15 replies to this topic

[Iain Balmer]

Hi,

Got into my car this morning and switch my radio on. To my surprise no sound came out of the radio. Worrying times I thought. I checked to see if the CD would play and I could hear that and then changed the radio to FM and could hear Radio 1. Went back to the DAB and still no sound.

The radio is a 6CD DAB Sony radio Head unit.

Has anyone had this?? Anyone have a solution to my problem. Will contact my local Ford garage to get it booked in, but thought I could get an answer on here quickier than waiting a few days to get my car booked in.

Many thanks for any help given

Iain Balmer

[Mondeo-hopeful]

Was this radio retro fitted?

[Iain Balmer]

Mondeo-hopeful, on 21 March 2011 - 09:54 PM, said:

Was this radio retro fitted?

Hi, yes it was retro fitted, but was working fine before.

[Mondeo-hopeful]

If the garage fitted it then I suppose they have to verify connections, if you've fitted it and the garage look at it they may check spec and refuse to honour the warranty.

[4titx]

Iain Balmer, on 21 March 2011 - 08:42 AM, said:

Hi,

Got into my car this morning and switch my radio on. To my surprise no sound came out of the radio. Worrying times I thought. I checked to see if the CD would play and I could hear that and then changed the radio to FM and could hear Radio 1. Went back to the DAB and still no sound.

The radio is a 6CD DAB Sony radio Head unit.

Has anyone had this?? Anyone have a solution to my problem. Will contact my local Ford garage to get it booked in, but thought I could get an answer on here quickier than waiting a few days to get my car booked in.

Many thanks for any help given

Iain Balmer

I take it that it seems to tune and find stations OK just no audio when DAB is selected?

[Iain Balmer]

4titx - that is correct.
Was retro fitted but was by a Ford garage.

[4titx]

Well at a guess its the radio (which you probably thought so anyway) as I dont believe theres any external input or control that discriminates whether programe input is DAB or not.

[Ian23]

I had the same happen in my brand new Mondeo.   Reception on day 1, nothing the next.  Dealer diagnosed a radio fault and the unit was replaced FOC

[Davman]

Ian23, on 22 March 2011 - 07:32 PM, said:

I had the same happen in my brand new Mondeo.   Reception on day 1, nothing the next.  Dealer diagnosed a radio fault and the unit was replaced FOC

Just received my brand new Mondeo titanium estate (11 plate) with a Sony CD DAB and get very bad reception/no reception when I select DAB radio.  I have tried tuning it for the length of my commute along the M4 and get broken reception in parts but mainly no reception at all.  In my previous car I used a PURE highway which gave excellent reception throughout the same journey so I doubt it is DAB signal strength.
I am considering sending back to dealer as I suspect the radio is faulty but wanted  to check that it isn’t simply that the Sony DAB not up to the job.  

After you had a new unit fitted did you get good DAB reception?

Cheers

[jms64]

I too am having poor reception with the SONY DAB on my new Titanium X 11 plate.  I have switched back to FM on the unit.  DAB seems a waste of time

[4titx]

Your best check is, if you have a portable DAB receiver, try that outside near car, the car should be much much better than the portable at picking up stations, in particular those that you are just able to receive (with some breakup on audio) on the portable, they should be clear and solid in the car.

Where you have compared reception to a PURE receiver/converter, you should find the PURE while good, certainly not as good as the car, again particularly on weak stations where they are breaking up on the PURE, should be solid on the car.

[Mondeo-hopeful]

Is the poor DAB a result of the antenna being incorporated into the rear screen?  I think other manuafacturers do this so it must be a proven method, why doesn't Ford's work?

[4titx]

Well a 375mm long antenna in the middle of the roof would be the best antenna position for DAB (slightly longer for FM) and anywhere will be a slight compromise. Window antennas are a serious compromise and are inherently poor and in such an installation they will fit an amplifier to at least equal or better the free space vertical antenna.

[Steve TR]

Mondeo-hopeful, on 27 March 2011 - 03:02 PM, said:

Is the poor DAB a result of the antenna being incorporated into the rear screen?  I think other manuafacturers do this so it must be a proven method, why doesn't Ford's work?

The S-Max has been working fine with a window based DAB antenna since September 2008 so we know Ford can do it.
Interestingly the S-Max suffered reception problems when the LED DRL's were added causing Ford to redesign the light units, so hopefully they haven't made the same mistake twice.

[4titx]

I am surprised Ford didn’t see this coming when fitting low voltage converter power supplies such as those used in some DRL installations which have been knows for years to cause radio interference.

I guess they fitted these in ignorance of knowing what they were fitting and without then carrying out EMC tests after fitting them on their facelift tests.

[Davman]

Steve TR, on 27 March 2011 - 04:49 PM, said:

Mondeo-hopeful, on 27 March 2011 - 03:02 PM, said:

Is the poor DAB a result of the antenna being incorporated into the rear screen?  I think other manuafacturers do this so it must be a proven method, why doesn't Ford's work?

The S-Max has been working fine with a window based DAB antenna since September 2008 so we know Ford can do it.
Interestingly the S-Max suffered reception problems when the LED DRL's were added causing Ford to redesign the light units, so hopefully they haven't made the same mistake twice.

Good to know that Ford can do a DAB radio that works, lets hope they haven't messed up with the LED DRL's again.
I left the new Mondeo with my local Ford dealer today but they didn't find any obvious reason for the DAB not working and ran out of time today so it needs to go back for a more thorough checkover next week.  It will be intersting to see if they identify the problem - I'll post back with the outcome.