 | Home > In Car Electronics > Fed up with bending my aerial back to straight |
 
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| Egghead Member Since: 25 Nov 2012 Location: Surrey Posts: 255   
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Constantly getting a bent aerial on the trees I have around the narrow lanes in my neck of the woods. I get a really poor reception from it anyway as the HID headlamps interfere with it badly. It's time for an upgrade and i wondered what anybody else uses? I saw the £7.99 Aerial upgrade and could be persuaded but wondered what else anybody thinks is good??
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1st Oct 2013 10:57pm |
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| gbmud Member Since: 02 Jun 2013 Location: Sussex, UK Posts: 167 
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The HID should not cause interference on the radio, it is a fault with the HID inverter not with the aerial - which is doing it's job of collecting RF very effectively. Why not remove the HID lamps which probably dazzle other motorists and are dubiously legal and solve two out of three problems at once?
Chris |
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2nd Oct 2013 6:57am |
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| gbmud Member Since: 02 Jun 2013 Location: Sussex, UK Posts: 167
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The HID should not cause interference on the radio, it is a fault with the HID inverter not with the aerial - which is doing it's job of collecting RF very effectively. Why not remove the HID lamps which probably dazzle other motorists and are dubiously legal and solve two out of three problems at once?
Chris |
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2nd Oct 2013 6:57am |
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| smb Member Since: 15 Jan 2013 Location: Cheshire Posts: 1232 
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Had the exact same problem with HID's and Aerial. The cause was the fact the cable from the ballasts ran inside the Raised Air Intake to the lights which meant you had 25000volts running in parallel to the aerial.
There was no way I was going to take off the lights so I ran the aerial cable down the left hand side of the 110 at low level then up through and out the left hand back panel. I converted the existing aerial to a cb one. No interference since. |
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2nd Oct 2013 8:02am |
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| Egghead Member Since: 25 Nov 2012 Location: Surrey Posts: 255
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Yes, ballasts seem to be a problem. I heard covering them with tin foil would help with the radio interference. Got to be worth a try and certainly better than removing the lights
I was looking at a plug in DAB but got put off the idea for some reason. Enlighten me with how wonderful yours is and I may get interested again... |
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2nd Oct 2013 9:46am |
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| mark_d Member Since: 07 Sep 2013 Location: Northern Ireland Posts: 265 
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I disagree with that, RF products should reject frequencies that they are not designed to pick up (known as immunity) My Land Rover radio gets interference from the Air conditioning, so I suspect the problem may be with the radio. |
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2nd Oct 2013 10:00am |
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| smb Member Since: 15 Jan 2013 Location: Cheshire Posts: 1232
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Have you thought about putting the ballasts in a small box just behind the lights on your roof rack. You could mount it underneath the rack so it is out of sight and protected. That way you only run the 12v cables up from your relays.
Also, check the aerial coax cable and the radio power cable to make sure they aren't running parallel to or wrapped around other power cables. If you have to cross cables try and make sure they cross at 90'. This will help in minimising interference |
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2nd Oct 2013 10:01am |
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| lukev01 Member Since: 24 Mar 2012 Location: Bedfordshire Posts: 412 
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I have this one. Costs about £50.
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5004661.htm I plug it in using the AUX cable which then acts as an aerial. No problems at all and I usually have Planet Rock playing. Good thing is that the battery is rechargeable via the mains, so I just charge it up once a week or so. I can use also it with headphones while out and about, walking the dog, etc. and it fits in a pocket easily. 1970 Series 2A 88" |
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2nd Oct 2013 3:37pm |
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| Egghead Member Since: 25 Nov 2012 Location: Surrey Posts: 255
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Ballasts are behind the HID headlights on the front grill. The roof bar lights are JD Speaker LEDs not HIDs, and the wiring for those goes up the left hand side of the vehicle and out through the roof (opposite side to the car radio aerial). The wiring should really go up the snorkel but it wasn't me who fitted it - I guess they probably had the original roof lights fitted before the snorkel. It works and the hole in the roof has never leaked so not going to try and "fix" it now. I have recently had a switch fitted to manually turn off the DRL bumper LEDs that I got from CSK. - They operate on a module that detects the ignition and turns them on (so they run all the time until ignition is switched off!) These were blinding at night so the manual switch works a charm and is fitted onto the side of my cubby box near the cup holder area. Very simple and gives me the cotrol these lights need. Jeez! £50 for a small walkman  It's no wonder DAB never got anywhere. I would like to add it but hearing about the poor reception others on the forum report I think I'll save the money for the new headlights. 
The Stereo system is a Pioneer with a screen that pops out and sits proud of the dash. It has a GPS system (which I never use, nor intend to) and a reverse camera which engages when reverse gear is selected - which is well worth having. I really need to take off the dash and check the wiring as there are heaps of extras plumbed in (like a whacking great amp and extra speakers in the foot wells and on the dash by the windscreen. The amp even has a bleeding low level blue mood light or something that puts a blue glow all around my passengers feet! I also have a couple of 12V cigarette lighter sockets wired in just left of the dash console. Wires-a-plenty leading to the battery and all around the dash area
Cheers for the advice. I'll chase up some of the suggestions and see if I can find the culprit, then let you know. |
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3rd Oct 2013 1:07pm |
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| Merlin Member Since: 30 Oct 2010 Location: Newmarket Posts: 980
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Scrap the standard aerial, it will always get damaged. Combine it with your CB, works fine:
 Click image to enlarge Get one here: http://www.4x4cb.com/public/item.cfm?itemID=829 It's the little box by the CB. Merlin |
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3rd Oct 2013 7:19pm |
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