After a bit of an incident (breaking the current external FM/AM analogue aerial) on the weekend I need to sort a radio out for my ancient and cheap car. I can’t just replace the mast as it is properly broken.

Was thinking of a DAB radio – do these aftermarket ones work well enough with the antenna on the windscreen? The ease appeals. I know a lot of you will say to wire things up etc but I’m mechanically inept! Using cigarette charger / USB is easy and I don’t mind the wires.

Was thinking along the lines of this, but happy to be pointed in direction of something better:

https://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductMobileDisplay?catalogId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=318419&productId=1458085&storeId=10001

Interested in any feedback on reception quality (I’m in the southwest so we are blessed with great tv/mobile/data signal).

Ruled out streaming from phone which would be easy but would eat too much data.

Thank you

When we had one years ago the windscreen aerial wasn’t great. Replaced it with an external one that was in the boot and that was better but still not as good as a built in one. Cuts out under bridges etc.

Ah ok that is as feared. Appreciate the feedback. 👍

Only £6
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DAB-Aerial-For-the-Pure-Highway-Car-Radio-Magnetic-Base-19-6-cm-High-Gain-/401794381202
To be fair on my 12 mile commute across Sheffield there were 2 spots it would lose signal. Out in the peak there are large areas with no signal at all so ymmv

Screen-mounted antennae work, sort-of – when I first had a DAB fitted to my car, I had the little stick-on antenna fitted, and it was certainly vastly superior to the truly crap reception on Radio1/2 around North Wilts and across towards Bath and Bristol.
Going East and South from Devizes and down towards Salisbury the signal vanished completely.
Eventually I had a £40 magnetic antenna fitted to the rear of the car roof, and it’s been there ever since, that’s six or seven years. Any drop-outs in the signal are barely noticeable maybe a few seconds, but they’re very rare.
Most definitely a worthwhile investment.
Something like this:
High Gain DAB Car Aerial, Blufree Portable Aerial Indoor/Outdoor DAB+ Digital Radio Magnetic Base Antenna MCX Plug Adapter Roof Mount 3M Cable with Signal Amplifier for Improved DAB Signal Quality https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DWXXCTG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_Z.U1DbHJGN2JB

In my experience screen mounted aerials are next to useless. Had proper roof one installed been perfect 🙂

Thank you everyone 👍

Streaming audio only don’t use a lot of data, do it?

Our kids got one of these from Aldi for their car, has the windscreen aerial but all works fine around our way, bluetooth too:
https://www.aldi.co.uk/dab%2B-%26-fm-receiver/p/098154267771500

aye, windscreen ones are rubbish.

dabonwheels is your place to go for all thing dab on er…. wheels.

i found the magnetic aerials from there good enough. with the right car you can almost make the cable invisible. i had an octavia where i routed out along the trim and the hatch, tucking it into the side of the hatch too and stuck it in the middle.

just had a little dab adaptor plugged into the aux, cheap as chips.

FirstE Car DAB/DAB+ Radio… https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074KY6XG1?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I got one of these recently for my old 2008 civic, to be honest, I was expecting it to be shite, and to end up spending back.

Its bloody brilliant! For 26 quid, I can’t believe how good it is, Dab works perfectly, and I can also play Spotify through my phone too.

Well, well worth 26 quid.

i had an octavia where i routed out along the trim and the hatch, tucking it into the side of the hatch too and stuck it in the middle.

Mine’s on an Octavia, it’s offset to the left, just above the top left corner of the hatch, so there’s very little cable visible. Might have looked a wee bit better sat in the middle just behind the radio aerial, but it works perfectly.

I installed a DAB windscreen aerial and its been great. I do get the odd place with no signal, but most of the time it’s perfect. Was an ebay find and I think about £12. Radio I got was an ex demo Halfords so an absolute bargain.

I should add that the pure highway I’ve been used was bought in about 2003 and still works absolutely fine. Rock solid bit of kit. It’s only been retired this week as I’ve got a new car with dab built in.

Where do you live OP? I guess DAB signal where you do most of your driving would be a big factor. I’ve gone for a proper roof mounted powered aerial, live in the Borders and drive in the highlands a lot so a windscreen one won’t cut it, radio also does FM for when even that gets nothing.
If you live in London it’s going to be less of an issue.

I have a magnetic roof one from Halfords: https://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/stereo-fitting-accessories/autoleads-magnetic-dab-antenna (sure it was more expensive when I bought it)

It’s been on three cars now, and has survived a couple of overhanging tree incidents (pro-tip: mount it on the offside). It’s a mild pain to run the cable behind the trim when you get a new vehicle, but worth an hour’s work for neatness. I have it right at the back (for reason’s I’ve now forgotten) but the cable has been long enough to do that on an estate car and a Berlingo.

Never had a windscreen aerial to compare, but for minimal extra cost (negated when you can’t move your sticker from one car to another) and a bit of extra faff, I’d say it’s worth it.

I have a DAB headunit and relatively cheap windscreen mounted ariel that I bought from eBay, and it’s probably better than any FM antenna I’ve ever had.

Maybe we have good coverage, but there’s only one place of civilisation I know of locally where the signal drops out. It can drop out in some remote rural areas too (and I am talking remote), but FM antennas never coped in these places either.

In contrast, I’ve been in brand new cars where the FM signal is patchy everywhere.

FirstE Car DAB/DAB+ Radio… https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B074KY6XG1?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I had one of these in a previous car (got it from Aldi for £35 I think). Used with the included windscreen aerial and never had any issues with reception.
That was around rural North + East Yorkshire and frequesnt trips to the Midlands.

I bought a Pioneer MVH X580DAB single DIN unit on the strength of a group review in Auto Express which said it was excellent at holding on to a DAB signal with a windscreen aerial. It came best in test.

Have had it for a few years and can vouch for the DAB performance with a windscreen aerial. Also it’s a neat install that does everything (bluetooth phone connectivity for calls and music) without wires hanging about. Loads of features and good sound (if that’s important to you). All in all pretty pleased with it.

£85 in Halfords* – https://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/car-stereos/pioneer-mvh-x580dab-car-stereo

*you’ll need to buy a windscreen aerial separately – a generic one will do.

Wind it back a bit – how have you broke your analogue aerial??
Unless you’ve cut the wire in some unreachable place it should be an easy fix.

If it’s a case of nackering the socket/base that the aerial screws in to, these can be easily replaced. It usually one bolt and one wire to replace the base hidden under a blanking plate / light in the roof. Just get right part off eBay and find the correct YouTube video