Why do normal roof mounted car-aerials not work with DAB in car stereos?

kwikbreaks

wiogs wrote: »

Sadly there are still plenty of people who talk about "digital" aerials, as if such things existed.

Marketing bull !!!!!!

The old analogue service was based on different channel groupings by area. The lowest range was called Group A then came Group B.
There were other groupings (CD and E) at the high frequency end which overlapped each other a bit

Channel Five was transmitted on a channel in the few reserved between groups A and B for video recorders, games consoles etc. nationwide. To avoid interference between transmitters the power was low and you couldn't get it everywhere

Anyway you'd get an aerial suited to your area. A group A aerial would perform badly or not at all in a group B or CD area etc.

When digital came along the Muxes would frequently need to be in different channel bandings so to reliably receive all the muxes in an area where that was done you'd need a broad band antenna. Making the antenna broad band reduced its gain so to work well they had to have more elements.

So although there is no such thing as a digital aerial because they all will pick up both analogue and digitally modulated transmissions if you don't live in a strong signal area you may well need a different aerial for good digital reception - certainly when analogue was still in use and the power of the digital transmissions had to be kept low to avoid interference.

So in short - it isn't complete BS but doubtless many were conned into buying new aerials they didn't need.

RumRat

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Shark fin aerials are likely to be more aerodynamic.

True...However, they are purely aesthetic....http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/shark-fin-car-aerial
You can use the existing aerial with a FM/DAB Amplified splitter fitted apparently. As described HERE

wiogs

"So in short - it isn't complete BS but doubtless many were conned into buying new aerials they didn't need."

Calling it a "digital" aerial is total bullsh!t, however explaining the reasons that someone may have required a new aerial, as you have done, would have been a nice thing to see done more often rather than unscrupulous people try and sell things to people who didn't require them.

Alas it was ever thus.

grumpycrab

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Shark fin aerials are likely to be more aerodynamic.

lol; some amusement among a techy thread.

almillar

When I fitted my DAB stereo in the car, with a DAB aerial (I'll not call it a digital aerial - the aerial had an exrta wire for power - the aerial requires power which some stereos provide through the aerial port, otherwise you needed to connect this cable to the car's electrics.