I drive a VW Passatt, owned from new (1999) with original equipment. The
car has not been used for the last month as we have another car and I have
been convalescing . Today, I resume motoring and find that the car radio no
longer picks up AM broadcasts and those for FM are weak and intermittent.

The cassette player works fine - just the tuner not picking up signal. Do
aerials go wrong? Or is there something else I should check before nipping
into my local Halfords and buying a replacement radio?

Thanks in advance.

Angus

"Angus Gilmour" wrote in message
...
I drive a VW Passatt, owned from new (1999) with original equipment. The
car has not been used for the last month as we have another car and I have
been convalescing . Today, I resume motoring and find that the car radio
no
longer picks up AM broadcasts and those for FM are weak and intermittent.

The cassette player works fine - just the tuner not picking up signal. Do
aerials go wrong? Or is there something else I should check before
nipping
into my local Halfords and buying a replacement radio?

Thanks in advance.

Angus

Sounds like the RF aerial has packed up, only coincidence that it has gone
after it has been parked up.

Where is the Ariel on the car? I have had problems with my radio in my car..
I have an E36 BMW, they have the Ariel in the rear window rather than
externally. These cars also have a booster actually as part of the car, not
the stereo, what can happen is this booster stops working or the connections
become loose over time and this causes poor signal, and in extreme cases it
loses it all together.

First think I'd do is obviously check the connections at the back, and see
if you can check another friends radio on your ariel. Also might be a good
idea to have a look around and see if the passat has this booster, I'm not
sure if it's BMW specific.

"C.Read" wrote in message
...
Where is the Ariel on the car? I have had problems with my radio in my
car..
I have an E36 BMW, they have the Ariel in the rear window rather than
externally. These cars also have a booster actually as part of the car,
not
the stereo, what can happen is this booster stops working or the
connections
become loose over time and this causes poor signal, and in extreme cases
it
loses it all together.

First think I'd do is obviously check the connections at the back, and see
if you can check another friends radio on your ariel. Also might be a
good
idea to have a look around and see if the passat has this booster, I'm not
sure if it's BMW specific.

On the beamer it maybe in the rear pillar, the VWs are phantom fed so there
is no external connection as the gamma unit feeds the 12v.

So what do you reckon, new aerial is the first thing that comes to mind?

Aerial is a screw in affair and is quite short - maybe 14" or so and pokes
out of the rear of the roof and overhangs the rear screen at an angle of 45
degrees or so. My car has to go onto the garage tomorrow to have the glow
plugs changed (off to the Alps in a few days time) so the electrical
johnnies can take a squint at it then.

Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to give me a few clues and in all
probability answers.

Angus



"Avanti" wrote in message
.uk...

"Angus Gilmour" wrote in message
...
I drive a VW Passatt, owned from new (1999) with original equipment. The
car has not been used for the last month as we have another car and I
have
been convalescing . Today, I resume motoring and find that the car radio
no
longer picks up AM broadcasts and those for FM are weak and intermittent.

The cassette player works fine - just the tuner not picking up signal.
Do
aerials go wrong? Or is there something else I should check before
nipping
into my local Halfords and buying a replacement radio?

Thanks in advance.

Angus

Sounds like the RF aerial has packed up, only coincidence that it has gone
after it has been parked up.

"Angus Gilmour" wrote in message
...
So what do you reckon, new aerial is the first thing that comes to mind?

No sorry , when I posted aerial I meant RF amplifier.


Aerial is a screw in affair and is quite short - maybe 14" or so and pokes
out of the rear of the roof and overhangs the rear screen at an angle of
45
degrees or so. My car has to go onto the garage tomorrow to have the glow
plugs changed (off to the Alps in a few days time) so the electrical
johnnies can take a squint at it then.

Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to give me a few clues and in all
probability answers.

Angus



"Avanti" wrote in message
.uk...

"Angus Gilmour" wrote in message
...
I drive a VW Passatt, owned from new (1999) with original equipment.
The
car has not been used for the last month as we have another car and I
have
been convalescing . Today, I resume motoring and find that the car
radio
no
longer picks up AM broadcasts and those for FM are weak and
intermittent.

The cassette player works fine - just the tuner not picking up signal.
Do
aerials go wrong? Or is there something else I should check before
nipping
into my local Halfords and buying a replacement radio?

Thanks in advance.

Angus

Sounds like the RF aerial has packed up, only coincidence that it has
gone
after it has been parked up.