Technical Ducato aerial swap out?

[chilly500]

My 2013 Ducato motorhome has its radio aerial housed within the nearside mirror.
Is it a big job to swap out the aerial from the mirror into a replacement mirror that doesn't have an aerial within?
If anybody's done it, I'd really appreciate a guide to how its done.
Cheers Chris

 

[Techno100]

It is very unlikely that you would get the housing and arm open without causing substantial damage and I doubt the aerial coax would pull through either. There is a joint in the coax below the passenger glove box, I would look at alternative aerials if you cannot source the correct mirror at a sensible price

 

[Techno100]

This is left hand drive so reversed image. Coax joint there in the black bracket.

 

[chilly500]

Thanks Techno. You've given me an idea. I think I'll just mount a 'bee sting' type aerial somewhere on the mirrors outer casing (or even top arm).
The mirrors I'm putting on are some cheap, broken ones off ebay that I'm not too bothered about cutting into. I'll just cover the mirror heads with 'Mirror Guards'.
Any idea whether I'd be able to get the connector that joins the coax (sited where the window wires join immediately under the window switch?) I think it's a reddy brown colour. Ideally I don't want to chop off the mirror's connector as I'll be putting the proper mirrors back on the MH when I eventually sell it.
Cheers
Chris

 

[Techno100]

Sorry I don't know.
How about a screen aerial?
[ame]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blaupunkt-01-E-AutoSuper-Radio-Antenne/dp/B002FHA6VE[/ame]

 

[chilly500]

Don't really want to fix anything inside as there's blinds and stuff.

Nah, I think I'll just fix an external aerial to the mirror somehow.
Cheers.

 

[Crossingkeeper]

The mirrors I'm putting on are some cheap, broken ones off ebay that I'm not too bothered about cutting into. I'll just cover the mirror heads with 'Mirror Guards'.

as I'll be putting the proper mirrors back on the MH when I eventually sell it.
Cheers
Chris

I was hoping that someone else would ask but I can't bear it any longer

Is this the same principle as me putting my removable carpets up into the loft until I come to sell the van?

 

[chilly500]

I was hoping that someone else would ask but I can't bear it any longer

Is this the same principle as me putting my removable carpets up into the loft until I come to sell the van?

Not quite the same
The mirrors on most 'coach built' motorhomes are ridiculously wide and tend to get bashed a lot (even by good drivers). New replacements are about £350 each!
The mirrors are available in standard, medium and these extra wide ones.
I've bought some cracked 'medium' ones off ebay (£26 the pair).
I intend to put the medium ones on the van and cover the cracked covers with 'mirror guards'.
Then, even if I bash one (less likely), it doesn't matter.
When I sell the van in around 5 years I'll put the good, stupidly wide ones back on.

 

[chilly500]

Here you go...

 

[chilly500]

unnecessarily wide ones...

 

[chilly500]

SUSSED IT!
It's a booster for the aerial. Connected, radio finds lots of stations. Disconnected it will only find local station with very strong signal.
Thanks for all your suggestions guys. Much appreciated

 

[Crossingkeeper]

Not quite the same
The mirrors on most 'coach built' motorhomes are ridiculously wide and tend to get bashed a lot (even by good drivers). New replacements are about £350 each!
The mirrors are available in standard, medium and these extra wide ones.
I've bought some cracked 'medium' ones off ebay (£26 the pair).
I intend to put the medium ones on the van and cover the cracked covers with 'mirror guards'.
Then, even if I bash one (less likely), it doesn't matter.
When I sell the van in around 5 years I'll put the good, stupidly wide ones back on.

Completely agree with you regarding the over-wide mirrors, my van is only 2.26 metres wide and has/had* the 'long arm' mirrors. I guess the manufacturers (Autotrail in my case) just buy all the chassis cabs specified with the wide mirrors as they don't know what sort of body they are going to fit at the time of ordering.

* I shortened my mirror arms by about 40cms each side by butchering the metal arms and plastic shrouding.

 

[chilly500]

* I shortened my mirror arms by about 40cms each side by butchering the metal arms and plastic shrouding.

