Home > DAB > DAB+U > C. DAB antenna reception

C. DAB antenna reception

Symptoms:

  • If the DAB radio playback is still interrupted the same way, no matter which configuration you have tried (section B. Configuration)
  • If you receive empty Stations list after scan
  • If a selected DAB station is not played

Then there might be a problem with the DAB antenna reception. Please make sure that the DAB coverage is good in your area, and if the same DAB station you want to listen is available in that area too. If all these are OK, then the problem might be with the antenna. In case you have an active antenna please make it sure that you both connected the power and grounding on it. If trying other positions for the antenna is not helping either (windshield heating blocks the signal), then if possible, please try other antennas as well. Any DAB capable antenna may work which has an SMB antenna connector – no matter if it is passive or active. If this is not working either, then you can try a replacement DAB+U if that is still possible.

Examples: When we tested other antennas, the Funke antenna was the best among them. A customer who had poor reception in his region somehow, he changed to a Sonichi Magnetic Roof Mount DAB Antenna and the reception was perfect after that, he found the idea in reviews.
Instead of a new DAB antenna a solution can be an antenna splitter too. Our main partners in Switzerland use Calearo 7562030 splitter in Harley and Indian motorcycles. Unfortunately Dension did not test this splitter personally but they are our trusted partners and they installed many of these. Hope this helps.

Please note: The electromagnetic field (the air) in which the DAB signal is transfered can be complex sometimes. From experienced installer partners we heard that the following things can also reduce or completely block the DAB signal: cheap China made additions to your car (for example a light set, cable or else), because sometimes they are not fulfilling the CE standards and generate a lot of electromagnetic noise which affects the reception significantly. (Please check if they are EMC, RoHS and CE compilant too.)

Important: For scanning you need to use the “Scan.mp3” file from the Settings folder of the DAB+U. On some of the MP3 capable playback devices it is available to use the “SCAN” function, which is not the same what the “Scan.mp3” does. Please don’t use that on the DAB+U, because if you use the “SCAN” function of the playback device, it plays certain amount of time from all available files on the music source and it might result in malfunction for the DAB+U device.