Thread: FM/DAB digital radio - THAT WORKS!!

FM reception is as good as car head units. There are a couple of posts confirming this earlier on in this thread.

You need to contact Mitch here on the forum for the RR plugin as he has been developing this. CF and standalone Windows plugins are available at http://www.craigbrass.net/ultimate_radio.zip with near final builds being released this week.

That's really good to hear Kev.

Hopefully my radio is here soon and I can test it with an extendable mast antenna.

Will post some info when it gets here.

Cheers, Tom.

Originally Posted by tom_rosenback

Nice Radio you got there!

Now I have a few questions, excuse me if I have missed the answer in this "short" thread

First, can anyone tell me or show me a video of the FM reception? I have tried both Silabs and ADS but neither of them have worked good enough so that they would have been usable.

Secondly, I looked both here, your website and DC for a RR plugin but couldn´t find one, or the it was just me not understanding... Could you please advise me in the correct direction, please?


Thank you!

About the FM reception, it is better without antenna conected than on HQCT with antenna connected. I have not tried it in the "field" yet but first tests are looking very good.

About the plugin. It is my understanding that with the next update of RideRunner the plugin will be included in the update

One question to Craig. Is it ok to use USB 1.1 cable with the unit or do I have to use USB 2.0 cable?

Thx craigbass, soyfish and Roadwarrior for you answers. I must place an order now then

Roadwarrior: USB 1.1 should be fine. It only runs at 12mbps akaik anyway...

Originally Posted by RevheadKev

So I jumpered 12V from the ACC/IGN pin to the antenna pin on the stereo wiring harness and FULL SIGNAL for DAB+. Have not driven around with it yet like this but with the visual difference in signal strength as seen by the module I think it should be OK.

Well it seems like the antenna/cable matching is not quite right.
Standing still in one place had the full signal but while driving arouns there were fluctuations and an occasional dropout. Signal was better up on the ridges rather than along the coast amoungst the apartment blocks. but then even FM has its "fuzzy" areas there too on a standard headunit.

With some further research it seems the antennas with separate DAB and FM cables have the FM at 75 Ohms and the DAB at 50 Ohms so I am thinking them maybe it is an impedence mismatch causing signal degredation. This makes me think a standard RF combiner unit won't do any better. So now it is off to find a 75 Ohm -> 50 Ohm Balun and try that.

kev, what antenna are you using?

I have the factory-fitted amplified "bee sting" antenna for AM/FM reception with the Motorola plug on the lead.

Hello craigbrass

I finally got cable for the antenna.
But now I have a problem with the installation of radio with the drivers you provided.
I state that I am in my CarPC has the steering wheel with adapter ibus / USB Resler.
Just connect the radio and as mentioned you install the drivers provided once I notice that restarting the ibus adapter no longer works and in device manager I find the question mark is on the radio device that ibus adapter.
I therefore fail to have both devices simultaneously lit ..... there is a solution ..... or am I mistaken something?

Thanks for your answer