Portible Radios

[frygood]

Hi Guys im planning my new build and like listening to the radio.I was wondering if i had a portable dab radio in the boat would i get a good signal inside a metal boat or would i need an external ariel. i know a lot of people go down the car radio route,but i was thinking a modern portable radio may be a better option.

 

regards to you all Carl

[MtB]

My DAB radios don't work at all inside either of my all-porthole boats.

 

I've just installed a DAB car radio with a tiny little outside magnetic aerial from Halfords and it works BRILLIANTLY!

[Aunty_Rinum]

We have 3 DAB radios which work inside our steel boat wthout using external aerials.

[john6767]

I have a portable dab which mostly works ok in the boat, so prabably signal strength related if it does not.

[MtB]

We have 3 DAB radios which work inside our steel boat wthout using external aerials.

 

I bet you have ordinary windows that let the signal in rather rather than portholes.

 

If you have portholes, what make and model of DAB radios do you have?

[zenataomm]

I have portholes and my DAB radio only works near an open door or slide.

[Aunty_Rinum]

I bet you have ordinary windows that let the signal in rather rather than portholes.

.......

Correct

[Lmcgrath87]

Hi-jacking ever so slightly, we have a car radio on the boat, but it's not wired in yet - wires are there.....does anyone have a link of where to get the info to make it work? I had thought about just ignoring it and getting a DAB radio, but maybe the car radio is a better idea?

[Athy]

I have portholes and my DAB radio only works near an open door or slide.

We have a radio in the saloon and one in the back cabin. Both work only when adjacent to a door. We took one of our dab radios to the boat once and it was reluctant to work at all. We haven't tried fitting an outside aerial though.

[Silebyman]

I go about it in a slightly different way. I use my phone to receive the radio by leaving somewhere outside where it can pick up a signal (useless inside), and then a Bluetooth speaker inside the cabin. Works for me...

[mango]

We have 3 DAB radios which work inside our steel boat wthout using external aerials.

With DAB and FM radio, TV and mobile phone, a metal roof will reduce the signal strength. If a radio works fine without an external aerial it means that the signal strength in that area is good.

[springy]

I've tried a few dab radios on the boat (usually positioned on the floor, so actually below the waterline) and as

others have said with low success unless the unit or aerial is by a window, however the current radio had a

"fixed" aerial which was actually attached to an "F" male socket - I made up a short adapter to convert to a

standard car aerial connector & then connected to the existing car aerial which was already fitted to the

roof - this works excellently, I don't know if I was just lucky - the radio was second hand purchased mainly

because it ran on 12v, it was a brand I'd never seen before (blue thunder ?) but is actually very tolerant of

low input voltage - usually the radio continues to work ok even when the batteries struggle to energise one of

the few flouresecents i've left on board.

 

springy

[Murflynn]

Hi-jacking ever so slightly, we have a car radio on the boat, but it's not wired in yet - wires are there.....does anyone have a link of where to get the info to make it work? I had thought about just ignoring it and getting a DAB radio, but maybe the car radio is a better idea?

you probably have a thick red wire which is 12V in, another thick wire which goes to earth, and 4 pairs of thinner wires which go to the speakers.

 

in a similar situation I just experimented until I got the speakers working.

 

this should help.:-

 

http://www.automotivetroubleshootingsecrets.com/car_stereo_wiring.html

 

the permanent 12v supply is to maintain your tuning settings and is not essential.

[Lmcgrath87]

you probably have a thick red wire which is 12V in, another thick wire which goes to earth, and 4 pairs of thinner wires which go to the speakers.

 

in a similar situation I just experimented until I got the speakers working.

 

this should help.:-

 

http://www.automotivetroubleshootingsecrets.com/car_stereo_wiring.html

 

the permanent 12v supply is to maintain your tuning settings and is not essential.

 

Ah thanks - I shall have a play this weekend and see what happens!

[pearley]

 

the permanent 12v supply is to maintain your tuning settings and is not essential.

That would depend on whether you want the radio to remember any preset station settings. Some car radios will retain their memories forever and a day, even if completely disconnected and thrown under the workbench. Others will lose all settings as soon as the permanent power is removed. For boating purposes though both permanent power and switched or accessory can be joined together. And, as far as the wiring connection are concerned it is not a given that there will be a flylead with many units, especially OE, having an ISO, or similar, socket on the rear.

 

DAB reception varies greatly across the country even with the amount of money being spent by the BBC and commercial stations on new transmitters. They have said that transmission strengths will be increased if and when the government allow them to switch off or reduce the power of BBC national FM transmitters but the government have reneged on their agreement.

