Mel B Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Now then you lot, let's be having your expert wisdom!!! :-D The aerial/antenna on our Transit is abysmal - it's one of the stupid wing-mounted things which sits just in front of the door (see picture) and has pathetic reception. We often lose the signal whilst driving around the country, on our drive from Yorkshire to Folkstone (Eurotunnel), and when listening to Radio 2 (most annoying when listening to Steve Wright!). Does anyone know of a suitable replacement - I'm assuming increasing the length might help? :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 Are you sure it's the actual aerial, Mel? Ours is the standard Ford item, with a Ford branded 6000CD on the other end, and it generally seems fine. Does your van have the standard Ford fit radio CD or similar, or have Chausson installed a unit of their choice? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roger s Posted June 25, 2011 Share Posted June 25, 2011 We dont have reception problems with ours, quite the opposite. I wonder if its mounted a bit iffy. I do agree with you though its not the worlds best design of aerial and travelling at modest speeds it waves around all over the place and a more rigid design would be better. Your aerial is mounted in the same place as ours and looks the same aerial from your photo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebishbus Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 Hi. I would expect that small aerial to be amplified.Check if it is, look for a seperate 12volt lead going to it from the radio, if so check for 12volts going to it when the radio is switched on,if 12 volts ok, suspect amplifier faulty or poor earth connection between aerial and body. Brian B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankkia Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 It is possible you have an earthing fault and that your antenna is not performing well but we take a similar journey to yours and you do pass some dead spots (for Radio 2 reception) both on the A1 and A14 / M11 which can be quite annoying. We normally have fairly good reception despite being in a plastic duck (All GRP A class). Our antenna is an amplified windscreen type see http://www.bluespot.co.uk/car-audio.aspx/7617495142-aerial. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaggy Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 We have a mk7 transit and find the reception very good. It could be something as simple as the aerial not connected properly on the back of the radio. If you take your van to a ford dealer or a specialist radio shop and have them pull it out and check the connection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 I echo the view that something may well be wrong, as the reception of the standard radio on my Mk 6 Transit (that uses the same aerial arrangement as the Mk 7) is excellent in the UK and abroad. Having said that, it's perhaps worth adding that my rear-view camera installation plays hell with the radio's reception and there's also interference if the on-board battery-charger is running. I sort of agree with roger s's comment about the aerial's lack of rigidity and (because my Hobby is LHD) this was initially a real distraction as I worried about the aerial being loose and falling off. Now I don't really notice it. I presume the flexibility is there to minimise the likelihood of spearing a pedestrian in an accident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnP Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 The reception on my Mk 7 is good. The wobbbling about at speed is usual. (Aerial not me) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted June 26, 2011 Share Posted June 26, 2011 Hi Mel Do check the connections before you part with any dosh - both the main antenna connection and its earth. Ours is mounted above the windscreen, but we still struggled with intermittent poor reception for a while, and of course when it went to the dealers it was always fine. When I spoke to the people at the converters, they told me how to get at the inside of it, and I noticed some corrosion on the screw which goes through into the antenna base. I found a replacement screw of the right thread (yes, I've got one of "those" sheds!). I also created an extra earth connection with a bit of wire, and it's been fine ever since. Or you could just forget the radio and get one of Bruce's CDs to play all the time! :D :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ips Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Same van and same problem. You can buy a longer whip antenna that will screw in place of the existing which is way to short. Priced one up at halfords but havent got round to doing the job yet. PS It wont be corrosion on Mel's or my van its just because they are poorely positioned and not long enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 ips - 2011-06-27 9:44 AM Same van and same problem. You can buy a longer whip antenna that will screw in place of the existing which is way to short. Priced one up at halfords but havent got round to doing the job yet. PS It wont be corrosion on Mel's or my van its just because they are poorely positioned and not long enough. Are you certain the Halfords product will be suitable? I've got a couple of these 'whip' aerials left over from previous cars and the screw fitting at their bases differs from the Ford aerial. In any case, I don't believe the LENGTH of the aerial itself is a factor in this case, nor is the aerial's position on the vehicle's wing. I've fitted this type of aerial to cars in the past, replacing the old wing-mounted telescopic type, and, even when the length of the 'whip' has been significantly shorter than the standard Transit aerial, reception has never suffered. There may be some sort of fault with the external part of yours and Mel's aerials and this might be cured by replacement, but that's another matter altogether. As four Transit Mk 7-based motorhome owners have reported good radio reception via this thread, against two that have been critical, this suggests that the standard aerial isn't nomally problematical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave and Verity Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 We have the same setup and reception very good, we don't have the original radio though. