Another radio problem

[Dave Old]

Just bought a 2009 XK 5.0, FM stations working fine but I can't get any AM stations, is they something I'm missing?

[Jaguar Owners Club]

Does anyone actually listen to AM radio stations anymore?

[Martin Ellingham]

I think they are turning the AM wick down. Medium wave has become unusable where I live. Personally, I quite like BBC5Live for sports coverage (AM or DAB only) and Test Match Special as well as other sports coverage - Long Wave or DAB BBC5SX.

We are all being driven down the DAB route and I am a bit fed up when the BBC urge me to switch to DAB in the car. I have been advised that to upgrade to a DAB radio in a "Jaguar sort of way" would involve replacing the rear screen (which houses the aerial) and routing cable through the car. The cost is about 3 times the value of the car. My 2001 S-type standard kit doesn't do long wave (I wonder when the last receivers were fitted with long wave receivers)  So I looked for a more reasonable and relatively unobtrusive solution. After looking at several pieces of kit involving wiring and fairly chunky boxes, I found one that was cheap, small and portable. A reasonably unobtrusive aerial on the passenger side front screen, lead behind the pillar trim and taken to the centre console where it's plugged in to the module which is simply inserted into the cigar lighter. All works well, even with the heated screen. Take the module with you in your pocket when you leave the car.

I only hope that when the VHF FM frequencies are handed over from national to very local services we can reserve frequencies to allow us to use the after market DAB receivers which retransmit the signal to our FM car radios without being blotted out by random commercial stations as we drive from area to area.

Sorry about the rant.

For anyone interested, this link is worth a read http://www.frequencyfinder.org.uk/Opinion_AM.pdf

Edited September 23, 2017 by Martin Ellingham
Additional information