981 Boxster DAB Reception Issues

[OC1980]

Hi

Recently purchased a 981 Boxster which has a DAB enabled PCM, however the reception is dreadful as it never picks up any national stations or when it does never seems to be able to hold a signal for very long. At the very best I get Surrey/sussex stations.

Has anyone experienced the similar problems and been able to fix it?

I have been trying to find out where the DAB aerial is actually located in the car (presumably it’s behind the trim of the windscreen frame) in case it’s something which can be replaced or adjusted.

Any tips or advice would be very welcome!

 

[tjb]

Unfortunately this seems to be the case as with DAB and is not unusual, reception on FM works without problem

 

[adrianb]

No issues with mine over the past 6years, I thought the aerial was in the windscreen, has a replacement been fitted ?

 

[Peter_Bull]

I had the same issue on my 981 Cayman and the last 3 x 911s, including my 992. Pretty poor from Porsche.

 

[Ti Rich]

Are you by any chance using a cigar lighter socket to USB convertor/phone charger (or similar) in the car? Cheaper ones of these cause massive interference with DAB, I know, I too have had this problem.

If you are simply unplug it, wait a few seconds, and see if the DAB signal comes back.

If it is the cause, buy a better quality one!

 

[OC1980]

Thanks all, tried a few things with no success, including the 12v charger check. All sockets are working and I rarely have a phone charger plugged in anyway.

Its not the end of the world but is pretty irritating that it has the DAB function with such inconsistent reception, tending to use my phone via bluetooth instead but would just love to get it resolved.

I think there is an antenna cable coming out of the back of the PCM but dont know where it routes to, it must be to windscreen and using that as the aerial in some way. Trying to understand which trim panels need taking out to locate it. A few videos on youtube show how to take most things apart in the interior have not seen showing this component. Oh for a haynes manual!

 

[SpyderDavid]

Just cleaned the windscreen on my DAB equipped car which has the original windscreen still - there is a thin, but quite visible L shaped wire embedded in the screen, running down parallel to the passenger side windscreen frame and then horizontally along the scuttle to the centre of the car - I believe this is the aerial. I’ve not experienced any issues with DAB reception personally.

 

[OC1980]

Thank you, I’ve seen them as well and going to try removing the bits of trim on the ‘a pillar’ of the windscreen. Must be behind there perhaps there is bad connection.