DAB Antenna

[Daveyonthemove]

I was going to test fit it on sunday but had the male>female problem, so i'm waiting for a part to arrive.
Right now I'm off work sick so it will have to wait until I'm feeling better if it arrives in the next day or so, but I'm hoping to have it fitted soon.

 

[Abi]

Spraying the cover as we speak and drilled the roof so will be fitted later today

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[Abi]

Have either of you got round to installing your dab aerial yet?

Just got to connect wires in the morning as off to work



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[ab1702]

Looks decent does that

 

[Abi]

Looks decent does that

All connected and looks and sounds great, looks better sprayed red than original black I think , never had 13 pages of stations and full signal at home.

Took a little time to fit with work etc... but very pleased with the end product 10/10

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[ab1702]

All connected and looks and sounds great, looks better sprayed red than original black I think , never had 13 pages of stations and full signal at home.

Took a little time to fit with work etc... but very pleased with the end product 10/10

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If you can get playstore on your unit then download an app that is called DAB-Z. It’s way better than that one you have. A guy on XDA forum has taken the dab app and modded it. You can set favourites and have station logos etc amongst other things. I’d recommend it.

 

[Daveyonthemove]

Cheers for the tip about DAB-Z, I have just sent it to the car ready for download.
I'll give it a go.

 

[samisnake]

looks factory, well impressed.
noticed a red 5 door with a black shark fin today and thought of this thread. defintely looks better colour coded, stood out too much in black.

 

[Abi]

looks factory, well impressed.
noticed a red 5 door with a black shark fin today and thought of this thread. defintely looks better colour coded, stood out too much in black.

Yep looks good even though I say so myself


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[Abi]

Thinking now of upgrading my radio unit as don’t like the Kudos sat nav system (very jumpy plus other reasons) tried to use my tomtom sd card but no joy and also when you receive a call only the number appears on the unit, not the name.
What units are you guys using? Seems Xtrons only do custom fit units (again in-keeping with Audi looks) and how do they perform? Would appreciate a pic of the unit if possible too.
Thanx for all your guys help


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[Abi]

Ps and my unit doesn’t use apps either


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[Genius]

Thinking now of upgrading my radio unit as don’t like the Kudos sat nav system (very jumpy plus other reasons) tried to use my tomtom sd card but no joy and also when you receive a call only the number appears on the unit, not the name.
What units are you guys using? Seems Xtrons only do custom fit units (again in-keeping with Audi looks) and how do they perform? Would appreciate a pic of the unit if possible too.
Thanx for all your guys help


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I thought you had the Xtrons.. That's what I have and looks almost identical to yours.

I think it works great I got the quad core android 7 version was gonna get the Android 8 but ordered the cheaper one by mistake and to be honest glad I did as it works perfectly, smooth as owt think the additional money would have been wasted as I can't think of anything it could do better

 

[Abi]

No I have the older version

So you recommend the 7?


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[Genius]

Yeah I'd definitely recommend this one, although, the price seems to have come down slightly on the Android 8 version so now there is only a £40 difference (£219 vs £259) and when I bought it was an extra £60

 

[Abi]

Yeah I'd definitely recommend this one, although, the price seems to have come down slightly on the Android 8 version so now there is only a £40 difference (£219 vs £259) and when I bought it was an extra £60

Did you have to pay extra for DAB?


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[Genius]

I don't have DAB at the moment, actually why I was reading this thread, as thinking of getting it, there's a small USB module that plugs into the unit think they are about £20.

If you already have one for that headunit guess there's a decent chance it'll be a standard part that will work with a new one

 

[Abi]

My old unit didn’t need one, DAB is built in


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[Daveyonthemove]

Mine looks very similar to both of those, but is a little bit different in how the buttons are labelled.
First thing I did was remove the built in Nav before i tried it, and installed Waze and Google maps.
Mine is on Android 8.0, but made by Erenis (or something like that) and has been flawless.

 

[Abi]

Mine looks very similar to both of those, but is a little bit different in how the buttons are labelled.
First thing I did was remove the built in Nav before i tried it, and installed Waze and Google maps.
Mine is on Android 8.0, but made by Erenis (or something like that) and has been flawless.

