Radio Aerial Upgrade

[Munro]

Has anyone successfully upgraded their aerial ?

I have seen a lot of complaints about reception but can't find anything on improvements.

My reception is fine around town, but once you get more than 10 miles from a main town the reception deteriorates. The reception out of town is not as good as my previous car which had a bee sting aerial.

[FWH]

I have seen pics of one car with external ariel and DAB unit.
REVO DAB radio in the civic

I am going to see if a dealer can do anything about mine.
If not, I am considering talking to an ICE shop about fitting a new ariel.

Apparently the cable from the HU to the ariel is a number of seperate wire with individual groundings that sometimes are no good. So maybe even a new wire from HU to new ariel would be needed....

[Brodick]

I have the same level of reception in the Civic as I do in my CR-V
which has a proper aerial and dont really have any issues with reception
once or twice is has had interference but not for long

[FWH]

Originally Posted by Brodick

I have the same level of reception in the Civic as I do in my CR-V
which has a proper aerial and dont really have any issues with reception
once or twice is has had interference but not for long

I think some cars (like mine) have some kind of common fault off the manufacturing line that the dealers have a hard time fixing.
Personally, I believe in grouding of the ariel wire, but have no proof of that.

I find it hard to imagine that something this bad by design was actually released.

Also, some members (not only Broders) are happy, and one demo car I drove was definatly better than mine is.

[cylon2007]

I have to say that although I have fitted a DAB tuner to the car this was only because there are no decent stations on FM (in my opinion) the radio in mine has no reception problems at all.

[illegalhunter]

why dont Honda offer DAB ?

[Munro]

Originally Posted by cylon2007

I have to say that although I have fitted a DAB tuner to the car this was only because there are no decent stations on FM (in my opinion) the radio in mine has no reception problems at all.

A DAB tuner sounds like a good solution. I have a few questions if thats OK:
1 Can you get good DAB reception away from towns and in remote areas like the north of Scotland ?
2 Do DABs hold the station on long motorway journeys ?
3 How much did you pay for your tuner ?

[cylon2007]

Originally Posted by Munro

A DAB tuner sounds like a good solution. I have a few questions if thats OK:
1 Can you get good DAB reception away from towns and in remote areas like the north of Scotland ? I drive (every week) between Soth Manchester and Milton Keynes and the signal is fine
2 Do DABs hold the station on long motorway journeys ? - yes in my experience
3 How much did you pay for your tuner ? I bought an Acoustic solutions ICS-100 of ebay for £53 (actually it was 2, 1 complete and unused plus 1 used and with a few bits missing) I also bought the upgrade ariel for £10 so £63.

A mate fitted it for ma at the same time as he installed the Connects2 required for the input and a Parrot 3100 that he supplied. He charged me £150 (mates rates) for that so all in it cost me £63+£150+£34 (connects2) so £247 for Parrot, connects2 and DAB tuner

[Munro]

Originally Posted by cylon2007

A mate fitted it for ma at the same time as he installed the Connects2 required for the input and a Parrot 3100 that he supplied. He charged me £150 (mates rates) for that so all in it cost me £63+£150+£34 (connects2) so £247 for Parrot, connects2 and DAB tuner

Thanks. More Questions !

1 Did you have to drill a hole in the glass to fit the aerial
2 How did you / your mate run the cable from the DAB box to the aerial
4 Whats a parrot ?? (not the feathered kind!) and a connects 2 ?

[FWH]

Originally Posted by Munro

Whats a parrot ?? (not the feathered kind!)

Parrot is a bluetooth handsfree unit.
For example:
Parrot - 3200 LS-COLOR

Originally Posted by Munro

and a connects 2 ?

Connects2 is a aux in device that plugs into the CD changer input of the HU.
http://www.civinfo.com/wiki/index.ph...sing_connects2

You need a Connect2 (or similair) to connect a Parrot or mp3 or DAB or whatever to the HU.

[Munro]

So I don't need a parrot or a connects 2 to fit the DAB ?

[FWH]

Originally Posted by Munro

So I don't need a parrot or a connects 2 to fit the DAB ?

Not the Parrot, but the Connects2.

Somehow you need to get the line output of the DAB receiver into the original HU in order to get the sound out to the speakers.

The only input on the HU is for a CD changer (or Honda I-pod kit). The connects2 connects to (no pun intended) this Honda input and provides a line in RCA connector (well 2 actually - it is in stereo) to which you can plug the DAB radio receiver into.

[Munro]

I don't see a connects 2 on this diagram ? Is it something to do with the aux connection to the radio ?

http://www.dabincar.co.uk/acatalog/a...es_it_work.pdf

[FWH]

Originally Posted by Munro

I don't see a connects 2 on this diagram ? Is it something to do with the aux connection to the radio ?

http://www.dabincar.co.uk/acatalog/a...es_it_work.pdf

That diagram PRESUMES that you have regular RCA type AUX in on your stereo (option 2). The Civic HU doesn´t.
Therefore you need the connects2 to do that.
It will sit between the Black Box and the HU.

Option 2 is the way you want to go for good sound quality. Option 1 may work in the Civic but as I understand it that converts DAB to FM. = loss in quality.

[Munro]

Originally Posted by Brodick

I have the same level of reception in the Civic as I do in my CR-V
which has a proper aerial and dont really have any issues with reception
once or twice is has had interference but not for long

Mine's fine around built up areas. It just not quite as good as previous cars on a journey - ie down the A74 or anywhere 10 or 20 miles away from a town. Does yours work OK in these conditions ?

[Kremmen]

Yet again I find myself in the same boat as Brodick, mine has the same reception range as my previous car which had a roof mounted aerial.

Maybe they made some subtle changes for the 07 models ?

[cylon2007]

Originally Posted by Munro

Thanks. More Questions !

1 Did you have to drill a hole in the glass to fit the aerial - No it's a glass mount one. one bit sticks inside and the ariel sticks outside over it.
2 How did you / your mate run the cable from the DAB box to the aerial
4 Whats a parrot ?? (not the feathered kind!) and a connects 2 ?

Looks like all the other questions have been answered - ta guys

[FWH]

Originally Posted by Kremmen

Yet again I find myself in the same boat as Brodick, mine has the same reception range as my previous car which had a roof mounted aerial.

Maybe they made some subtle changes for the 07 models ?

Well my piece of s**t radio is an 07.

[Munro]

Originally Posted by cylon2007

Looks like all the other questions have been answered - ta guys

Only question 2 left - what routing was used for the cable from the aerial on the back window to the radio ?

Thanks for all the quick answers.

Only problem is I was originally thinking about a better aerial but am now thinking about a DAB player !! They are cheap on ebay though (@£35) - see link below.

Find Acoustic Soloutions ICS 100 FM In Car DAB Radio Adapter on eBay within DAB Digital Radio, Radios, Portable Audio, Consumer Electronics (end time 10-Nov-07 15:14:04 GMT)

[Dunchan]

The hired Vectra I used whilst my iCDTi was on order had a DAB radio. Reception was no problem in the central belt of Scotland. Reception very poor to not available outwith the higher population density areas. Absolutely no reception at all in tunnels!