DAB Radio ..Kingham

Got back into the UK today in my 2015 AS Kingham (Peugeot) and cant get DAB on the fitted radio (didn't use it abroad no signal anyway)...any suggestions please?

How long did you leave it on for? I've found on mine that if I come from a "no service" area it can often take quite a while for the (empty) Service List to get updated, and mine won't tune into any station until that has happened. There is also an option, somewhere in the depths of the menu structure, to force an update of the service list, but on mine it doesn't seem to make it happen much quicker...

Thanks mojo. Have been in France for just under three months and no dab signal (assumed that's normal?). Driven back 300 miles yesterday and nothing on the radio to even suggest that l have fab. Looked again today...nothing ! Mooched around the menu but didn't find anything to help either

As a slight aside......
Does anyone actually have any success with DAB radio ? We don't have it on our van, I don't think so anyway, but we do have it on a VW car. I can get DAB radio 2 & 4 on the drive and thats about it, when you move the car it goes off completely so I only use FM as a result. Huge hype about very little is DAB round here.

Before this setback l had really good DAB reception with occasional loss of signal here in the wild outback of Devon...and better choice of channels too. I wish l had DAB in my car.

I fitted a DAB radio to my van for the first time a year or so ago, with low expectations due to what I'd read about it.

But, given the fact that it's running on a DIY DAB aerial (because I didn't want the type that is visible down one edge of the windscreen) I'm quite impressed with reception. A lot of the time there's only a limited number of channels available but, in some remote locations, it can actually be better than FM! Not often, but it does happen occasionally.

The major problem seems to come from interference from things like phone chargers, satnav USB power supplies and LED driver circuits (especially aftermarket DRL fittings). If the reception is Ok on the drive but vanishes when you turn on the ignition or start the engine, it's probable that the signal is being swamped by interference from something else fitted to the van.

The mystery deepens.
I took my van to a Peugeot dealer and asked them to look into the 'missing' DAB selection on the radio. They called me back later to say that they had looked into the problem and in essence the radio wasnt a DAB radio just an ordinary Peugeot factory fitted model as described in the handbook with AM/FM. They certainly noticed that the AM/FM was poor and had retuned the whole radio for me. I was somewhat perplexed and doubting my own belief that in the first few month of ownership that I had happily cruised around the country for the first few months listening to the rather unique stations that you can only raise on a DAB radio. This as I mentioned in my earlier post was 'lost' during my journey around France in March. However I didnt feel that I could argue the case as the dealers were quite positive that it is a standard factory fitted radio as indicated in the handbook.
When I returned home I looked once again at the advertisment for the AS Kingham on the AS web site and yes it is fitted with a DAB radio. My next call was to AS themselves who seemed a little surprised of Peugeots denial and then asked if I had damaged the n/s wing mirror at any time. No I hadnt but I did fit wing mirror guards prior to my holiday to France. That may be the problem suggested AS as the ariel is built into the n/s wing mirror and the cover may have masked the signal. I went outside and removed said wing mirror cover and found that I had no radio reception whatsoever including AM/FM just a buzzing noise. Once I put the cover back on again AM/FM returned but of course no DAB.
I have contatced the Peugeot dealer who are very surprised at the possibility that the potential fault is due to a wing mirror cover and havent come across this before. Open minded as they are they have kindly agreed to look once more at the situation and retune the radio again without the wing mirror cover . I dont know if this will be the solution till I have been back to the dealer and will keep you updated ...fingers crossed ?

-mojo- wrote:I fitted a DAB radio to my van for the first time a year or so ago, with low expectations due to what I'd read about it.

But, given the fact that it's running on a DIY DAB aerial (because I didn't want the type that is visible down one edge of the windscreen) I'm quite impressed with reception. A lot of the time there's only a limited number of channels available but, in some remote locations, it can actually be better than FM! Not often, but it does happen occasionally.

The major problem seems to come from interference from things like phone chargers, satnav USB power supplies and LED driver circuits (especially aftermarket DRL fittings). If the reception is Ok on the drive but vanishes when you turn on the ignition or start the engine, it's probable that the signal is being swamped by interference from something else fitted to the van.

The suggestion to check USB chargers, satnavs and another culprit, dashcams, is a good one; I had a sudden problem with radio reception in a Merc CLK that turned out to be a dual USB charger (shall be nameless but has the name of a mythical creature) that my daughter's friend had left plugged into the rear 12V socket, boy was I mad, after I'd stripped and checked all the antenna diversity wiring and amplifier before I twigged.

P.S. What DIY DAB aerial have you made/used, I'd be interested in trying it to compare with my own DIY one?

