Hi to all,
Regarding radio reception, FM channel repection heavily relies on the antena size and orientation as well as quality.
AM (specially LW and MW) reception is more dependant on the position of the radio regarding the transmitter than the external antenna.
It turns out that the efficiency of an antenna (both as reciever and transmitter) is, among other things, a function of the relation between the wavelength of the signal to recieve and the size or length of the antenna itself.
For FM, we have wavelengths of around 3meters (100MHz) and therefore being the exterior antena size of the car comparable, the antena quality, etc, makes a difference.
For MW and LW, the wavelength is in the hundreds / thousand of meters range, hence a 40cm piece of metal means nothing.
So, one thing is to try to turn the car so that the inductors INSIDE the radio become aligned with the transmitter OR simply find a better radio for MW and LW reception.
New Xantia Owner
Moderator: RichardW
Agreed that the standard roof mounted aerial is not exactly ideal for AM and particularly long wave reception, but it is the only aerial fitted to a car radio. (Unlike a domestic radio which has a tuned ferrite rod antena built in to the case and which is highly directional). Consequently no amount of realigning the components in the radio with respect to the transmitter will make any difference, unfortunately.
2007 C6 2,7 HDI exclusive 95k
2004 C5 VTR HDI 103k
2004 C5 VTR HDI 103k
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easterroad
- Posts: 29
- Joined: 05 Apr 2004, 19:03
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Try installing the ISO to ISO Antenna Booster in this link or similar http://www.nexxia.co.uk/head_unit_fitti ... aptors.htm
I installed it in my xantia and it was an absolute revelation - MW/LW stations I could not even pick up before suddenly became ultra clear.
I installed it in my xantia and it was an absolute revelation - MW/LW stations I could not even pick up before suddenly became ultra clear.
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Diana
Many thanks again to all those who have taken time to give me their advice and to share their experiences. I am back home in France now, the drive back being much more pleasurable than the drive out as the former involved heavy rain all the way.
While in England I had the Xantia serviced and checked over by the garage that has looked after our cars for the past 20 odd years, a Citroen specialist. To my relief he was complementary about the car – the first I have bought without ‘expert’ assistance! So, all of the fluids and filters have been changed, the brakes and tyres checked etc.
The only outstanding problem concerns the rear fog lights. I had noted that the dashboard warning light for the rear fogs had stopped working and had mentioned this at the garage. As I had given them a long list of things to check and they had fitted me in on top of a full diary at very short notice, I understood when they said that they hadn’t had time to look at the fog light problem.
For some reason I decided afterwards to check all of the lights myself and I found that in fact the rear fogs don’t function, it is not just the warning light as I had thought. There does seem to be some light behind the red plastic but that might just be coming from the ordinary stop lights, it certainly isn’t enough to provide high visibility in foggy conditions – a concern as the Loir gives off a lot of fog at this time of year in the early mornings and most of my drive to work follows its path.
I have now got a Haynes book for the car and we have a bank holiday on Friday so perhaps that will be spent trying to work out why this problem has arisen. I am fairly sure that when I got the car the fogs were working – the warning light came on the first time I tried it as well.
I didn’t have time to think through all the implications of replacing the radio when I was in England. On my return to France however I did try the advice about pointing the aerial upwards rather than having it follow the slant of the windscreen or whatever. This made a huge difference!!! So many many thanks to the person who suggested it. I was able to listen to Radio 4 and Radio 5 live all the way home with very little background noise. The radio 5 reception was better than I had with the BX but perhaps I was just lucky with the weather conditions on Sunday as I’ve not tried it since.
So now on my journeys too and from work I have the pleasure of Radio 4. However, I had kind of got used to the crappy local French station that I had listened too before finding this ‘fix’ so if the news is depressing I switch back to that.
The car performed superbly on its first long trip and the better weather conditions on the way home allowed me to see what the car could do. Despite high speed the rev counter went no-where near the red part of the meter, the oil and water temperatures remained constant, each just below the mid way point on their meters.
Suddenly the weather has become extremely cold and I had been concerned as I had never seen any sign of the heater plug light on the dash board. This morning with an outside temperature of 2 degrees it did flash on very briefly. This car certainly doesn’t seem to start so well as the BX, but provided it starts I won’t complain! Has anyone else noticed this with the HDI set up?
While in England I had the Xantia serviced and checked over by the garage that has looked after our cars for the past 20 odd years, a Citroen specialist. To my relief he was complementary about the car – the first I have bought without ‘expert’ assistance! So, all of the fluids and filters have been changed, the brakes and tyres checked etc.
The only outstanding problem concerns the rear fog lights. I had noted that the dashboard warning light for the rear fogs had stopped working and had mentioned this at the garage. As I had given them a long list of things to check and they had fitted me in on top of a full diary at very short notice, I understood when they said that they hadn’t had time to look at the fog light problem.
For some reason I decided afterwards to check all of the lights myself and I found that in fact the rear fogs don’t function, it is not just the warning light as I had thought. There does seem to be some light behind the red plastic but that might just be coming from the ordinary stop lights, it certainly isn’t enough to provide high visibility in foggy conditions – a concern as the Loir gives off a lot of fog at this time of year in the early mornings and most of my drive to work follows its path.
I have now got a Haynes book for the car and we have a bank holiday on Friday so perhaps that will be spent trying to work out why this problem has arisen. I am fairly sure that when I got the car the fogs were working – the warning light came on the first time I tried it as well.
I didn’t have time to think through all the implications of replacing the radio when I was in England. On my return to France however I did try the advice about pointing the aerial upwards rather than having it follow the slant of the windscreen or whatever. This made a huge difference!!! So many many thanks to the person who suggested it. I was able to listen to Radio 4 and Radio 5 live all the way home with very little background noise. The radio 5 reception was better than I had with the BX but perhaps I was just lucky with the weather conditions on Sunday as I’ve not tried it since.
So now on my journeys too and from work I have the pleasure of Radio 4. However, I had kind of got used to the crappy local French station that I had listened too before finding this ‘fix’ so if the news is depressing I switch back to that.
The car performed superbly on its first long trip and the better weather conditions on the way home allowed me to see what the car could do. Despite high speed the rev counter went no-where near the red part of the meter, the oil and water temperatures remained constant, each just below the mid way point on their meters.
Suddenly the weather has become extremely cold and I had been concerned as I had never seen any sign of the heater plug light on the dash board. This morning with an outside temperature of 2 degrees it did flash on very briefly. This car certainly doesn’t seem to start so well as the BX, but provided it starts I won’t complain! Has anyone else noticed this with the HDI set up?
The glowplug lamp on the HDi rarely comes on unless the temprature is very low - and even then its only briefly. This is to do with the (very) high pressure set up of the HDi not needing as much heat in the chambers before starting - the diesel apparently is heated by pressure of the high pressure system anyway. Nothing out of the oidinary.Diana wrote:Suddenly the weather has become extremely cold and I had been concerned as I had never seen any sign of the heater plug light on the dash board. This morning with an outside temperature of 2 degrees it did flash on very briefly. This car certainly doesn’t seem to start so well as the BX, but provided it starts I won’t complain! Has anyone else noticed this with the HDI set up?
I had problems with the wireless in my Xantia, even when I replaced it with a Din unit it was still poor untill I replaced the aeiral with one off an earlier Xantia which was much longer. Huge improvement. I also fitted an in line amplifier (£2 off eBay) for the aerial and that made a big difference too - esp to MW reception.
I am trying to replace the heater panel lights on mine which have just broken
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1999 Xantia HDi SX