50 replies to this topic

[mgaleano]

woosydiver, on Mar 8 2011, 08:15 PM, said:

I've not been out around Penrith for ages, but I'm sure that when I was there I would have been listening to my DAB+ radio & noticed if there was a problem. I go to Bayview sometimes and get reception all the way along Pittwater Rd & McCarrs Creek Rd. Basically I don't recall having any dropouts in my car unless in a tunnel.

I am surprised you get reception on McCarrs Road although I did not drive there yet. I wonder if the outdoor aerial makes a big difference. I could swap my analog reception for my indoor aerial and my outdoor one to digital. I think my unit separate the two for whatever reason. I did not install my unit.  

Anyway , overall your unit sounds like a better unit than my one for DAB+ reception. Your screen isn't buggy when looking at the DAB+ text ? Although I don't worry about this as it is a car radio .   The only issue with your unit ,  I would have is no AM. I like to listen to AM still. 2SM sounds bad on digital. Plus I sometimes drive out of town.

Keep us updated, especially if you travel down to Canberra.

[mgaleano]

My aerial got unfortunately "ripped off". It is for my analog reception on my getz. Will need it replaced. The screw inside got split in half. Its not the best place to put an aerial.  My reception for digital is not affected due to the indoor aerial dedicated for digital. Was thinking of using a "splitter" so I could plug the same aerial for both digital and analog (there are two connectors at the back of unit). However it might be too much "lost in signal" for the digital?

Any suggestions on what aerial I should get where I should buy? etc? I was not planning to go back to a Hyundai dealer and get it fixed at this stage as it might be too expensive. You can still hear AM/FM but I can tell the loss in quality in signal for AM esp. C91.3 I enjoy to listen to at 9am weekday and it is not worth listening too now without an aerial:(.

[mgaleano]

mgaleano, on Mar 12 2011, 11:06 PM, said:

My aerial got unfortunately "ripped off". It is for my analog reception on my getz. Will need it replaced. The screw inside got split in half. Its not the best place to put an aerial.  My reception for digital is not affected due to the indoor aerial dedicated for digital. Was thinking of using a "splitter" so I could plug the same aerial for both digital and analog (there are two connectors at the back of unit). However it might be too much "lost in signal" for the digital?

Any suggestions on what aerial I should get where I should buy? etc? I was not planning to go back to a Hyundai dealer and get it fixed at this stage as it might be too expensive. You can still hear AM/FM but I can tell the loss in quality in signal for AM esp. C91.3 I enjoy to listen to at 9am weekday and it is not worth listening too now without an aerial:(.

I did a home made job with a rabbit ear and screw. Works well. The Analog reception is good now. I could not survive without decent Analog reception:).

Anyway on reception side of things for DAB+ , the reception gets poor around the southern part of Narrabeen. In around Dee Why it also breaks up. Annoying. Most people would switch back to analog.

Other than the northern beaches DAB+ is ok in the car. Few glitches here and there but not that bad. They need repeater around the Northern beaches.  A general question how much would it cost per transmitter if it was decided to install the DAB+ repeater on the same towers as the digital TV ones. We looking at $2 million for each transmitter to setup? Just curious....

Look forward in going to Canberra where the digital radio was useless with the current aerial setup.  

In South Hurstville (I did not drive that day) but notice that it did break up on my sangean pocket  radio. Maybe my car radio could suffer there too.

[mgaleano]

mgaleano, on Mar 12 2011, 11:06 PM, said:

My aerial got unfortunately "ripped off". It is for my analog reception on my getz. Will need it replaced. The screw inside got split in half. Its not the best place to put an aerial.  My reception for digital is not affected due to the indoor aerial dedicated for digital. Was thinking of using a "splitter" so I could plug the same aerial for both digital and analog (there are two connectors at the back of unit). However it might be too much "lost in signal" for the digital?

Any suggestions on what aerial I should get where I should buy? etc? I was not planning to go back to a Hyundai dealer and get it fixed at this stage as it might be too expensive. You can still hear AM/FM but I can tell the loss in quality in signal for AM esp. C91.3 I enjoy to listen to at 9am weekday and it is not worth listening too now without an aerial:(.

I did a home made job with a rabbit ear and screw. Works well. The Analog reception is good now. I could not survive without decent Analog reception:).

Anyway on reception side of things for DAB+ , the reception gets poor around the southern part of Narrabeen. In around Dee Why it also breaks up. Annoying. Most people would switch back to analog.