Sorry, but I very much doubt whether the plastic MirrorGuard (or similar) is the problem. Our 2015 Nuevo has DAB radio, and it's usually excellent - although I only use it when stationary, and then only on 3 channels (BBC R4, BBC R3 and ClassicFM). When the unit is switched on, a warning message is displayed briefly; I then select the mode I need (Radio, Media etc); if Radio is chosen, the last-used station plays, and the banner at the top of the screen says whether it's DAB or FM or LW etc. I've tuned the pre-sets to DAB stations.

As it happens, we don't suffer from the 20 minutes switch off, either.

We use the jackplug input (in central glovebox) to play recorded music etc from an iPod (chose Media - Aux) - and that stays on for as long as we want.

Very, very odd that you picked up stations unique to DAB. That suggests that you have a DAB-capable radio. My Nuevo was bought new in March 2015.

Cymro

Did you only remove the cover on one side?

If the aerial arrangement is anything like the VW T5, the situation is probably a bit more complex than the dealer reckons. On mine, there are up to five different aerials in the mirrors, depending on what options are fitted. In the O/S mirror there may be a GPS aerial, a GSM aerial and an AM/FM aerial. In the N/S there may be a DAB aerial and a second AM/FM aerial. The two AM/FM aerials are used in combination to form what is sometimes called a "diversity" antenna - which in effect synthesises a single aerial that is the width of the whole vehicle.

So... if you shield both aerials to the same degree, the AM/FM amplifier can compensate to create a valid (if low-level) signal. But... if you shield just one, the signal from the other is so great that the amplifier cannot compensate - so you end up with no signal out of your diversity array.

If this is the case on your van, it's a sad reflection on the lack of knowledge that you are paying through the nose for at a dealer but... it wouldn't surprise me.

BTW, a plastic Mirrorguard is unlikely to be a problem unless it has a chromed or metallic finish - does yours?

Once again very useful back up information mojo and food for thought. The mirrorguard is plastic and no evidence of chrome/metal.
However it was interesting  when I lost all AM/FM  when I did remove the plastic cover earlier today (just the n/s)  and only returned when I put it back on.
(In defence of the dealer the investigation is done under the vehicle warrenty)

sylvester1954 wrote:
(In defence of the dealer the investigation is done under the vehicle warrenty)

Ok, but it's still the same (lack of) expertise that you are paying up to £100 an hour for when the van goes in for service!

Have you tried taking both mirror covers off and retuning? I guess it may be that there is a metal-based coating on the guard underneath the final finish.

meanchris wrote:
P.S. What DIY DAB aerial have you made/used, I'd be interested in trying it to compare with my own DIY one?

It's ~probably~ the same one that you've already seen:

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However, I ignored the bit about stripping the outer insulation from the central section - as far as I can see, that serves no purpose at all!

Ha ha mojo, that's the one, and I too left the braid covering on.

It does seem to work quite well, I used a cheap GPS aerial bought from ebay and threw away the actual GPS antenna, just using the cable and plug which is the already correct one for our radio.

It's a shame that the original 'madasafish' page has disappeared, but at least it was credited on the GTi page.

I think I found it after it had moved, so I never saw the original article.

I confess to being a bit disappointed, because DIY did not actually save me much money at all - Kenwood, who make the headunit, use a tiny little connector for the DAB aerial which you cannot buy unterminated (or at least you can't in sensibly small numbers) so I had to buy a complete, pre-made cable, which IIRC cost nearly as much as a proper screen-mount DAB antenna!

However, the DIY version is more easy to hide inside the A pillar trim, so it was worth doing anyway...

Well I have still not resolved the lack of DAB on my Kingham. Peugeot garage are insisting that the unit on my van does not include DAB. I have even shown them the vehicle spec 'Cab air conditioning, cruise control, digital DAB radio, Bluetooth® & passenger air-bag' but to no avail. I am still convinced it was operating on the van for the first few months...quite frustrating. I am taking it to a motorhome dealer for some warrenty work on the water sytems so may see if they can advise. Have any other Kingham/Peugeot owners got DAB ?

sylvester1954 wrote:I am taking it to a motorhome dealer for some warrenty work on the water sytems so may see if they can advise.

Generally, in my experience, motorhome dealers don't have a clue about the base vehicle features. You might get lucky and find one that does, but I would not hold your breath.

As another generalisation, if a headunit has DAB then it will say so - it will be a "premium" feature, so it will either have the DAB standard logo on the face, or it will have obvious menu items to allow you to select DAB (as opposed to FM) and to allow you to alter options for DAB reception (e.g. DAB auto priority). Does it have DAB referred to anywhere?