DAB reception (or lack of) on my CLS

[Alfie]

From memory, think the amp is part of the shark fin aerial.

The shark fin has nothing to do with DAB. The DAB antenna is in the rear window and the amplifier for it is in the trim adjacent to the rear window.

On the older A/B class the roof antenna had a short aerial on it. This was for DAB Band L which isnt used in the UK. We use DAB band 3 here which doesnt use the shark fin on any of the Mercedes models.

 

[PaulXC]

Anyone know where the DAB aerial is in the C207 Cabrio?

 

[Alfie]

Anyone know where the DAB aerial is in the C207 Cabrio?

Windscreen

 

[E63AMG]

Mine is rubbish too & the dealer couldn’t sort it. Hence why I don’t bother wasting my time with them any more. Any clues on where the booster is on a 2014 E63 please.

I actually booked it in for it & they just did a walk round if the car telling me I needed new brakes as usual. I lost the will to live & gave up emailing them to sort it.

 

[st13phil]

I dread the day that they threaten to switch off FM. In DAB, it's either on or off in a car, FM just goes a bit crinkley round the edges on a weak signal, bit at least you're still in touch with the outside world.

The reason that DAB is popular with those who manage (and sell) the frequency spectrum is that it's much more efficient in the use of the available spectrum than analogue, so many more concurrent transmissions can be crammed in to the same spectrum. However, as you note, analogue signals degrade rather more gracefully than digital ones which means that DAB is totally unsuitable for mobile use in many parts of the country.

This lack of suitability is neatly ignored though, because those who manage and sell the frequency spectrum (i.e. HMG) can make more money out of DAB than they can out of FM. Never mind the quality, feel the width

 

[Alfie]

FM will be around for ages yet.

Any government that switched it off would lose the grey vote. There are hundreds of thousands of elderly people who rely upon their radio/wireless set. To switch FM off would be stupid until such time as DAB radio sets are far more prevalent in the home.

 

[st13phil]

To switch FM off would be stupid until such time as DAB radio sets are far more prevalent in the home.

Didn't I read somewhere recently that more than 50% of all radio listening in the UK was now via "digital services" (I assume that means both DAB and Internet) rather than analogue and that this was considered the trigger point to start the phase out of analogue radio?

What gets me is that the vast majority of radio listening at any particular instant must be occurring in cars, which is where DAB is generally useless, while the argument about switchover tends to concentrate on the proportion of home users. And an often forgotten obstacle to switchover is the buffering delay that all digital radio must suffer and its effect on the accuracy of the Greenwich Time Signal.

Personally, I hate most digital radio from a quality point of view whether it be delivered by DAB or by Internet as the bit rate is so low on many stations, driven by the desire to maximise revenue by cramming in as many stations as possible to the available bandwidth. People tend to forget quite what excellent quality FM radio can deliver because they've been blinded (deafened?) by the "digital is the future" mantra

 

[Alfie]

Yep I think its only the BBC that use 128Kb. Anything less than this is sub standard.

 

[stephenmercedes]

Personally, I hate most digital radio from a quality point of view whether it be delivered by DAB or by Internet as the bit rate is so low on many stations, driven by the desire to maximise revenue by cramming in as many stations as possible to the available bandwidth. People tend to forget quite what excellent quality FM radio can deliver because they've been blinded (deafened?) by the "digital is the future" mantra

Absolutely agree 100% Classic tale of 'the emperors new clothes'! I've always said that just because you can, doesn't mean you should...

 

[StuW213]

Similarly I had an Xf and definitely I get more drop out on the mercedes when I visit my wife's parents in Norfolk. Luckily I don't live there! Pretty similar about town though.

 

[knockerblip]

So the bottom line seems to be you can do FA to improve the DAB performance. A £50k and crap DAB

 

[Headhurts]

My current car a 2016 E350 rarely has drop outs yet my previous car a 2014 E300 Hybrid was pretty average.

I live in Norfolk and mostly the reception is pretty good but I do experience drop outs in North Norfolk.

I’m not sure if the hardware or software in my current car is different from my previous car.

Robin

 

[stephenmercedes]

The best thing about DAB radios is, they all have an 'FM' function...