Car Radios

Interesting, I’ve never heard of Short Wave in a car radio before.
I do recall in the late 90s however in a rental car in the UK I had Long Wave. Actually it was in other cars I travelled in at that time in the UK. I was visiting Wales and it seemed many people were listening to an Irish station called Atlantic 242. The station broadcast from Ireland but it was clearly targeting southern England and Wales. The Long Wave reception was mostly ok but it did fade in and out a bit occasionally. I think Atlantic 242 had ceased operations by the early 2000s though. I wondered at the time why people were listening to that station on LW when they had Radio 1 available on FM - although at the time the FM coverage wasn’t 100% across southern Wales.

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There are still quite a few LW stations in Europe, though not as many as there used to be. BBC Radio 4 is still on 198 kHz of course, and is the only way to listen to test cricket on the analogue airwaves over there. Most would now tune to BBC Five Live Sports Extra on DAB.

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I got a Kenwood system from Supercheap Auto a few years ago when the old one in my ute died & yes it has Short Wave 1 & 2 on top of AM & FM.

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Neither have I, to be honest. I own a 2002 Nissan Pulsar, however the car radio unit is an aftermarket one.

I think I have received Radio Australia on one or two occasions within the past week, however it has only been when I have fiddled around with the short-wave bands.

I will try to post a video of short-wave radio via my car radio, when I get the chance.

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Quick review:

New Audi A4 released 2016, enjoyed use of a loan car over the weekend around Brisbane.

DAB+ receiver could be better.

Southbound, M1, first fade out is at the Pimpama River bridge Ormeau.

I was expecting better on the Gold Coast Highway east of Helensvale to the coast at Labrador but was not to be. Remember that the bulk of the signal is not going in the Coast’s direction.

West, on the Warrego Highway, first fade out is around the Haigslea - Amberley Road, before California Farms.

Signal was available on every eastern facing hill towards Toowoomba, but not on the western side nor in most valleys.

To compare, FM is scratchy in some parts along the drive but is not a stretch to listen to the whole way. AM signals from Brisbane or Toowoomba fine too.

Driving up the range, I flicked to the navigation screen which includes current altitude. Coverage returned at 350m ASL and remained all the way through the range top suburbs that overlook the Lockyer Valley.

Once you move below the ridge line a few blocks, the DAB+ signal is gone. East of Toowoomba Grammar is required. Certainly would be available below that via a high gain fixed antenna set up for in home/business use.

East, good reception down to Cleveland and in the shadows of hills. An on ground, undercover car park at Capalaba saw reception briefly cut out.

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Good review!

I’ve always gotten the impression from motoring reviews, comments etc that the German marques have never really fitted radios that perform well in Australia (sound quality aside).

I’m very happy with the FM and DAB+ reception in my Ford Focus. Though I’ve noticed that the antennas fitted to my Sport model are shorter than those used on the base model Trend. I’ve been tempted to replace it, but then I figure “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”,

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The reason might be because of our wide open spaces, whereas in Germany (and throughout Europe) you’ll have transmitters closely spaced next to each other meaning that reception is rarely ever a problem.

Yeah I’m absolutely satisfied with the DAB in my Focus too. Note the base model Trend doesn’t have DAB so I probably would mess with the factory aerial on the Sport.

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As per Brian’s comment, the Trend doesn’t have DAB, so it has a longer antenna for AM & FM only, your’s will be smaller to allow for the shorter wavelength VHF signals for DAB+.

Don’t change it, you’ll likely stuff up the DAB+ reception.

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My am car radio is not listenable near Artamon.

Would this help.

www.ryda.com.au/aerpro-ap308-antenna-noise-filter

It works fine away from the TV towers. I admit I probably should replace the aerial but don’t want to spend too much on an old car.

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From what I can gather, it’s only designed to reduce noise from the ground loop connection, not reception issues from TV towers.

Does your car have a retractable metal antenna?
If so, does shortening it help?

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My aerial is a homemade job. It’s probably the reason why. Don’t want to spend at least around 80 dollars to fix as I have dab and more than 10km away from the towers , AM radio is OK…

If for under 10 dollars I was hoping it would do the job. Instead, I will try to shortening it again but don’t think it will help. Thanks Radiohead for your help.

If you see the picture the original aerial snapped off , so I drill a hole in base and then put a rabbit ear there. Had this setup for over 5 years . However it is annoying when I head towards Pymble it starts to distort.

I bought a Mazda 3 with a dab radio. Don’t have it yet but will provide a review when getting it. Will want to test the AM / FM Radio as well.

On the test drive fun superdigi broke up in underground car park at paramatta. Shows the error correction impacts the performance. The others stations were OK.

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Look forward to the review. Meanwhile I’ve experienced the first dropouts in DAB reception in my Focus at a suburb called Cleveland on the bayside of Brisbane. It wasn’t too bad but did drop out twice approaching the main centre of the suburb. Odd because it’s flawless reception for 70 to 80km north and south of Brisbane but Cleveland is only about 30km east of the city.

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Try driving Wellington St south of Shore St/Finucane Rd. Drops out there. Worse when in Thornlands heading to Redland Bay.

The full 50kW ERP radiation pattern in that direction should fix it. There’s a good lobe towards the Redlands, though not towards those SE suburbs where it really is needed.

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Thanks this helps :grinning: drove past the towers today less interference. ,Btw if anyone wants to buy a Hyundai getz 2006 with a dab radio. I put some jaycar response speakers in too. Let me know.

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Really? I’m not surprised based on my experience in Cleveland. Hope they can fix it as it’s the first bad experience I’ve had with DAB in the car.

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I’m hoping the 3dB fixes it. We’re some time away yet from approval and implementation.

Try Redland Bay/Mt Cotton, it’ll likely be the next bad experience you’ve had with DAB in the car.

I still prefer the older style car radio aerials ,they have better FM and AM reception.Even though my current car now has a new aerial driving under overhead powerlines affects the reception quality,it wasn’t as noticeable in my old Toyota Starlet with the old fashioned retractable aerial

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I agree, an external whip or retractable metal antenna is still the best I think.

Whilst I’ve never really experienced reception with those shark fin antennas, I can’t possibly see how they could perform as well as a “real” antenna.

The inglass ones aren’t too bad.