Other than the northern beaches DAB+ is ok in the car. Few glitches here and there but not that bad. They need repeater around the Northern beaches.  A general question how much would it cost per transmitter if it was decided to install the DAB+ repeater on the same towers as the digital TV ones. We looking at $2 million for each transmitter to setup? Just curious....

Look forward in going to Canberra where the digital radio was useless with the current aerial setup.  

In South Hurstville (I did not drive that day) but notice that it did break up on my sangean pocket  radio. Maybe my car radio could suffer there too.

[mgaleano]

I took the car for a drive to the blue mountains (via M4 + Western Highway). I was surprised no break up of reception all the way to the lower mountains. A few glitches around Glenbrook, and another glitch  of note around the
Woodford bends. My destination was Wentworth Falls. Reception was mostly good there. A few glitches here and there but most of the time fine.

I am sure digital radio does break up around Penrith (off the M4) but I really thought it would of broke up at the M4 bridge across the Nepean river.

A strange of break in signal is around Thompson Corner at West Pennant Hills. It is line of site of the transmitter. I often wonder why, similar to what happens in Canberra (when you are line of site with the transmitter it breaks up). It happen most times when I stop at the lights turning right going to Castle Hill.  Yet I go through the tunnel under the M2 along Oakes road (on a regular basis) and it never breaks up. And as mention above I drove all the way to Penrith with no apparent breakups with the one exception (ie Thompson corner).    

Any techies out there could explain why?

Edited by mgaleano, 03 August 2011 - 08:17 PM.

[jetskier]

mgaleano, on Aug 3 2011, 08:14 PM, said:

I took the car for a drive to the blue mountains (via M4 + Western Highway). I was surprised no break up of reception all the way to the lower mountains. A few glitches around Glenbrook, and another glitch  of note around the
Woodford bends. My destination was Wentworth Falls. Reception was mostly good there. A few glitches here and there but most of the time fine.

I am sure digital radio does break up around Penrith (off the M4) but I really thought it would of broke up at the M4 bridge across the Nepean river.

A strange of break in signal is around Thompson Corner at West Pennant Hills. It is line of site of the transmitter. I often wonder why, similar to what happens in Canberra (when you are line of site with the transmitter it breaks up). It happen most times when I stop at the lights turning right going to Castle Hill.  Yet I go through the tunnel under the M2 along Oakes road (on a regular basis) and it never breaks up. And as mention above I drove all the way to Penrith with no apparent breakups with the one exception (ie Thompson corner).    

Any techies out there could explain why?

Without actually measuring anything I would guess your receiver suffers front end overload and/or intermods at Thompsons corner due to the many services that transmit in that area. This is somewhat confirmed by saying reception in the tunnel is OK. Also, the field strength of DAB may not be that good at Thompsons as it is high in  elevation. The DAB transmit antenna has (relatively) a lot of downtilt to comply with ACMA adjacent licence area Band III interference management and also to comply with the RA1 licence area overspill.

[mgaleano]

jetskier, on Aug 5 2011, 08:01 AM, said:

Without actually measuring anything I would guess your receiver suffers front end overload and/or intermods at Thompsons corner due to the many services that transmit in that area. This is somewhat confirmed by saying reception in the tunnel is OK. Also, the field strength of DAB may not be that good at Thompsons as it is high in  elevation. The DAB transmit antenna has (relatively) a lot of downtilt to comply with ACMA adjacent licence area Band III interference management and also to comply with the RA1 licence area overspill.

Thanks that may explain it. I have driven in around Chatswood, Gore Hill etc and it has no issues.  The elevation might be the issue. Digital radio still works in the blue mountains but if you go down a small valley it will drop. The downtilt is at play here in my view. Canberra has similar issues like Thompson corner. Line of sight and the receiver has lots of drop outs. Though it was better with my last trip there with the increase in power.

[mgaleano]

More dropout areas.

• The Lane Cove tunnel yet to have coverage.
  
• Just before the Lane Cove tunnel it did break up right next to the tower. I can't remember which tower it is
  
• Fagan Park Galston the signal had noticeable break up
  
• Galston Gorge (as expected)
  
• Some minor breakups in around Hornsby which I have reported before

Will keep on posting on this forum. Mostly it has been good. Parts around Frenchs Forest, AM radio gets interference so digital is much better!

Edited by mgaleano, 20 September 2011 - 05:49 PM.

[GlennP]

mgaleano, on Sep 20 2011, 05:48 PM, said:

More dropout areas.

• The Lane Cove tunnel yet to have coverage.
  
