Poor Radio Signal

MattW35

Active Member
Aug 9, 2007
156
0
Cambs
Well i got my booster from ebay - £6 + p+p i think. Finally got round to fitting it last night and job sorted. FM is better reception than it was (although it wasn't too bad anyway) and AM (5 live!!) is bang on as well.

I just hooked it up to the amp signal (blue) wire from my Kenwood head unit. This wire does go to the ISO block, but there is no connection for it from the Leon loom.

Cheers all.
 

Jessiecar

Guest
I cant even find an aerial lead on my car so I cant get the radio at all :(
 

munkimafia

Active Member
May 20, 2008
63
0
Will the Booster help problems on the standard head unit as well?

Cant get any Am, and FM is pretty patchy as well.
 

lc_allan

Northern Monkey
Sep 15, 2006
3,389
4
Will the Booster help problems on the standard head unit as well?

Cant get any Am, and FM is pretty patchy as well.

Don't think so as the original should have an inbuilt booster hence the reason for fitting these once you go aftermarket. You may have base issues mentioned or possibly a loose connection on the block. I'd check the wiring first.
 

Painter

Active Member
Dec 18, 2007
2
0
Athens/Greece
Hi,

I have a Seat Toledo 01 that initially had a Aura head unit installed. More than a year ago i replaced it with a JVC KD-AXV2 with good performance. As i am not using the radio that much and i live in a big city it took me a long time to realize that the reception with the JVC sucks.
I am not sure if that is the case since i replaced the head unit or something happened to the antenna afterwards but i started to investigate it.
I don't like to put back the Aura to be able to compare it to the JVC but in a specific long tunnel here in Athens when i drive an Opel Astra 08 with the factory radio i am loosing the signal of a specific station for much less time than when i pass with my Toledo and the JVC.

Visually the roof antenna looks ok but there is a crack in the base gasket of the antenna.
I am not sure if my antenna is amplified so i installed a product similar to the ones mentioned in the previous posts with no change at all.

Here i have to differentiate my opinion as i believe that these adaptors are NOT boosters/amplifiers but they are used to ingest dc power to the amplifier that is inside the antenna, IF the antenna has amplifier.
An other possibility in case of an amplified antenna is to provide power to it with a separate cable directly to the base of the antenna under the roof like that: http://www.eurosportacc.com/images/antennadiag.gif
I didn't remove the roof headliner yet so i have no idea if my antenna has a separate supply cable so if there is no extra cable there probably is not amplified.
So as the antenna power over the antenna cable didn't fix my problem it could be that my internal antenna amplifier (if any) is broken like: http://pics.tdiclub.com/data/500/medium/SA550552.JPG

As for the "antenna boosters" inside the head unit i don't think that such a think is valid as the best practice is to amplify the signal as soon as possible and that is just at the antenna and not after a few meter of cable and the losses and noise that in causes to the weak signal.

A quick look at the specifications that i found reveals that the radio tuner part of the head unit have a RX sensitivity of about 1.0 μV for the JVC and the Aura stop at scanning at signal of more than 8μV -that is the only relevant info that i found for the Aura on the internet as i couldn't find the user manual with detailed specifications.
My opinion is that the JVC and probably most of the aftermarket head units have better or similar receive sensitivity so they should have similar performance. In case of great variations i believe that we just have to check for hardware fault or just to verify that the antenna amplifier -if exists- is supplied by using the proper adaptor.

Stefanos




Aura
Signal mit E´ = 8μV (18dBmV) anlegen. DX aktivieren.


JVC
[FM Tuner]
Usable Sensitivity: 11.3 dBf (1.0 μV/75 Ω)
50 dB Quieting Sensitivity:
16.3 dBf (1.8 μV/75 Ω)
 

Fl@pper

Back older greyer and less oilier but always hope
Jun 19, 2001
12,368
25
Gloucester
Don't think so as the original should have an inbuilt booster hence the reason for fitting these once you go aftermarket. You may have base issues mentioned or possibly a loose connection on the block. I'd check the wiring first.

as R6 says don't forget most of the roof aerials have a electric booster/trigger built in on a seperate power lead

if you changed head unit and haven't made sure the aerial is powered you won't get a decent signal no matter what you do really

i'll try and find the original aura wiring diagram so you can check which wire it is
 

Painter

Active Member
Dec 18, 2007
2
0
Athens/Greece
Thanks,

I just found that for my Aura V3 it is pin #5 in section III



Next weekend i will remove it once more to check if my ISO adapter used provides power on that pin. Hope it does not... :)
 

munkimafia

Active Member
May 20, 2008
63
0
Does anyone know how to get to the aerial booster? I was told to take off the roof trim and should be able to get to it that way, but there was no way that was coming off (tried unclipping from the seal next to the tailgate).
Am I being an idiot and looking in the wrong place?
Any help gratefully taken, as im getting annoyed with loosing the signal every now and then!
 

LEE69

Stage 2 Revo'd
Dec 10, 2004
21,262
74
C\UK\Devon\Torquay
Does anyone know how to get to the aerial booster? I was told to take off the roof trim and should be able to get to it that way, but there was no way that was coming off (tried unclipping from the seal next to the tailgate)

Open the boot and remove the trim at eye level, it can be pulled down enough for you to see the connection, see if it is still connected, mine wasn't.
 

munkimafia

Active Member
May 20, 2008
63
0
Open the boot and remove the trim at eye level, it can be pulled down enough for you to see the connection, see if it is still connected, mine wasn't.

Is this the bit of the trim that follows the shape of the boot door? I tried pulling it down, but was very, very stiff, didnt want to snap anything!

If it is, ill give it another go today.

Cheers for the help.
 

munkimafia

Active Member
May 20, 2008
63
0
There are some screws iirc, don't think it was just held in by the weather seal.

Cool, just to make sure, it is colour coded to the fabric on the interior roof of the car right?

Just preventing me pulling down the wrong bit! I tried that bit before, just pulling down enough to look in, but it is very rigid, hence the concern for snapping etc.

Cheers for the help!
 

munkimafia

Active Member
May 20, 2008
63
0
Yes mate it the colour coded bit, not sure if there are screws or if it's got push in clips tbh.
You have to remove it completely :)

Nice one, cheers for the help, ill give it a go after work today.

Couldnt see any screws, so im guessing its just very firm clips, fingers crossed!
 
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