Don’t think mind is Android? Not sure?


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[Daveyonthemove]

Go into settings and scroll through the menu's, it should tell you somewhere in there if it or not.

 

[Abi]

Been through the menus and...

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[Daveyonthemove]

Doesn't look like it is Android, which surprises me considering how much they look alike.

 

[Abi]

Doesn't look like it is Android, which surprises me considering how much they look alike.

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[Daveyonthemove]

The good news is they are pretty cheap and a doddle to swap.
But if yours does work, then why bother? May be worth looking to see if your current system can run apps or a different OS and go about things that way?

 

[maxpayne]

Been through the menus and...

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Windows CE.

 

[Abi]

Ordered the Android 8.0 OREO unit today


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[Daveyonthemove]

The part I ordered arrived a few days ago and now I've had a look at installing the aerial, but I'm met with another problem.
The Male>Male adaptor looked perfect, but unfortunately it only fits the aerial lead, and not the DAB+ unit. It's too big.
So I'm back to square one. I either need a new DAB+ module that will fit the existing aerial lead (female end) or I need a different DAB male>male adaptor that is the correct size (which I do not know).

Any tips/advice?

 

[Abi]

The part I ordered arrived a few days ago and now I've had a look at installing the aerial, but I'm met with another problem.
The Male>Male adaptor looked perfect, but unfortunately it only fits the aerial lead, and not the DAB+ unit. It's too big.
So I'm back to square one. I either need a new DAB+ module that will fit the existing aerial lead (female end) or I need a different DAB male>male adaptor that is the correct size (which I do not know).

Any tips/advice?
View attachment 167679 View attachment 167680

Dont suppose you get a better/clearer picture of the dab box connection? I’ve tried to zoom in but gets too blurry!


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[Abi]

Can you get a picture of the plug on the glass mount antenna that came with the dab unit? Mine should be here this week so will have the same problem


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[Daveyonthemove]

Dont suppose you get a better/clearer picture of the dab box connection? I’ve tried to zoom in but gets too blurry!


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DAB+ Aerial connection.

Can you get a picture of the plug on the glass mount antenna that came with the dab unit? Mine should be here this week so will have the same problem


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Original windscreen connection is on the Right. Adaptor is on the left for comparison.
It looks like the white plastic inside the adaptor is slightly thicker, so I may try to remove/shave it so it will connect.

 

[Abi]

DAB+ Aerial connection.
View attachment 167684



View attachment 167685
Original windscreen connection is on the Right. Adaptor is on the left for comparison.
It looks like the white plastic inside the adaptor is slightly thicker, so I may try to remove/shave it so it will connect.

I’m sure that’s a Fakra connector!

Do you not have a dedicated car audio centre near you where you could get advise, once I receive mine I’ll go to ‘car electronics’ in Nottingham and see what they say. Will keep you informed


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[Daveyonthemove]

It's not Fakra, it's DAB.

I could go to an Audio specialist in Oxford, but as it's Sunday today and I won't be able to get there before next weekend, I'm hoping to find the solution myself a bit sooner.

 

[Daveyonthemove]

I've done a bit of digging, and found that there are subtle differences between the connectors.
The female on the Aerial lead is a SMB connection.
The Female on the DAB+ USB is a MCX connection.

The Part I originally bought was an SMB double male, hence why it fitted the aerial and not the USB box. So I'm now hoping that now I am armed with this info I have ordered the correct part.

 

[ab1702]

I've done a bit of digging, and found that there are subtle differences between the connectors.
The female on the Aerial lead is a SMB connection.
The Female on the DAB+ USB is a MCX connection.

The Part I originally bought was an SMB double male, hence why it fitted the aerial and not the USB box. So I'm now hoping that now I am armed with this info I have ordered the correct part.

I had the exact same problem when I got one like that last year from erisin.
You need an smb to mcx adaptor. When I bought one last year I couldn’t find an adaptor as such, when it came it was like a 10cm cable with smb on one end and mcx on the other end.
I thought that might have been the problem that’s why I wondered if you had a picture last week.

