Twin fakra aerial adapter -worth using?

[tadziak]

SignalStrength Signal Strength
44.0 Signal Strength Tuner I
SignalStrength Signal Strength
42.0 Signal Strength Tuner II

It may be of use as a ref to you

Hi, from what I remember I got around 50 Singal Strenth on both tuners, so as I already mentioned before, the antenna itself seems to be strong and working well, at least when the car is not moving... Have you tried how these values change when you start driving?

[richard@thebrae]

Hi, from what I remember I got around 50 Singal Strenth on both tuners, so as I already mentioned before, the antenna itself seems to be strong and working well, at least when the car is not moving... Have you tried how these values change when you start driving?

I have not tried it moving, but I will, and let you know. I might take a couple of days.

[tadziak]

It was intresting to hear how your fathers Toyota with stock gear performed maybe you live in a poor reception area like me.
Here is a copy of the radio signal strengths I get with the RCD 300 and at this level the audio is very acceptable (VCDS Scan)

Hi,
I have one more question. Have you tried your reception when using only one of the antennas - white or brown (with aftermarket radio)? Have you compared the performance of the rearshield antenna and the rooftop one? According to the VAG signal test they are both pretty much the same...

It's really strange, but my father's Toyota Corolla seems to have simmilar reception problems in the area. I was driving old Daewoo Lanos (with long metal-old-style bat) and also with Fiat Panda (normal rooftop bat) and both of them had no interfrences. It seems like Toyota and VW are using some simmilar antenna system that might be too interferences-sensitive...

[richard@thebrae]

Hi,
I have one more question. Have you tried your reception when using only one of the antennas - white or brown (with aftermarket radio)? Have you compared the performance of the rearshield antenna and the rooftop one? According to the VAG signal test they are both pretty much the same...

It's really strange, but my father's Toyota Corolla seems to have simmilar reception problems in the area. I was driving old Daewoo Lanos (with long metal-old-style bat) and also with Fiat Panda (normal rooftop bat) and both of them had no interfrences. It seems like Toyota and VW are using some simmilar antenna system that might be too interferences-sensitive...

Yes I tried single antenna connections with an aftermarket radio (white and brown) both were pretty much the same, rubbish, the diversity adapter slightly improved things, and then I boosted by 15db with an inline amp the signal from the adapter to the radio which improved things a little bit, but as I said before, it was only about 80% of origional oem performance. In bad reception areas. I could not improve on this.

[tadziak]

Hi again after 3 weeks I finally got the original Celsus adapter from the ebay seller and installed it on Friday. My impressions are not too good - overall the reception still was far from good. What intrigued me was that I totally lost the AM reception....but it was gone also before I installed the adapter, when I had only bare rooftop antenna plugged in (white connector). Last time I had the AM reception was when I had my rooftop antenna powered by a simple 'separator' (adapter that gives 12V on the antenna cable). After I was informed that my roof antenna doesnt need power, because its not amplified, I removed the separator and plugged the antenna directly. I haven't noticed that AM is gone untill last days, when I tried it.

And now comes the interesting part: I swaped my Celsus adapter antenna cables ('white connector' cable plugged to the brown one) and the AM reception was back! I also tried many other configurations like connecting only rooftop antenna to Celsus adapter - I got then the AM reception, but FM was gone....

So basically the conclusion is as follows:

For some reason it seems like my rooftop antenna needs power to get the AM stations. Don't know how it is possible (according to everyone and every chart my car has no amplifier there), but it simply makes a difference (I can catch at least 3-4 AM stations).

For some reason also I get almost on FM reception when i plug only rooftop antenna to the Celsus adapter in the same configuration in which I have the AM reception. (Maybe the adapter somehow cuts those frequencies when only one plug is in?).

I would be glad if you could share some thoughts on this matter

[richard@thebrae]

Hi again after 3 weeks I finally got the original Celsus adapter from the ebay seller and installed it on Friday. My impressions are not too good - overall the reception still was far from good. What intrigued me was that I totally lost the AM reception....but it was gone also before I installed the adapter, when I had only bare rooftop antenna plugged in (white connector). Last time I had the AM reception was when I had my rooftop antenna powered by a simple 'separator' (adapter that gives 12V on the antenna cable). After I was informed that my roof antenna doesnt need power, because its not amplified, I removed the separator and plugged the antenna directly. I haven't noticed that AM is gone untill last days, when I tried it.

And now comes the interesting part: I swaped my Celsus adapter antenna cables ('white connector' cable plugged to the brown one) and the AM reception was back! I also tried many other configurations like connecting only rooftop antenna to Celsus adapter - I got then the AM reception, but FM was gone....

So basically the conclusion is as follows:

For some reason it seems like my rooftop antenna needs power to get the AM stations. Don't know how it is possible (according to everyone and every chart my car has no amplifier there), but it simply makes a difference (I can catch at least 3-4 AM stations).

For some reason also I get almost on FM reception when i plug only rooftop antenna to the Celsus adapter in the same configuration in which I have the AM reception. (Maybe the adapter somehow cuts those frequencies when only one plug is in?).

