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Wireless Woe's.


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The radio aerial finally gave out, heavy cracking, only stopped by me holding the remains of the Anti-vandel rubber aerial.

Lack of "earth" connectivity was diagnosed, remove aerial, clean the rust away, refit, etc.

Elderly cast aluminum, doesn't like being disturbed!

New aerial, (Flexible black rubber, via Halfords) fitted, old aerial cable joined to new cable, by a Co-ax fitting.

No real improvement....

However, holding a small adjustable spanner against the fixing nut, radio clear as a bell...

Stripped aerial, cleaned all connecting threads, (with tap and die) made absolutely sure the aerial was clamped to shiny steel...

Very little improvement, leaving the radio switched on, eventually a slight improvement happens, opening the front doors, improves reception.(Aerial is mounted close to but above the doors.)

I don't think the radio it's self is at fault, due to the clear reception, due to the spanner effect.

Any ideas as to what to do next?

 

Bod.

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What bands are you trying to listen to. I guess FM abut it might be DAB. The aerial needs t be suitable for the bands you are trying to receive. An FM aerial on a DAB radio may well give poor reception and also the other way round. An FM aerial will not be that good on MW & LW.

 

I don't like the sound of joining the ld an dnew aerial leads unless the old is an  extension or its a flylead on the radio. if it is the old lead that came from the old aerial, it may have water in it.

 

(I am avoiding the hull bonding problem here)

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6 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

What bands are you trying to listen to. I guess FM abut it might be DAB. The aerial needs t be suitable for the bands you are trying to receive. An FM aerial on a DAB radio may well give poor reception and also the other way round. An FM aerial will not be that good on MW & LW.

 

I don't like the sound of joining the ld an dnew aerial leads unless the old is an  extension or its a flylead on the radio. if it is the old lead that came from the old aerial, it may have water in it.

 

(I am avoiding the hull bonding problem here)

Trying for FM.   Radio 2-4.

I didnt like the idea of joining cables, but the new aerial only comes with 1.2 metres of cable, which wouldn't reach the the radio, and being behind the fit-out etc.

 

Bod.

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11 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I have never had any luck with them I am sorry to say, as I tried several.

Although we have a radio/cd changer on the boat we never use it, its easier just to stream audio to the soundbar.

Granted the quality isn't as good as FM, the fact that is works is a real bonus.

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6 minutes ago, Bod said:

Trying for FM.   Radio 2-4.

I didnt like the idea of joining cables, but the new aerial only comes with 1.2 metres of cable, which wouldn't reach the the radio, and being behind the fit-out etc.

 

Bod.

 

You can get extension aerials. That would be better than using an old cable but as Brian says he has had problems with those aerials I think I would try to find a specialist and get a quality aerial with a longer lead.

 

Is the aerial supposed to be powered, some have an amplifier in the base.

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Thanks all.

I've had another look at this, the old aerial cable is black, the cable into the radio is possibly white!

With this I've found an aerial with a 4 metre lead, and will bite the bullet and change the whole thing.

 

Bod.

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56 minutes ago, Bod said:

Thanks all.

I've had another look at this, the old aerial cable is black, the cable into the radio is possibly white!

With this I've found an aerial with a 4 metre lead, and will bite the bullet and change the whole thing.

 

Bod.

 

White sounds horribly like TV aerial lead so it may be a homemade extension and i don't know how well a TV cable will work with  a radio.

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Yes, I was once told that Narrowboat building was a cottage industry, well if mine is anything to go by, there must be some strange cottages out there.

The new aerial is on order, I should have it over the weekend.

How much hoping will I have to do, that the old cable will pull the new through?

 

Bod.

 

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There must be a use for those rubbery things but being an aerial is not one of them. At least wire coathangers have several uses and being an aerial is one of them.  Get a better aerial!

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I'm replacing a rubber aerial, with a another rubber one, as I have seen it win the fight, with trees, and bridges.  Their not called "Anti-vandel" for nothing.

You are right regarding the quality of reception, I don't expect much from a foot of rubber, but the boat is very quiet without it.

 

Bod.

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7 hours ago, Bod said:

I'm replacing a rubber aerial, with a another rubber one, as I have seen it win the fight, with trees, and bridges.  Their not called "Anti-vandel" for nothing.

You are right regarding the quality of reception, I don't expect much from a foot of rubber, but the boat is very quiet without it.

 

Bod.

Good luck and well done for perseverance. A bit like water pumps, how many repair kits do you buy before you realise you are wasting your time

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  • 4 months later...

Wireless woes part 2.

New aerial fitted, now one wire tween aerial and radio, not 3 bits and an adapter as before.

Aerial earth to body(steel hull roof ) cleaned to bright metal, and tightly bolted up.

Still got interference!

Hold base of aerial with bare hand, no interference.  Remove hand interference returns, unless hand is within 50mm/2 inches, and not touching the roof.

Hand below roof= interference, unless the aerial mounting bolt is held, even with the rubber anticorrosion sleeve in place!

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Bod.

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4 minutes ago, Bod said:

Wireless woes part 2.

New aerial fitted, now one wire tween aerial and radio, not 3 bits and an adapter as before.

Aerial earth to body(steel hull roof ) cleaned to bright metal, and tightly bolted up.

Still got interference!

Hold base of aerial with bare hand, no interference.  Remove hand interference returns, unless hand is within 50mm/2 inches, and not touching the roof.

Hand below roof= interference, unless the aerial mounting bolt is held, even with the rubber anticorrosion sleeve in place!

 

What am I doing wrong?

 

Bod.

 

These things are always very tricky to fix but one thought I have is thus: You have connected the radio negative supply to the hull, via the aerial cable screen. It is almost certain that there is another connection between battery negative and hull in the engine bay area. Thus you have an alternative current path in the negative line.  Some of the current from general services in the boat will be going back to battery negative via the built in wiring, but some of it will be going back to battery negative via the radio negative, aerial cable screen, aerial base, then via the hull and then via connections in the engine bay (eg exhaust, control cables, prop shaft) to battery negative. Perhaps this stray dc current with some spikes superimposed, is what is upsetting the radio. And you hand is acting as a great big damper to absorb the spiky bits.

Try inserting a capacitor in series between the aerial screen and the boat hull. 10nF / 0.01uF should do it.

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20 minutes ago, Bod said:

Thanks Nick.

Now to find a radio suppressor, would it matter if the strength was higher?

 

Bod

The idea is to block dc current between the aerial screen wire and the hull, whilst allowing the radio frequency stuff through. Capacitors are funny things, they can have quite a lot of resistance to very high frequencies if the value is too big. Hence my recommendation of 0.01uF. You could probably up to 0.1uF but I wouldn't want to go any higher.

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  • 4 months later...
On 08/11/2021 at 18:41, Tracy D'arth said:

You are welcome.  I have got Sam's son, also a Sam, to send you one, hopefully soon but he is busy I think.

 

TD'

Thanks arrived safely.

Apologies for slow reply, life got in the way, as it does.

The radio was perfectly clear, whilst the aerial was disconnected.  Connecting, gave interference, which stopped once I touched the aerial, then stayed clear for the rest of the day.

Next day, total interference again.

Today, interferance, till the aerial is touched, hand on clear reception, hand off varying level of interference.

I don't think the fault is in the radio itself.

Could it be the aerial?

 

Bod

IMG_2569.jpg.787283c07d08c9981921e5fb4826d0a3.jpg

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