[Phunk]

I've just picked up a 66 plate Leaf Tekna 30kw today, I'm really struggling to get decent reception from the DAB radio.

Even the BBC stations drop in and out constantly, this is 5 miles outside of Glasgow City where I've used DAB in other cars with no issues.

Is the DAB is the Leaf known to be poor or is it likely there is something wrong with my car?

 

[Orrery]

It has been fine on the Leafs I've owned.

Have you got other kit connected? Satnavs, Dashcams, 12v phone adapters? These can put out a lot of interference.

If so, get an Anker metal body 12v USB adapter, and a pack of small clip-on ferrite rings for each end of any USB or power cable. That did the trick for the DAB add-on with a stick-on window aerial I fitted to the ICE.

 

[Phunk]

Nothing else connected at all, only thing in the car is me!

 

[davesul]

I've just picked up a 66 plate Leaf Tekna 30kw today, I'm really struggling to get decent reception from the DAB radio.

Even the BBC stations drop in and out constantly, this is 5 miles outside of Glasgow City where I've used DAB in other cars with no issues.

Is the DAB is the Leaf known to be poor or is it likely there is something wrong with my car?

I'd check if the aerial looks damaged or has been changed from OEM.

 

[Barfly]

I've just picked up a 66 plate Leaf Tekna 30kw today, I'm really struggling to get decent reception from the DAB radio.

Even the BBC stations drop in and out constantly, this is 5 miles outside of Glasgow City where I've used DAB in other cars with no issues.

Is the DAB is the Leaf known to be poor or is it likely there is something wrong with my car?

Things to check:

1. You say the coverage in the area you are driving is good in other vehicles check with friends/neighbours if they have noticed any issues in different weather etc. conditions. 5 miles outside Glasgow should not have many issues.
2. What is the FM reception like? If that is poor too then you may have antenna problems.
3. If the FM is OK then the DAB front-end could have been damaged by a lightning event or a front-end component has just failed.

My 2016 leaf Tekna has really excellent reception here in Bournemouth/Poole, there are a couple of dodgy spots in the town centre (Avenue Road outside the old M&S for instance) but the Leaf reception is far superior to my previous ICE. It does struggle sometimes in the deeper reaches of the New Forest but generally speaking DAB coverage is not too bad here in the South.

Cheers Tony.

 

[davesul]

I'd check if the aerial looks damaged or has been changed from OEM.

Its quite possible that someone has changed the original aerial to one of the sharks-fin type, which may look more trendy but could well give inferior reception.

 

[Phunk]

It appears to be the standard aerial, I'll check out the FM reception tomorrow and that should help narrow things down.

Luckily its from a dealer, so they'll sort any issues - but they're an hour away so prefer to avoid the faff

 

[DBMandrake]

I've just picked up a 66 plate Leaf Tekna 30kw today, I'm really struggling to get decent reception from the DAB radio.

Even the BBC stations drop in and out constantly, this is 5 miles outside of Glasgow City where I've used DAB in other cars with no issues.

Is the DAB is the Leaf known to be poor or is it likely there is something wrong with my car?

Sounds like something wrong with your car. We listen to the DAB radio on ours in Glasgow every day driving from Motherwell - no dropouts or problems at all. Even in fairly remote country locations in places like Ayrshire it works well.

 

[Phunk]

Sounds like something wrong with your car. We listen to the DAB radio on ours in Glasgow every day driving from Motherwell - no dropouts or problems at all. Even in fairly remote country locations in places like Ayrshire it works well.

Cheers, great to hear from someone local.

Pretty much as soon as I leave the city centre on the M77 and get to Silverburn it starts dropping out - I'll pick it up with the dealer in the new year.

 

[DoctorSpludge]

Did you ever resolve your issue with the DAB reception dropping out?

When I first got my car it was dropping out completely every 1-2 minutes for about 10 seconds and then coming back clear as day... then it just stopped doing it and has been fine ever since!

 

[john alexasnder]

My 2015 30kwh car suffers from issues with reception when it's wet, DAB and FM signals will drop out when it's wet, over the summer and in dry conditions no issues.

 

[Ash77]

I had this too and when the car was serviced the nissan tech said it could be that even because only very small parts of the rear window demister elements appeared to be scratched, the circuit may interact with the DAB signal somehow.

This seemed plausible given numerous posts online about various cars having signal issues when the rear demister is on, but i had it when it was off.

Anyway i tried a cheap fix, £2-3 copper tape off ebay, joined the 3 or 4 small gaps in the elements up and it appears to be better so far if not perfect.

May not work for you and not recommending it for anyone but maybe worth a try!

 

[Barfly]

I had this too and when the car was serviced the nissan tech said it could be that even because only very small parts of the rear window demister elements appeared to be scratched, the circuit may interact with the DAB signal somehow.

This seemed plausible given numerous posts online about various cars having signal issues when the rear demister is on, but i had it when it was off.

Anyway i tried a cheap fix, £2-3 copper tape off ebay, joined the 3 or 4 small gaps in the elements up and it appears to be better so far if not perfect.

May not work for you and not recommending it for anyone but maybe worth a try!

@Ash77 I wonder if the Leaf utilises the rear screen demister circuit as an auxiliary aerial/passive reflector system. If the demister circuit is broken that may be the case. The wavelength of DAB is extremely short compared with other bands so it will have a more noticeable effect on DAB. The higher up the frequency spectrum we go then more and more different materials have an inherent resitance to them. Think of it like with sound; bass notes travel easily through walls, and high treble notes cutting off as soon as you shut a wooden door. The same principle applies.
Cheers Tony.

 

[soopdragon]

I've just picked up a 66 plate Leaf Tekna 30kw today, I'm really struggling to get decent reception from the DAB radio.

Even the BBC stations drop in and out constantly, this is 5 miles outside of Glasgow City where I've used DAB in other cars with no issues.

Is the DAB is the Leaf known to be poor or is it likely there is something wrong with my car?

I have had same signal issues in 67 plate Ford galaxy recently ...+ same VW Sharan 69 plate .

It wasnt noticeable prior to roughly start of May 2021 .

 

[Barfly]

I have had same signal issues in 67 plate Ford galaxy recently ...+ same VW Sharan 69 plate .

It wasnt noticeable prior to roughly start of May 2021 .

Try resetting the station list. Depending on the area in which you live, the stations shift up and down depending on regulations, transmission and engineering issues. Re-tuning may solve your issues just like freeview terrestrial tv.