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mrdo

Active Member
Jan 10, 2013
70
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does anyone have any suggestions for a dab radio for the exeo ?

i'd prefer something that integrates with the rns-e rather than one with a screen of its own.

this seems to be the way to go unless anyone has any better suggestions ?
 
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yeah - i saw that. i was hoping that there was a built-in aerial rather than having an external one but i don't think anyone has been able to confirm this ?

i've got the saloon anyway so i may not even have the aerial built-in ?
 
yeah - i saw that. i was hoping that there was a built-in aerial rather than having an external one but i don't think anyone has been able to confirm this ?

i've got the saloon anyway so i may not even have the aerial built-in ?

Sorry can't comment on the saloon but I have a lot of experience of DAB aerials. If you fit a stick-on thingy to the windscreen you will soon find out that it isn't good enough! The best type is an external bee-sting but that means drilling the roof. The one on my Passat gave perfect reception most of the time. The glass mount ones are nearly as good and you don't have to carry out any drilling. Look at DAB on Wheels website.
 
it sounds like the aerial is going to be the problem rather than the dab functionality itself.

more research required !
 
it sounds like the aerial is going to be the problem rather than the dab functionality itself.

more research required !

Yeah, the aerial is always a problem with DAB. Because of the higher frequency of the signal, you really do need an external and modern cars tend not to have them.
 
so, finally got my dab radio fitted and working today.

very happy with the outcome - the (internal) aerial is much smaller that i'd thought and everything is tucked away behind the oem stereo.

the signal dropped out briefly twice on the way home but only for a second at a time and i am in the north of scotland. no problems in and around town which is great as i bought the thing to while away the endless hours stuck in traffic on the way to work and back.
 
i bought the autodab detailed in the first post as managed to find it for £130 including postage.

unfortunately, when the oem stereo went back in it was asking for the pin code and the pin was nowhere to be found. i was told by my local dealer that it would cost £40 to retrieve the pin and the next available appointment was march !

drove 60 miles to my next closest dealer who gave me an appointment the same day and did it for nothing. very impressed with the service compared to my local dealer.
 
Just had a look at the AutoDab. Seems to be a really neat solution. Did you fit it yourself? Is the DAB programme info displayed on screen - i.e. music track playing or cricket test score, etc?

Did you find out if the Exeo radio set-up is the equivalent of the Audi Concert, Chorus or Symphony?

When I first got into DAB radio I was travelling all over the country, so need an external aerial, however I have since put my old standard DIN DAB radio in my wife's Ibiza with an amplified internal aerial and it works fine around Greater Manchester. It doesn't go much further and you have obviously found that the internal aerial is OK for your commuting run as well.

Re the radio security code, I bought my Exeo "nearly new" however no radio code was provided. As I tend to fiddle with car radios I asked the dealer to let me have the code. He said that it would be provided free of charge should I need it. I wish I had got that in writing!
 
i didn't fit it myself but in retrospect, it looks pretty straightforward. the thing i was most worried about was making a slight mess of the aerial and then having to look at it everyday, thus the slight over caution. :)

it does display programme information but the info is only displayed in the first column of the screen (track name if i remember correctly) so it has to do a fair bit of scrolling to be read. better than nothing though.

you're right - anything more than commuting and an external aerial might be the way to go.

to be honest, paying £40 for the code was the least of my worries, it was the prospect of having to wait almost 3 weeks to have it done that seemed ridiculous. they also wanted me to leave my car rather than doing it on the spot which is obviously a pain.
 
tell me about it - not sure i could be bothered with an hour's drive each way.

i suppose it depends on how bad my local dealer ends up being. :)
 
Hi - been interested in doing this in my exeo. Can I ask what head unit you have in yours. I have a ST Sport Tech with the rns-e sat nav etc. I phoned the people who make autodab and they say I need CTDAB-AU1 - the first thread had a link to CTDAB-AU2 - just after some clarification. Many thanks
 
apologies,

the first post was before i'd contacted them and the CTDAB-AU1 is indeed the model that works with the RNS-E system.
 
Sorry to bump an old thread!

Looking at AutoDAB for my Exeo and not getting many answers from the net, I get that I'll need to switch AutoDAB off to change source, however does that also apply if I want to switch to Nav or Phone?

Also does Nav still receive traffic info for routing with AutoDAB on?

Thanks
 
basically, when you have autodab switched on, it overrides the scroll controller on the steering wheel until you switch it off. everything else on the main unit itself and the volume scroll controller continue to work as normal until you switch autodab off again e.g if you have autodab switched on and then switch to media and try and use the scroll button to switch tracks on your sd card, nothing happens until you go back to the radio and switch autodab off.

not sure about the satnav question - i wasn't aware that the routing would change depending in response to traffic info as i don't use the satnav that often to be honest.
 
basically, when you have autodab switched on, it overrides the scroll controller on the steering wheel until you switch it off. everything else on the main unit itself and the volume scroll controller continue to work as normal until you switch autodab off again e.g if you have autodab switched on and then switch to media and try and use the scroll button to switch tracks on your sd card, nothing happens until you go back to the radio and switch autodab off.

not sure about the satnav question - i wasn't aware that the routing would change depending in response to traffic info as i don't use the satnav that often to be honest.

Thanks for that, sounds like it will let me switch to and control the NAV and Phone screens then?

I'll have to wait for Connects2 to get back to me about the Traffic Info, makes the SatNav a bit useless if it doesn't recalculate for traffic! I can only think it gets its info by RDS.
 
Had confirmation back from Connects2.

When a call comes in the buttons will begin to work as Bluetooth overrides the AutoDAB and to get traffic for the SatNav I need to buy a CTDAB-TMC module.

Think I'll be investing soon.

Just need a discrete (hiding behind the headlining) reusable screen mount aerial to go with it.