Should have got some 'mediums' off ebay and kept your long ones for sale time. (you could have put them in the loft next to the carpets:devil

Cheers
Chris

 

[Charisma]

SUSSED IT!
It's a booster for the aerial. Connected, radio finds lots of stations. Disconnected it will only find local station with very strong signal.
Thanks for all your suggestions guys. Much appreciated

Hi. I have a 2016 ducato which has rubbish radio reception. Just wondered where the aerial amplifier actually is? Is it in the mirror housing or under the dash somewhere? Any help would be appreciated.

Dave

 

[horseyian]

Hi. I have a 2016 ducato which has rubbish radio reception. Just wondered where the aerial amplifier actually is? Is it in the mirror housing or under the dash somewhere? Any help would be appreciated.

Dave

Hi, I have a 2019 Fiat with similar problems with radio reception. Did you find out about the amplifier?

Thanks

Ian

 

[Charisma]

Hi Ian

Afraid not. Just don't use the radio anymore. Sorry

Dave

 

[Sparky23]

Hi
thanks for letting me join
I have a 2021 fiat Ducato and the reception was very poor. I had a look and found this. Is the booster meant to be powered as there is a place for a plug but none to be seen
Thanks

 

[Anthony489]

Hi Sparky23

An antenna preamplifier ("booster") must get a small amount of DC power from somewhere. This will either be a separate wire from a DC supply, or the power is sent from the head unit along the same centre conductor of the coaxial aerial cable as is used for the radio signal (phantom power). Chokes (coils) and capacitors are used at both the head unit and the preamplifier to separate out DC and aerial signals and enable this sharing to take place.

If you have a factory fit head unit this will normally be already programmed to supply DC power if that's what the setup expects. If you have an aftermarket head unit you may need to enable it via a setup menu.

Ducato radio reception has frequently been reported as less than wonderful when on the move. I suspect that Fiat made less effort to reduce electrical noise radiated by the engine than they would have done for a car - who knows ? If you have a wing mirror mounted antenna, these are less effective than the traditional over-cab rod/whip type.

If your vehicle is a motorhome, the head unit fitment is sometimes done by the dealer rather than the factory. Not all dealers are completely au fait with radio antennas, and there have been reported cases of DAB antennas not being connected up or not fitted at all. If FM is OK and DAB isn't, it's worth checking that something is actually plugged into the head unit's DAB antenna socket.

 

[Sparky23]

Hi Sparky23

An antenna preamplifier ("booster") must get a small amount of DC power from somewhere. This will either be a separate wire from a DC supply, or the power is sent from the head unit along the same centre conductor of the coaxial aerial cable as is used for the radio signal (phantom power). Chokes (coils) and capacitors are used at both the head unit and the preamplifier to separate out DC and aerial signals and enable this sharing to take place.

If you have a factory fit head unit this will normally be already programmed to supply DC power if that's what the setup expects. If you have an aftermarket head unit you may need to enable it via a setup menu.

Ducato radio reception has frequently been reported as less than wonderful when on the move. I suspect that Fiat made less effort to reduce electrical noise radiated by the engine than they would have done for a car - who knows ? If you have a wing mirror mounted antenna, these are less effective than the traditional over-cab rod/whip type.

If your vehicle is a motorhome, the head unit fitment is sometimes done by the dealer rather than the factory. Not all dealers are completely au fait with radio antennas, and there have been reported cases of DAB antennas not being connected up or not fitted at all. If FM is OK and DAB isn't, it's worth checking that something is actually plugged into the head unit's DAB antenna socket.

Hi
Thanks for the reply. I opened the cover of the amplifier. There are 3 pins on the amplifier. Only one is connected. I pushed the red yellow wire in and it worked a treat. I thought there would be a plug on the cable but it was a bare pin.
Thanks the radio works brilliantly now.

 

[Coopersale]

I’m just changing the radio to a double din apple CarPlay with DAB.
The previous owner at some point added a screen mounted fm aerial (that didn’t work either)
But I’ve found 3 aerial leads, the one he added, another with a normal looking fm plug and the other from the loom with an adapter to fit.
Why would it have 2 fm leads?