side of Mooney Monney Creek bridge and just south of Jolls Bridge. On the F6 there were a few break ups south of Darkes Forrest / Maddens Plains, but the freeway there has numerous dips and peaks - a bit like a roller coaster really.
As for RDS, I found that my car’s receiver doesn’t like co-channelling. I couldn’t get it to detect RDS on Power FM Nowra in Sydney metro due to some i/f from Rhema. Although the signal sounded clean enough, Rhema would break though in places indicating it was still doing enough elsewhere to upset the RDS decoder.
Has anyone tried the Mazda’s dab radio?
It is a shame car reviews do not go into details on how good the car radio is. For me decent am performance is also important.
When buying a car maybe it’s worthwhile going to a dealer at Gosford or Wollongong to test am/fm and dab.
In addition go right next to the towers around Willoughby and see how it performs. At that location hard to test dab though.
No I haven’t sampled the Mazda DAB as yet. I’ve only got experience of the Focus which is fantastic and no complaints. I’ve also sampled the Mitsubishi DAB and it seems good although probably not as good in the sound department as the Sony in the Ford. I would expect Mazda to get it right though.
I am also very happy with DAB+ in my Focus from what I’ve been able to receive as I don’t live in a recognized DAB coverage area.
My car radio (which I purchased back in June) has the capability of listening to short wave signals. There are two short-wave bands on the car radio; SW-1 and SW-2. I’m curious to know if anyone else has a car radio which is capable of listening to short-wave radio? Personally, I don’t know anyone who owns a car radio which is capable of doing so. I only discovered the feature a week ago, so I haven’t really had the chance to fiddle around with it too much. However, a few days ago, I managed to receive a Chinese station on one of the frequencies. 
Id it would be great in regional areas but in Sydney , I am not sure.
15.240 Radio Australian booms into the Eastern Seaboard in the afternoons. Drops to 6.080 in the early evenings
That’s interesting!
I’ve never heard of SW on a car radio before.
What kind of car is it, is it an OEM unit or aftermarket one?
(I’m guessing the latter).