poor DAB

[PetrolHeadPete]

718 with PCM4 head unit ...think it's a Harman MIB2

DAB has been really poor from new. No adapters etc plugged in causing noise, it's just rubbish.

Has anyone tried adding a pre amp ?

[GTS440]

A preamp may help a little but often just amplifies 'noise' hence no improvement.

It is more likely the antenna position which on lots of modern cars is far from ideal, some use bumpers, glass etc.

A decent car audio installer should be able to help you find the antenna and cable and fit something better.

[PetrolHeadPete]

thanks

yeah, I guess if the signal from the window antenna is already poor, then a pre-amp can't magically conjour up some miracle

[ChrisW.]

In theory noise can be filtered out ... at least there would be a signal for the digital receiver to de-code.

Signal strength can also be lost in poor connections and cabling ... poor shielding etc.

[elisered]

Isn’t the aerial in the screen? Has a new one been fitted in the lifetime of the car? If I remember correctly it’s a blue connector somewhere in the bowels of the dash.

[PetrolHeadPete]

No changes have been made and yes I think its a windscreen integrated one. Guess its a single coax down to the head unit? But the MIB seems to have separate DAB and FM connectors (Fakra and SMB ?)

[scrounger73]

I know you said you've nothing added but do you have a dash cam fitted? I found that the wire for the dash cam interferred with the DAB signal but by adding a couple of ferrite cores to the dash cam wire solved the problem. Also try rebooting the PCM by pushing and holding down the volume button for 20 seconds.

[PetrolHeadPete]

Good tips

I *do* have a dash cam, but I disconnected it all to see if it made a difference. The answer was yes, some. But its pretty poor even with that disconnected.

I will try adding a clip on ferrite though...cheers