DAB Car Radio – The Importance of Aerials
Pure Highway 300di Aerial
Unlike F.M. aerials DAB is vertically polarised only. This is why F.M. aerials are not much use for DAB reception. You can buy the best DAB car radio in the world but if the aerial is not very good you will not get the best reception. As coverage has increased reception has improved. This is because, unlike F.M. Radio, multiple transmitters improve the signal rather than causing interference. But you still need the best aerial to get the best reception.
Internal Screen Mounted Aerials for Dab Car Radio
There are several types of aerial available. With the simplest to fit being the internal screen mount type. With these the aerial is attached to the inside of the windscreen by means of a sticky film, a bit like a tax disk. Reception with this sort of aerial can suffer depending on the type of glass in the windscreen. If you have a reflective glass this may sometimes cause a problem, especially in areas where reception is not the best. Some of the screen fitting aerials have built in amplification and will need an extra connection for the power for this.The latest Pure Highway 300Di has a powered externally mounted aerial included.
External Glass Mounted DAB car radio Aerials
An alternative the internal screen mounted aerials, there are external glass mounted ones. These are, as the name implies, usually mounted on the glass of the windscreen or rear window. They come in two parts, the aerial which is placed on the outside of the glass and a pickup which fixes on the inside of the glass directly in line with the aerial. No holes are needed they are simply glued in
Roof Mounted DAB car radio Aerials
place. Once again fitting of these types of aerial is a simple DIY Job but the reception will be affected
by the quality of the glass it is on as the signal still has to be transmitted through the glass to the pick-up. These types of aerials are always passive as there is no cable to transmit power to the aerial.
The best type of aerial to fit is the roof mounted type. These can replace your existing roof mounted aerial without the need for drilling an extra hole. They are not typically a DIY fit but you will get the best reception from this type of aerial. Being on the roof of the car they tend to receive a clearer signal and this can be quite noticeable in fringe areas. There are multi frequency aerials available which can also operate with DAB, AM/FM and GPS.
Magnetic Mount DAB Car Radio Aerials
An alternative to the roof mounted aerial is the magnetic roof mount type. These can be placed on the top of the car but the drawback is the hassle of placing and removing them every time and the cables trailing over the roof.
Whichever you choose the reception of your Dab Radio will benefit from fitting the best aerial you can afford.
Visit our pages on Amazon and Halfords to view some of the DAB car radio aerials available.