Radio audio volume spikes on Newstalk 106 (seems more frequent in rain)?!
Looking for some help or advice with what's becoming a stranger and stranger audio problem. The issue is the radio volume is spiking up to very loud at times.
Example linked below. Be warned, the audio spikes loud in spots, I've reduced the gain on this clip but check you don't have speakers up loud before playing.
https://soundcloud.com/alastairmcder...-volume-spikes
This is the BMW Business Radio in my 2002 E39 525i. The radio volume spikes at times as can be heard in this clip. This is a particularly bad instance of it happening - normally it happens less frequently (once every 10-20 mins). I was doing some testing and subjected myself to the horror of listening to 2FM for 15 minutes - no volume spikes. So it's only happening on Newstalk106 so far. Haven't tested on other frequencies yet
There is a Dension bluetooth unit installed (the blue Gateway Lite BT) in the glovebox wired in by a previous owner. The FM radio channel audio spike can be heard when the radio is in both normal radio mode and in CD mode (while playing bluetooth audio it cuts in about 0.5s of very loud audio from the radio channel).
Anyone know what the problem might be? I was wondering about loose wires and checked the Dension unit - snug fit for input cable. The other thing that could be related or just coincidental is weather - it was really bad when heavily overcast with solid rain when I recorded the above, this is significantly more frequent than normal.
Any ICE or physics experts who can explain what's going on here?
Radio audio volume spikes on Newstalk 106 (seems more frequent in rain)?!
It may not be a problem with your car, Newstalk share an antenna system on Mount Leinster with us, we're having problems with the antenna system.
Newstalk are running reduced Power on 107.2, we're also running reduced Power on 102.0, what you may be hearing is your RDS jumping between frequencies with different Mod levels.
We thought we found the problem this morning, it looked like water ingress.
This is the feeder cable
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6be328dbe3.jpg
The dipole
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3629dd3192.jpg
Everything tested fine but after an hour our SWR went through the roof.
It looks like we're gonna need to replace the entire antenna system, which is a bummer.
But what a day!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...141e6df7b2.jpg
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro