UK DAB radio ?

Interesting thread indeed. You made me curious about the rollout of DAB in Scandinavia and this is what I found out in the official site of Radio Sweden DAB site:

Here in Sweden all public channels broadcast in DAB but only in the Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö and Luleå region. This gives coverage to 35% of the population, and no further deployments of this technology are envisaged following a parliamentary decision from 2008.

 

My bro is a mechanic at Toyota so he is a pro at fitting these. Took him less than half an hour. Very quck job for him.

AS for the quality. Very good BUT because of radio problems with the prius I don't recommended.

I got it installed because I wanted to solve the Prius radio problem. HOwever, with the DAB installed it not only did not solve the problem it enhances it. Meaning that it let me know the problem of the car very clearly.

What do I mean by that is before the problem with the normal radio is you get a lot of hiss and static sound but now under certain conditions the DAB will not work at all.

When I turn on the Map lights the DAB will lose signal and not get any signal at all. When you adjust the side mirrors you will also lose signal. With normal FM radio you will just hear noise.

It only confirms that there is a problem with the Prius.

Like the problem with Vaxual with their horns when the headlight turns on the horns doesn't work.

SO don't fit the DAB radio it is great if Prius is fine but at the present time with the problem with the normal radio (if it is radio at all) it is not advisable to get the DAB radio.

 

I did try and warn you

It's not a Prius thing, it's a DAB thing. Due to the compression ratios the signal is pretty much all or nothing. The coverage is great in the five main UK cities and certain motorways, otherwise it's really hit and miss depending where you are. At least with fm you still get to hear the station even if it is hissy but DAB will suddenly just cut or 'burble'.

Biggest waste of money I ever spent was getting a DAB radio (not a Toyota one). Took it out and it now lives in a drawer somewhere whilst I think what to do with it.

DAB was a nice idea and if it had been properly supported with proper coverage then it might have worked. But it wasn't and isn't and didn't.

 

Yes but you see it is not a DAB radio problem. It is a Prius problem.
I sit in my car with engine on I get very clear DAB radio signal and sounds great. Turn my map lights on I lose signal all together.
Turn my headlights on it also loses signal.

Now when I switch it to Normal Analog radio when i turn either lights on I will get interference (noise) and even fail to get signal but the moment I turn all lights off I hear everything fine.

My point with DAB is that it just enhances the problem of the Prius electric wiring which are causing all the problems.

Even if you adjust the side mirror electronicaly you will get inference to the Normal Analog radio.

I installed DAB hoping that it is on a different system from the HU hopefully it won't be affected by the lights but obviously it is not that issue.

You see I am way beyond the hissing or just static noise every time I pass a lamp post or etc but I actually get no radio at all when I turn my map lights on no matter where I am. Now, that is a major problem.

I think the Media will love to get a hand on this, and I am in the process of making a video out of it. It is actually very magical the moment I turn my map lights on I lose signal all together.

Its a bit like the Vaxaul problem where when the head lights are turned on they get no Horn at all. I saw that on Watchdog.

 

Trouble is it isn't just a Prius thing. I know of many cars that I have driven in the past that get interferience on a weak radio signal when electrical items are turned on and off.

I am immediately thinking of a particular VW that was bad and if I recall any car that has those nasty ariels which stick to your windscreen instead of a proper ariel outside appear the worst.

The Vauxhall horn issue was rather amusing though. Didn't think you were legally supposed to use your horn when late at night, but not having it work at all when the lights are on is a real mess up.

 

YOu can not use the horn only between the hours of 11:30pm and 7am. I doubt that there are much traffic between those times to use it anyway. Also the car needs to be moving.

Thats the highway code Rule no. 92. YEAH.

It is illigal not to have a horn because you can fail MOT and not be road legal. But it is amusing.

Any car that have interference due to electric lume or wiring means the car is or was build defectively in my opinion. VW is not really a reliable car so I am not too surprised.