A2 Aerial Disease?

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kit lewis

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Please can I tap into the assembled knowlege of the group once again.

I have picked up in passing that the radio reception in an A2 is poor.

I am going to have the Symphony 6 CD fitted into my new baby - BUT need to know if there is anything I could do at this stage to improve the reception in the car. I am old and fogeyish enough to enjoy listening to Radio 4 FM, and the occasional test match or footy game on Radio 5 live and Radio 4 on AM.

If the reception is poor then what can I do to improve the situation? Is ther an after market solution, or is there a Audi option that would fit the bill? i assume that I might be able to add an option even at this late stage - the car is due in late Dec so surely it can't be undergoing build yet!??

Thanks & Take Care out there - wrong kind of leaves on the road don't you know!

Kit


Soon to be the owner of a Dolphin Grey 1.6 FSI SE with Red Leather, ECC, DIS & Symphony 6 CD
 
Kit,

We have the Concert II in our A2 and have no probs with the reception so far. We were constantly retuning on our recent holiday and managed to pick up Radio2 in 95% of the areas we visited. As for AM, I tried tuning in when we picked up the car and it found all the usual ones, 603, 909, 1242 etc but I haven't actually tried these on the move yet. I don't know if this is an improvement over earlier cars.

One thing tho'. RDS doesn't seem too auto-retune to the strongest frequency. The signal just fades then needs a manual tune. Have I missed the obvious and not turned something on?

1.4SE petrol in Merlot Red, Biege interior, 16" 5 spoke alloys, DIS, Open Sky, Elec rear windows.
 
Kit,

In terms of what to do if the AM reception is rubbish when you collect the car – simply ask for a full refund on the audio equipment. Perhaps then Audi dealers & Audi UK might start to take continual customers complaints over this issue in a serious light.

Perhaps the best bet of enjoying AM frequencies is to spend £20 on a radio at “Argos” – and for another £20 you could get a colour coordinated plastic picnic set.

I confess that to date I am slightly surprised that Audi UK have not recommended improving reception via a bent metal coat hanger – aluminium of course.

Regards
John Disdale
 
OK John - does Audi do coathangers? I've seen a nifty coathanger for the back of the passenger seat - sort of like a reps dream in chrome. Is this what you mean?

Any one have any other suggestions

Kit

Soon to be the owner of a Dolphin Grey 1.6 FSI SE with Red Leather, ECC, DIS & Symphony 6 CD
 
The FM side of the radio on our Symphony works really well, but the AM (which I listen to the most) is fairly poor - it needs a really strong clear signal to work well.

On the route back to our parents from Shrewsbury to Yorkshire, there is a black spot where you need to change from 909 to 693 to pick up Radio 5, in ALL our other cars this would happen just around Chester, but in the A2 the signal drops off much sooner and picks it up much later, leaving a 30 mile area where it cannot pick up a signal very well. I know the signal is there, but I've yet to get a good reception since we bought the car in August.

Neil - Aug 02 1.4SE Petrol. Brilliant Blue. Yellow/Black Interior, Symphony, Open Sky, Climate, DIS, Multi-function wheel
 
Kit

I agree with Neil - the FM reception is unlikely to cause you a problem - but the AM is often nothing short of diabolical. At the best, you will pick up Radio 5. I wouldn't even bother searching for anything else.

As to a solution, when I picked mine up a few months ago, I was told that Audi GmbH knew about this problem (the dealer had naturally not told me this before selling the car to me) - and have been asked to work on a solution by Audi UK - but as AM is not used commonly across Europe, there has been little or no response from Germany. My dealer simply encouraged me to keep checking with them - and to encourage other owners to keep chasing their dealers to maintain the pressure on Audi UK and thus also Audi GmbH.

All I was told was that I should not allow Halfords or anyone else to put another aerial in the aluminium body - but I think ultimately that is what will be required. I don't have much anticipation of Audi providing a fix during my ownership of the car - after all the problem has been known about for a couple of years.
 
Its true that the Audi factory have spent 2 years trying to isolate the problem, but there has been some worthy progress. They now believe there is a problem with either the radio itself, the aerial, or the wiring that links the two. Its also apparently been confirmed that the handbrake is not a contributing factor.
 
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