• Just before the Lane Cove tunnel it did break up right next to the tower. I can't remember which tower it is
  
• Fagan Park Galston the signal had noticeable break up
  
• Galston Gorge (as expected)
  
• Some minor breakups in around Hornsby which I have reported before

Will keep on posting on this forum. Mostly it has been good. Parts around Frenchs Forest, AM radio gets interference so digital is much better!

That tower next to the Lane Cove Tunnel is the channel 9 tower at the Willoughby studios, DAB+ comes from the tower at Artarmon, that small hill will block the signal from Artarmon, also the tunnel runs at right angles to the Transmitter so there's no way any signal will go into the tunnel from 1 end or the other, other tunnels have no DAB+ rebroadcast either, if you get reception inside them it's coming into the tunnel from the end. Having vertical polarization, even with the down-tilt, the weakest/lowest signal strength will be at the base of the TX tower, drive past the Artarmon tower & see what receptions like. The hills block the reception out to Frenches Forest/Northern Beaches areas, you'll probably have similar dropouts around the Northern shores of the harbor too, (Mosman near the Zoo, around Cremorne Point).

[alanh]

mgaleano, GlennP,
What would be interesting is to check the ABC Digital Radio coverage area map with your results.

What antenna are you using?

CRA is aware of the need for on channel repeaters to fill in black spots

AlanH

[mgaleano]

alanh, on Sep 20 2011, 07:31 PM, said:

mgaleano, GlennP,
What would be interesting is to check the ABC Digital Radio coverage area map with your results.

What antenna are you using?

CRA is aware of the need for on channel repeaters to fill in black spots

AlanH

I use an internal aerial that came with the system that sticks on the window.

I am glad they are thinking about improving the coverage.

The whole Beaumont hills area the reception is poor. The reception map is pretty spot on the mark but I can get "rural" coverage on my radio on the M4 and up to Katoomba. Though some areas do break up, most are ok.  The place furthermost location I got a trace of a signal was at Running Stream. That was only a split second mind you.

[woosydiver]

mgaleano, on Oct 1 2011, 09:04 AM, said:

I use an internal aerial that came with the system that sticks on the window.

The whole Beaumont hills area the reception is poor. The reception map is pretty spot on the mark but I can get "rural" coverage on my radio on the M4 and up to Katoomba. Though some areas do break up, most are ok.  The place furthermost location I got a trace of a signal was at Running Stream. That was only a split second mind you.

You have described quite a few problem areas, yet I have 99.9% perfect reception in my car. Recently I moved my Philips DAB head unit into my other car and fitted an external glass mount aerial with 99.9% perfect reception again.

Looking at the ABC coverage map, it suggests that I should get poor or no reception on my trip down Mona Vale Rd & McCarrs Creek Road to Bayview but it's OK for me, maybe just a small drop around Browns Bay. On my travels around the north west area of Sydney I can only think of 2 places it falters - for a couple of meters behind Castle towers & for about 20% of the M2 tunnel.

Just goes to show the difference the aerial makes.

[mgaleano]

woosydiver, on Oct 11 2011, 04:15 PM, said:

You have described quite a few problem areas, yet I have 99.9% perfect reception in my car. Recently I moved my Philips DAB head unit into my other car and fitted an external glass mount aerial with 99.9% perfect reception again.

Looking at the ABC coverage map, it suggests that I should get poor or no reception on my trip down Mona Vale Rd & McCarrs Creek Road to Bayview but it's OK for me, maybe just a small drop around Browns Bay. On my travels around the north west area of Sydney I can only think of 2 places it falters - for a couple of meters behind Castle towers & for about 20% of the M2 tunnel.

Just goes to show the difference the aerial makes.

Yes the aerial makes the difference. When does it break up when going up the F3 or up the Windsor road? I wonder it could be product itself given you have a different brand.

[woosydiver]

mgaleano, on Oct 13 2011, 08:00 PM, said:

Yes the aerial makes the difference. When does it break up when going up the F3 or up the Windsor road? I wonder it could be product itself given you have a different brand.

I've not been up Windsor road for as long as I can recall. I've not recently been up the F3 either, but I don't recall any dropouts up to Gosford. If I were you, I would get an external aerial, I had a stick on glass aerial with a Pure Highway which was reasonable but when I replaced it with a roof mag mount it was a huge improvement. www.dabonwheels.co.uk will ship to Australia in a well protected box and don't charge any more than you see on the website. As we are outside of the UK there is no tax to pay, so the tax saving goes towards the higher postage costs.