 

If you want to ensure good DAB reception across the country then a 'proper' external antenna is essential. This applies to cars as well as boats. If you get a film antenna on your front windscreen you are likely to be disappointed with the results.

 

In our case, we had a JVC DAB Car Tuner from 2007 until last November when we replaced it with a Pioneer, because the CD had stopped working. Until late 2013 we had a Hirschman tri-band roof antenna but water has penetrated the base so I am using a magnetic DAB antenna until such time as I can work out how to replace the Hirschman as it would be nice to have decent AM and FM reception again.

 

My wife has a Pure SportsDAB walkman type radio as she like to listen in bed if she wakes early. She gets good reception with this in about 60% of the country, and we have cruise most areas, and we have all portholes! Here at St Ives on the Great Ouse she complains that she gets a reasonable reception until I roll over in bed when the signal disappears.

[Iain_S]

you (snip)

the permanent 12v supply is to maintain your tuning settings and is not essential.

 

On quite a few car radios the permanent feed is the main power supply, and the "ignition" feed only supplies switching. (Quite sensible, really, as it stops the radio's operating current passing through the ignition switch).

 

When I installed a car radio in a boat, I connected the radio power feeds together * . Loses pre-set stations when the battery master is turned off, but that's a minor inconvenience.

 

* after an experiment involving diodes, resistor and 5 ni-cad AA batteries got rather hot , (which is when I worked out the above )

 

Iain

[Jim Batty]

We've got a five year old Roberts Solar DAB (http://www.robertsradio.co.uk/product_details/SOLARDAB2.htm) used every day on re-chargeable batteries that just keeps going. If its sunny and you put it in a window or have it outside it runs off the small solar panel on top, (but goes off if clouds pass over and you have no backup batteries in it).

 

If there IS reception available, then it's rare that it won't operate inside the boat (large windows at the front, portholes to stern). If there is a problem I have this trick of poking the aerial over the top of the tilt-back porthole glass and under the outer edge of the porthole frame -- the aerial points downwards about 15-degrees -- and the radio dangles off the aerial hinge. Odd, but it works!

 

It seems houdini hatches also allow a signal in. Even opening a side hatch a couple of millimetres has allowed us to pick up an otherwise blocked signal in some positions.

[ditchcrawler]

I have portholes and my DAB radio only works near an open door or slide.

Same

[KevMc]

Slightly

 

 

I read somewhere that the problem with DAB is that we have a predetermined bandwidth for all the stations - the effect being that as they add more DAB stations they each get less of the available bandwidth so signal quality deteriorates .... I don't know if that is true though.

[pearley]

Slightly

 

 

I read somewhere that the problem with DAB is that we have a predetermined bandwidth for all the stations - the effect being that as they add more DAB stations they each get less of the available bandwidth so signal quality deteriorates .... I don't know if that is true though.

Not strictly true but almost. DAB is transmitted as a group of stations called a multiplex or ensemble. Usually 10 stations but sometimes only 8. Each is allocated a certain bandwidth and this is what can restrict the quality. There were complaints about Radio 3 as the quality was poorer on DAB so they increased the bit allocated to R3 by nicking it from others on that multiplex, the bandwidth not being so important on speech radio.

 

Really the way to go is internet radio but you have to be aware of the amount of data you are then using, from memory about 2mb an hour, so you can quickly use up the allowance on a lot of phone contracts.

[Chewbacka]

 

Ah thanks - I shall have a play this weekend and see what happens!

If you want to know which pair of wires is connected to which speaker briefly connect a 1.5v battery across the 2 wires and the speaker will click each time you briefly connect the battery. However do make sure you do NOT connect the little battery across the 12v supply. If in doubt don't do it :-)

If you want a small, neat mag mount aerial for a dab car radio I use one of these

http://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/Kinetic_MagnetwiG__DMA-1001_DAB_car_aerial.html

 

Moving it even a few inches on the roof makes a fair difference in a weak signal area. I find nearer the centre of the roof is best

[Nightwatch]

We have just purchased a Roberts Vintage DAB radio from John Lewis in Milton Keynes. It was reduced in price as it was a returned item. No marks or anything else wrong with it. We paid £75.

 

We also got approval to return if didn't work in the boat. To say we are chuffed to bits is probably an understatement. It works both on mains and battery anywhere in the boat. No loss of sound anywhere.

 

We were reluctant to buy one in case it didn't work inside. Impressed. We are moored adjacent to Whilton Marina. Might be a good reception area.

 

Martyn

[Chewbacka]

and now it's bbc 6music and absolute 80's if anything like me.

The best bit is you can completely ignore the traffic reports