 

[Daveyonthemove]

I wasn't able to upload a photo last week, but that info would have been great as I could have looked into it and found the solution by now.

 

[Daveyonthemove]

The part I needed arrived yesterday, but it was too wet to be outside test fitting the car, so I have had a go at it tonight.
To make things simple I ran a power supply from the fuse box to the aerial, which powered it up just fine.
I then tested the aerial but it picked up no stations, so I then earthed the aerial with some electrical wire wrapped around the base and clamped in place with the fitted clamp. I ran this lead to a bolt on the chassis and tested it again.
This time I picked up a few stations, but the quality was poor with the aerial sat on the dashboard. Obviously this wouldn't be any better in the glove box area, so that plan is out.
Putting the aerial on the bonnet and re-tuning made a huge difference. Many more stations and very clear audio, so this is now going to be a bigger job than planned as I will have to remove the old aerial and roof mount this one.

If anyone has any tips on removing the roof liner, it would be appreciated.

 

[Abi]

The part I needed arrived yesterday, but it was too wet to be outside test fitting the car, so I have had a go at it tonight.
To make things simple I ran a power supply from the fuse box to the aerial, which powered it up just fine.
I then tested the aerial but it picked up no stations, so I then earthed the aerial with some electrical wire wrapped around the base and clamped in place with the fitted clamp. I ran this lead to a bolt on the chassis and tested it again.
This time I picked up a few stations, but the quality was poor with the aerial sat on the dashboard. Obviously this wouldn't be any better in the glove box area, so that plan is out.
Putting the aerial on the bonnet and re-tuning made a huge difference. Many more stations and very clear audio, so this is now going to be a bigger job than planned as I will have to remove the old aerial and roof mount this one.

If anyone has any tips on removing the roof liner, it would be appreciated.

I didn’t remove it when fitting mine, just removed the front light (two screws) and centre lights (just pulls out) and the panel at the back on the headlining (just pulls off) then used a straightened out wire coat hanger to pull a length of string through b4 attaching the cables then pull them through, only took ten minutes.
For the antenna I loosened the two rear side panels in the boot then with a few pieces of square timber (15x15mm) cut to about 60mm in length, used them to hold the headlining down to gain access.
All worked for me.



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[ab1702]

@Abi how has the shark fin dab antenna been and is this the one you bought?https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/400943590452
I’m asking because I’m fed up of the tall antenna that I fitted further up the thread and now want a shark fin as it obviously looks better.
I bought a cheap Chinese shark fin for £35 but it’s worse than the glass mount ones that you stick to the windscreen whereas the tall Chinese one I had that I paid £20 for has literally been perfect everywhere. If the one I have linked is what you have and you say it’s been good then I’ll buy one and just hope that this one I’ve just bought is a cheap dud.

 

[Abi]

@Abi how has the shark fin dab antenna been and is this the one you bought?https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/400943590452
I’m asking because I’m fed up of the tall antenna that I fitted further up the thread and now want a shark fin as it obviously looks better.
I bought a cheap Chinese shark fin for £35 but it’s worse than the glass mount ones that you stick to the windscreen whereas the tall Chinese one I had that I paid £20 for has literally been perfect everywhere. If the one I have linked is what you have and you say it’s been good then I’ll buy one and just hope that this one I’ve just bought is a cheap dud.

To be honest I’ve sacked off the DAB idea for a while now, tried several head units, Xtrons etc... all pants on DAB reception. Friend at work has a Kenwood unit in his VW and is perfect but cost £600 for the head unit alone without fitting, so gonna go down that line eventually but had a busy six months or so. Hope this helps


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[ab1702]

To be honest I’ve sacked off the DAB idea for a while now, tried several head units, Xtrons etc... all pants on DAB reception. Friend at work has a Kenwood unit in his VW and is perfect but cost £600 for the head unit alone without fitting, so gonna go down that line eventually but had a busy six months or so. Hope this helps


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Yeah that helps, don’t think I’ll probably bother buying another shark fin then if that’s the case.
What I don’t understand is, all the newer a3’s (8v model) and newer golfs etc all now use these shark fins for dab etc so surely their not all driving around with poor signal.