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Why can't I get medium wave in my car? - I had it when I got the car about 2 years ago but it just went a few months ago. FM reception is fine.
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What radio is fitted? I think you'll find there's an aerial booster for MW / LW at the rear of the unit, if you have a non VAG stereo you can get a autoleads adaptor that powers up the aerial for around £10 from halfords.
May be of help
tinyurl.com/denj57
The standard head unit is pretty rubbish TBH, I've fitted a Kenwood ipod controller and the sound through the standard speakers sounds amazing in comparrison to my ears anyway.
HTH
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I have a MkIV with the Blaupunkt Gamma unit - it's certainly not rubbish...:-) Regarding the TinyURL link, the claim of only seven watts per channel is not backed up by the technical specification of 4 x 20 watts RMS maximum.
Mine is a November 1999 MkIV Bora.
scottlayton
The most obvious question is to establish that you are using the AM button to change the frequencies? My other half thinks you have to push the FM button once to switch to AM..:-)
If the head is faulty, might be cheaper to buy a replacement head unit than have it repaired. For instance:
tinyurl.com/c52btm + www.bluespot.co.uk/stock/vw.asp
tinyurl.com/cq34kg
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Its not rubbish, but its very mediocre compared to up to date equipment with 3 - 4 times the power.
The speakers are very good, they're being held back by the older inferior H/U, her car still has the gamma and changer so I can listen to them back to back. I'd give the gamma 4 / 10, the Kenwood 9 / 10.
Medium wave is similar though ;o)
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yeah i press the am button. it comes on and if i turn it right up you can just about hear voices. I do apologise i'm not very clued up about these things but what do you mean "head unit"?
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Head Unt is the bit in the dash with all the controls on it SFAIK and no sarcasm intended!
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yeah the radio operates fine. little things like this drive me bonkers.
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It could be worth checking out the Setup Menu (press TP/Set button for more than two seconds).
In the menu there are various options, including On/Vol, Gala and M/S.
Maximum volume of the radio on switch on is set using ON/VOL. Choose it from the menu and SET UP ON/VOL appears. Use the normal volume control to adjust the sound level.
Gala adjusts the volume level as noise levels increase with speed. Similar operation to reach configuration, but trial and error setting at first until increase is as required.
M/S allows the system to automatically select between optimal sound reproduction for music or the spoken word using the RDS signal. Use Set Up as above and choose Yes or No using the volume control. (Not likely to affect AM stations though).
Edited by Stuartli on 06/04/2009 at 16:13
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Sounds to me like the AM aerial has become disconnected at the back of the unit. The AM uses a different aerial to FM, so could separately come adrift. Might be worth checking before spending any money...
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My Gamma is linked to the "bee sting" roof aerial which has a power booster in the base. A link I gave earlier (www.bluespot.co.uk/stock/vw.asp ) makes particular reference to poor AM reception if the base's power supply has been disconnected.
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 06/04/2009 at 20:15
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The radio is the standard unit that came with the car (2002 1.8t). someone else has mentioned a booster. What is this and is it easy to get to?
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If the car has a removeable aerial,check that no-one has put threadlok on it to stop it getting stolen-if it has,clean it off both parts with tap/die.I have done this on two cars and,while it makes no difference on FM,it made a huge difference on AM.
Edited by jc2 on 06/04/2009 at 16:48
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You may have a booster in the base of the aerial, or you may have it on the back of the set. Either way the aerial/booster/booster power feed is the most likely cause.
TBH Bluapunkt stuff is ok and produces good loud clear sound with good bass, but suffer from horrid ergonmics and poor recievers.
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Thanks to everybody. I'll be trying all the things mentioned. ta - Scott
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The Gamma and Beta units I've experienced in the Passat, Golfs and Lupos have been brilliant at getting a difficult FM signal. There's an uphill stretch on the M4 near Membury Services where every other car has struggled with the signal - it breaks up and/or the radio hunts for a better signal, but not on the VW units. MW reception is as poor as the FM is good - but you should get a signal. Check out previous posters' advice!
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My Skoda Octavia had exactly this problem, I understand it was to do with power to the booster (which is part of the bee-sting aerial base).
I removed the (perfectly functioning) Skoda stereo cassette radio when the car was a few days old and fitted a CD head unit in its place. The CD unit would only pick up AM very weakly as you describe, but FM reception was excellent. As I never drove the car on Saturday afternoons I didn't miss AM at all. Before I sold the Octavia I re-fitted the original Skoda stereo and AM worked once again - I can only assume the feed to the booster was absent from the back of the CD unit.
HTH.
Dave TD
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