I would be glad if you could share some thoughts on this matter

Hi, you are not having any luck,
The celsus adapter fitted correctly drops the AM signal, I said this before. At best using the VW Antenna system with diversity and a 3rd party radio will only give a max performance of 8 out of 10 compared to VW oem setup.
switching the connecters will allow AM through, but it seems that it is only allowing the roof top antenna signal to pass as the rear screen antenna has AM filters in the line.
This is why I said that an amplified roof top is probably the best solution like a Mk 4 Golf.
When you used a single powered seperator on the roof top antenna it was probably amplifying the signal from the roof top antenna at the point of the seperator. (nothing to do with the antenna base)
When I had a chinese clone fitted I tried all the things you have done with one further addition as follows.
Once the Celsus adapter had done its work i then used a 15db amplifier between the radio and the celsus adapter which boosted again the signal it did improve things slightly, and as I said 8 out of 10 seems to be the very best you can achieve, and switch off the AF to stop it hunting.
Seperate to this I removed my chinese clone and put back the rcd 300 with a remarkable improvement with the standard antenna system, and now I have fitted an RNS 510 which has superb reception.

[tadziak]

Hi again,
I did some more reading about the Celsus adapter and I also understood why it behaves like it does for me. With the normal adapter installation (white labeled cable to white connector) it seems that Celsus cuts out the AM from the rooftop antenna and passes the AM from the windshield antenna which doesnt work, because there is no AM from windshield. On the other hand, when I swap them, I get the AM from the rooftop antenna, but at the same time it seems that all the FM frequences from this are cut out and the only FM antenna is in this configuration the windshield (which is also amplified a bit by Celsus adapter from what I read).

Everybody says that window antenna is inferior to normal rooftop bat, so I don't really see what is the advantage of having both antennas plugged to the Celsus, if it doesn't do the diversity (just takes AM from one and FM from the other one).

And going back to the AM matter, why do you think I get the AM only when I power the rooftop antenna? You suggest that those cheep chineese adapters (which are supposed to only provide power for active antenna) have also some amplifier which amplifies the signal for AM? And if this is the case, why I cant get any AM signal with the rooftop antenna connected directly (without power)? I guess it shouldn't make that big difference, I should recieve at least some AM with a working antenna...

I'm still wondering if for some reason my rooftop antenna is really not amplified originally. On the other hand there doesn't seem to be much difference with the FM stations... Is there any good method to test it to be 100% sure? My car is from 2008, so this was the last year of production VW Golf5, maybe they made some changes in this department. Do you maybe remember how exactly behaved rooftop antenna with amplifier in the base and without power? Was it a huge difference?

It's really a bit mysterious to me

[richard@thebrae]

Hi again,
I did some more reading about the Celsus adapter and I also understood why it behaves like it does for me. With the normal adapter installation (white labeled cable to white connector) it seems that Celsus cuts out the AM from the rooftop antenna and passes the AM from the windshield antenna which doesnt work, because there is no AM from windshield. On the other hand, when I swap them, I get the AM from the rooftop antenna, but at the same time it seems that all the FM frequences from this are cut out and the only FM antenna is in this configuration the windshield (which is also amplified a bit by Celsus adapter from what I read).

Everybody says that window antenna is inferior to normal rooftop bat, so I don't really see what is the advantage of having both antennas plugged to the Celsus, if it doesn't do the diversity (just takes AM from one and FM from the other one).

And going back to the AM matter, why do you think I get the AM only when I power the rooftop antenna? You suggest that those cheep chineese adapters (which are supposed to only provide power for active antenna) have also some amplifier which amplifies the signal for AM? And if this is the case, why I cant get any AM signal with the rooftop antenna connected directly (without power)? I guess it shouldn't make that big difference, I should recieve at least some AM with a working antenna...

I'm still wondering if for some reason my rooftop antenna is really not amplified originally. On the other hand there doesn't seem to be much difference with the FM stations... Is there any good method to test it to be 100% sure? My car is from 2008, so this was the last year of production VW Golf5, maybe they made some changes in this department. Do you maybe remember how exactly behaved rooftop antenna with amplifier in the base and without power? Was it a huge difference?

It's really a bit mysterious to me

My car is also late 2008 last of the MkV production and I had all these problems when I try 3rd party radio it was nearly there but just not enough for me to be happy, near the transmitter was ok, but I stay too far away for good signal.
Your other question ref. the power antenna, I remember well on my B5 passat it failed due to corrosion, (I already sent you a picture)..When it failed it wad just like the celsus adapter performance very poor and when I fitted the new base it was 100% even in my area and this was with the standard VW single tuner Gamma head unit this is why I always say I think this is the best solution (change the passive roof top bat to a VW active one) and use only this with a power supply that does not filter things.
Is it possible you can go to a car depo with damaged cars and try for a test with an antenna of a damaged car ? Ypu dont need to fit on the car just try a hand held test you must earth it though.