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ips Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 As four Transit Mk 7-based motorhome owners have reported good radio reception via this thread, against two that have been critical, this suggests that the standard aerial isn't nomally problematical. Surely it depends on the van, may not be able to compare our vans set up with that of another just cos its a trannie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ips Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 As four Transit Mk 7-based motorhome owners have reported good radio reception via this thread, against two that have been critical, this suggests that the standard aerial isn't nomally problematical. Surely it depends on the van, may not be able to compare our vans set up with that of another just cos its a trannie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Thanks guys, I'll get hubby to check the connections etc and see if that's the problem, I'll report back when he's 'found the time' in his busy (not going out to work anymore) day!!! *-) :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Mel B - 2011-06-27 5:59 PM Thanks guys, I'll get hubby to check the connections etc and see if that's the problem, I'll report back when he's 'found the time' in his busy (not going out to work anymore) day!!! *-) :D Mel I notice that you did the logical thing and simultaneously sought comments on the Ford Transit forum: http://fordtransit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=91575&p=779606&hilit=radio#p779606 Out of interest I looked at a 2004Transit brochure I happened to have and all the photos of panel-van and chassis-cab models showed a roof-mounted aerial. Presumably this was the then-standard and a Transit-based coachbuilt motorhome built at that time would have needed the Ford roof-mounted aerial moving to the overcab 'luton' section. See the following for an example: http://motorhomes.autotrader.co.uk/used-motorhomes/auto-sleepers/rienza/2003/at8a65f6202ff9b94a01302187424f2631/auto-sleepers-rienza-2-4-di-diesel?associatedVehicle=true However, a June 2004 French motorhome magazine had an article on a Chausson Welcome 74 (one of the first coachbuilt motorhomes built on a FWD Transit chassis) and the aerial was on the left door-mirror plastic moulding as on your (and my) motorhome. I was initially inclined to think that this had become standard for Transits. It makes some sense as there's no need to dril holes in metal body panels and cabling to the aerial is simplified. It's undoubtedly the case that a mirror-moulding-mounted aerial is standard for Transit Mk 6/Mk 7 chassis-cabs factory-built as motorhome bases, but, although some Transit Mk 7 panel van conversions have this aerial arrangement (see MMM June 2011, page 165), some clearly do not. See: http://motorhomes.autotrader.co.uk/used-motorhomes/auto-sleepers/duetto/2007/at8a60b91b2fc525df012fe3da05f0179c/auto-sleepers-duetto-2-4-di-diesel (The Eura Mobil Trento in the MMM article is FWD and the advertised Duetto is RWD, but I've no idea if this difference is relevant.) Browsing the current Ford website suggests that a roof-mounted aerial is now the norm with a mirror-moulding-mounted aerial for motorhome-specific chassis. Putting the aerial on the roof where it's as high as practicable and immune from any potential 'masking' of a radio signal by the vehicle's body should, in theory, provide potentially superior reception to Ford's mirror-moulding-mounting set-up, but I remain unconvinced that the lack of length of the latter's removable part is the sole problem and that replacement with a longer part will provide a magic cure (as ips suggests). There are guidelines here http://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/info/pdf/factsheet_radiomove_rds.pdf and it's plain that the location (and length) of the Ford aerial being discussed are not optimal. So I'm not saying that an extra 10" aerial-wise won't provide you with total satisfaction - just that I'm sceptical. Regarding ips's argument "Surely it depends on the van, may not be able to compare our vans set up with that of another just cos its a trannie", the mirror-moulding-mounted aerial being discussed is (as Brian says) a standardf Ford part, installed in a standard manner in a standard position. On that basis, it's reasonable to assume that (as long as the aerial and installation are fault-free) all the aerials should perform similarly and, if it's only a minority that have radio reception problems sufficient to complain strongly about, then it seems equally reasonable (to me) to suspect those people's aerials and/or installation being the culprit rather than just damn the aerial for being too short. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 One thing Mel has not yet said, is whether the radio is one of the standard Ford fit items, or is a Chausson, or dealer fit item. If standard, it will be branded Ford. It seems it is quite common for manufacturers to order platform cab units with full radio preparation, but with the head unit missing. This allows customers a choice of head units to suit their preferences, and is also a protection against theft. The "standard" head unit is a double DIN sized unit, so could be replaced with a variety of alternatives, some incorporating DVD screens, rear view camera inputs, sat nav, etc. For some (possibly all) head units, it is necessary to set the receiver sensitivity to suit the installed aerial. Superficially, the aerial fitted to ours is very similar, in terms of appearance (flexible whip with a rubberised sheath enclosing a flexible core with wire coiled around it), size, and location, to that installed into our previous Burstner. In that case the aerial was by Blaupunkt and when I changed the head unit the car audio specialist commented favourably on it, saying they were excellent aerials, and he was surprised one of such quality had been fitted. He was quite happy to fit the new head to the existing aerial, but could easily have persuaded me that a new, better aerial, was required. Make what you will of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ips Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 I have same van as Mel and its a ford unit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camperadi Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I have a 2004 mk 6 transit based Chausson Welcome 27 with original fit Ford 2000 casette radio. The radio reception is very poor. I have not worried too much because I spend a lot of time listening to Casettes that I have not heard in years. However if anyone comes up with a simple fix I will be very interested. I had also thought the problem was down to a very short wing mounted aerial being shielded by a tall coach built (in my case) body. I will look into amplification and earthing when I get time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skyrider Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 Steve wright in the afternoon well sound almost as good as simon bates half hour awesome >:-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted June 30, 2011 Author Share Posted June 30, 2011 skyrider - 2011-06-30 1:19 PM Steve wright in the afternoon well sound almost as good as simon bates half hour awesome >:-) Unfortunately he doesn't do the 'Ask Elvis' session now, that used to be absolutely hilarious! (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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