I'll make some further notes of coverage over the next couple of weeks & report back.

ps. After some further changes I now have:
Car 1 - Philips head unit with supplied mag mount aerial on roof
Car 2 - Kenwood head unit with glass mount external aerial on top of windscreen

When I get around to it I will be installing the same aerial that is on car 2 onto car 1

[mgaleano]

woosydiver, on Oct 16 2011, 07:48 AM, said:

I've not been up Windsor road for as long as I can recall. I've not recently been up the F3 either, but I don't recall any dropouts up to Gosford. If I were you, I would get an external aerial, I had a stick on glass aerial with a Pure Highway which was reasonable but when I replaced it with a roof mag mount it was a huge improvement. www.dabonwheels.co.uk will ship to Australia in a well protected box and don't charge any more than you see on the website. As we are outside of the UK there is no tax to pay, so the tax saving goes towards the higher postage costs.

I'll make some further notes of coverage over the next couple of weeks & report back.

ps. After some further changes I now have:
Car 1 - Philips head unit with supplied mag mount aerial on roof
Car 2 - Kenwood head unit with glass mount external aerial on top of windscreen

When I get around to it I will be installing the same aerial that is on car 2 onto car 1

Yeah I agree, outdoor would be a LOT better!.  Thanks for the link! Although I don't feel confident ripping trim off the car .

[woosydiver]

mgaleano, on Oct 13 2011, 08:00 PM, said:

Yes the aerial makes the difference. When does it break up when going up the F3 or up the Windsor road? I wonder it could be product itself given you have a different brand.

I drove up Windsor road yesterday, had reception all the way to McGraths Hill, it dropped off as I went down the dip on the other side of Pitt Town Rd where I did a u-turn. There were a couple of patchy areas as I came back through the industrial area but fine again on Windsor Rd

[mgaleano]

woosydiver, on Nov 6 2011, 01:15 PM, said:

I drove up Windsor road yesterday, had reception all the way to McGraths Hill, it dropped off as I went down the dip on the other side of Pitt Town Rd where I did a u-turn. There were a couple of patchy areas as I came back through the industrial area but fine again on Windsor Rd

Recently I "reseated" the aerial connector. I think it has improved it, unless it is total coincidence. Today I drove from Hornsby to Botany. No dropouts. I thought it would drop out around the city. Now the spot around Thompson Corner doesn't seem to drop out. Keep you posted when I go out towards to Kellyville etc if it makes any change. Unless they have made some changes to power of the transmission or the current humid weather is better for DAB transmission.

[Juffa]

So, thought I would see how you DAB+ car radio users are travelling?  I recently installed a Kenwood headunit, with DAB+ in my Mazda MX-5.  Didn't install the interior glass aerial as there just isn't enough glass in a MX-5

Anyway, is anyone here using an external DAB+ aerial, such as the ones available on http://www.dabonwhee...ar_aerials.html

I looking at this one in particular ==>> http://www.dabonwhee...car_aerial.html it can be had on ebay from the uk for around $90 including shipping.

All thoughts welcome.

Jeff.

[alanh]

Juffa,
It sounds fine. It should work here. We don't need the L band.
The 75 degree angle is for asthetic reasons, vertical will give more reliable reception, particularly if it's near the centre of the roof. However it would be much easier to replace the existing antenna of a similar type. Don't forget you will have to supply 12 V from the accessory position of the ignition switch.

AlanH

[Juffa]

Thanks Alan.  I've actually decided to try a DAB splitter, just over $40 shipped.  It will spilt the normal aerial Coaxial cable into coax and SMB.  This allows me to keep the original aerial.  If that doesn't work I will look at the replacement aerial instead.

Jeff.

[stewartjm]

A nice dab+ unit from the UK

http://www.maplin.co...headunit-534817

[alanh]

Stewart
This is the equivalent model in Australia
Kenwood KDC-U5049DAB http://au.kenwood.co...rs/KDC-U5049DAB

Alanh

[mgaleano]

Tested my car radio in Canberra after 1 year. Before, despite line of site with telstra tower it dropped out continuously , it was no good to listen to. Now no more drop outs. Could this have something with the analog tv switch off? could it be in the past, interfering with the type of aerial in my car?

Edited by mgaleano, 27 December 2012 - 08:51 PM.

[alanh]

mgaleano,
It is likely that since analog TV was transmitted at 4 times the power of their digital counterparts that these analog signals overloaded your receiver causing errors.This is very likely with line of sight transmissions of high powered signals.

Alanh

[mgaleano]

yes it seems like that. With the amplified aerial the really bad patches were within the 10 km zone from black mountain. Previously about 20 km as the crow flys there was ok reception.  Other portable radios were fine was just my car radio.

Anyway whatever it was it seems to be ok now. There was some break up in the westfields car park at belconnen but thats expected.