Has anyone noticed any issues with their DAB radio losing all channel reception. Just been out for the cars longest drive so far and in very moderate rain we lost every DAB station over a distance of about 50-60 miles, tried retuning the DAB stations and still nothing. We had at the same time a strange electrical overheat smell inside and the cars interior seemed to get warmer but zero smoke!. The smell passed in about 45 seconds, but then no DAB radio, we thought the smell/heat may have been related to the front climate control as the exterior temp dropped when the rain started.. Anyway, through this period the FM radio side worked fine, once the rain eventually stopped the radio started regaining DAB reception slowly in rough spurts, until magically its all started working again on all channels.

We went into the LR dealership on way home for them to quickly check, but only 1 tech was available and he stated he was not familiar with the RRS2 having any DAB radio issues other than the possible earth point for the combined antenna amplifier and rear brake light, but he did note that this normally showed as a DAB signal problem when the brake was applied, which was logical, but not happening on our car.

Anyway, thought I would ask all fellow owners out there if their DAB radio seemed super sensitive to weather.

Dave D4 2012 Santorini Black gone
RRS 2013 Santorini HSE Black gone
MY2016 RRS HSE Dynamic arrived September, but will it stay.. maybe not.

Yup, absolutely right. I had DAB in my M5 and it *never* lost signal (except maybe in tunnels etc) but my RR2 is always dropping in and out so much so that I have to switch it over to FM or just plain off.

Not even bothered asking the Stealer yet, I can already imagine the reply.

I had a similar problem with my DAB; kept dropping out for no reason. Went into the dealer - software update applied - touch wood - no repeat of the issues (Strastone Cardiff - Jamie - technician)

I have 2 friends with Fords and they lose DAB quite regular 2008 Factory HST- Sold
Arrived 2016 HSE carpathian grey

The land rover dab is crap I live in Bedfordshire and dab is so patchy its unreal, however my porsche dab is faultless even in the highlands of Scotland it is great, compare that with LR when in the highlands dab doesn't exist! On order expected October 16 macan turbo
Current car MY15 Hse Dynamic
Cayenne v6 MY64
RRS MY13 Black edition
Discovery MY61 xs
RRS TDV6 MY07
XC90 Executive
Yada yada yada

Interesting as I have recently driven mine from Stirling in Central Scotland to Southampton and then on to west London and apart from one short section driving over Beattock Summit in Lanarkshire I can carry DAB the entire trip, this was the same in both my previous Evoques and the 2010 FFRR. The gap in reception is due to the fact that there are quite a few hills around Beattock and I loose FM signals there too. It usually coincides with some crappy afternoon play on Radio 4 so I switch over to stream a talking book from my phone! One thing I find is that sometimes I have to do a manual DAB retune when I drive the A81 into Glasgow where the DAB doesn't seem to automatically retune in a hole in signals. 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

I have the same issue, in the RRS and also in my Evoque- theres a dead spot on the M25 around by Junction 10, affects both cars, so at leas tI know it just isn't one cars problem.

it also suffered signal loss at the back of the car park by the Odeon Cinema in Epsom, and by the Nuffield Health Gym in Leatherhead....

J 2012 RRS HSE. Firenze Red.

iainm wrote:

I had a similar problem with my DAB; kept dropping out for no reason. Went into the dealer - software update applied - touch wood - no repeat of the issues (Strastone Cardiff - Jamie - technician)

I know this is an old thread. But the Dab reception in my 16 has been noticeably worse (almost unusable) than the previous model sport I had. Not expecting much but I’ve located and changed the dab antenna amplifier this eve.

A good thread here to ID the relevant parts. I’ll report back any improvement or otherwise. I’m not expecting much but worth a look I thought...
https://www.rangerovers.net/threads/my-201...it.339101/ 3.0 SDV6 HSE L494

That's odd. My 14.4 has the same issue since about 3-4 months ago. Not on handbrake, but on occasions basely useable when driving, and sometimes absolutely fine...I I had assumed some area DAB transmitters may have been reduced, though it does seem better on BBC than the non BBC channels ?? Is yours the same ? I do have a feeling its worse in bad weather, but not conclusive

RRSporter Please do advise if your change fixes the issue...

Will do 👍. I’m out of my local area but initial signs are not encouraging. What I haven’t been able to see is where the coax terminates into the rear screen in case of any corrosion etc there. I do know a £50 site radio sat on the passenger seat will comfortably trump the built in kit which tells me there must be a fault in the antenna circuit somewhere.
As I said I need to rerun this experiment with portable radio again since swapping dab amplifier to see if there is any change. I’m pretty sure it didn’t leave the factory like this as a 60k car. 🤔 3.0 SDV6 HSE L494

Last edited by RRSporter on Fri Jul 24 2020 1:24pm. Edited 1 time in total

RRSporter wrote:

I know this is an old thread. But the Dab reception in my 16 has been noticeably worse (almost unusable) than the previous model sport I had. Not expecting much but I’ve located and changed the dab antenna amplifier this eve.

A good thread here to ID the relevant parts. I’ll report back any improvement or otherwise. I’m not expecting much but worth a look I thought...
https://www.rangerovers.net/threads/my-201...it.339101/

Rowdie wrote:

RRSporter Please do advise if your change fixes the issue...

Thanks for the update. Silly question. Have you changed where you keep your mobile phone in the car. I have started putting mine in the central coffee holder and I have a tiny hunch it might be affecting the DAB signal but not proved conclusively yet.