Duetto Roof Aerial

Whilst driving 'Daisy' to a bodyshop for a welding quote yesterday I was concerned to see that damp was evident above and around the drivers sun visor.
The radio has never worked very well, so I suspected the mounting was leaking, as I could not think of where else the water could be entering.
This morning's job was to access the aerial mount. What a job, removal of roof panels, side upper blinds, side shelving, cupboard hatch and surround etc.
It's now all out, and surprise surprise, the aerial is not even connected, the aerial is held in place with sealant!
The inside of the roof was wet, as was the insulation. I will take the opportunity to fit a new aerial as I will have to give everything a few days to dry.
As to the welding? An agreeable hourly rate, but it's a patch repair underneath the toilet/shower, so concerns about heat transfer to combustables above. I don't want to strip the washroom out, so we are coming up with a cunning plan!

Jollywalker

jollywalker wrote:Whilst driving 'Daisy' to a bodyshop for a welding quote yesterday I was concerned to see that damp was evident above and around the drivers sun visor.
The radio has never worked very well, so I suspected the mounting was leaking, as I could not think of where else the water could be entering.
This morning's job was to access the aerial mount. What a job, removal of roof panels, side upper blinds, side shelving, cupboard hatch and surround etc.

Oh boy......tell me about it!!! 

I had to do the same with my van not long after i'd bought it. The radio reception was rubbish so i clambered up to take a look at the rubber duck aerial....which promptly fell off in my hand! The base mount had rusted so i was then looking at a replacement. But like you, i soon discovered that's where the work really starts having to remove roof panels etc.

I'm not sure if you've already bought a new aerial but i'd already decided i wasn't going to fit a rubber duck type. Instead i scoured my local scrapyard until i found the right kind of base mount. That came off a Rover 216. The Rover aerial was a bit too long and whippy for my liking so found one off a Citroen which fitted and was much shorter. Not only does it look much better but the reception is now 100%.

The Duetto aerial really bugged me. When sorting the job which by comparison to re-fitting a car roof aerial, really is a mammoth task....i was left asking myself why on earth AS decided to drill a hole in a brand new roof when an internal mounted coiled copper wire would have made far more sense. At least it would remain completely maintenance and hassle free!!

When I did my Boxer upgrade I didn't both to replace the radio antenna. Instead I just connected a long length of general purpose wire to the core of the coax lead to the radio and ran the wire around the glass fibre high top, hiding it behind various trim panels. It works absolutely fine.

Bartfarst

Hi

My duetto had an extending aerial mounted on the offside door pillar.This is shown in my Transit manual as a standard fitting.
The rubber duck was fitted by a previous owner to feed a hands free pnone unit.
As far as I know the whole front cab was ford original as it was a bus chassis, this included the leisure battery and the radio.
When I stripped out the redundant wiring for the phone i did some careful measuring and used a hole saw to cut an access hatch in the locker roof. This is covered with small panel in order that future access is painless.
the phone wiring ran down the inside of the nearside door pillar.
Hey Ho, has anyone got a standard layout?.

Lots of rain overnight, and with roof panels removed it was easy to see that no more leaks. I am still waiting for new aerial but tightened up the old one to stop the leak there. Once new one arrives I'll fit it and wait to make sure it is all fully weather tight before putting Daisy back together again.
I like the idea of an access hole to the aerial, I may make the same modification, as it is also a good way to check on damp in the roof space.
Jollywalker

jollywalker wrote:Lots of rain overnight, and with roof panels removed it was easy to see that no more leaks. I am still waiting for new aerial but tightened up the old one to stop the leak there. Once new one arrives I'll fit it and wait to make sure it is all fully weather tight before putting Daisy back together again.
I like the idea of an access hole to the aerial, I may make the same modification, as it is also a good way to check on damp in the roof space.

Use a quality mastic outdoor sealant and you should be ok.

What i found frustrating, re-fitting needed two pairs of hands to get it right. One person on the outside ensuring it's kept straight whilst the other tightens up the retaining nut inside the van. If young, fit and agile which i'm not (!!) you can reach the aerial point by standing on top of the front wheel. I wasn't about to risk that so used a a small step ladder.