Radio can't automatically find stations

Jurka

Hi! I recently bought DUDU7 and installed it. The issue is that my radio signal is weak. Additionally, When I scan for FM stations it can find only one or two stations. As a result, I have to manually search for each station switching the frequency one by one, and save them. However, this is not reliable solution if you move between cities. In my previous head unit, I was able to click auto-search and all the stations were scanned and added automatically. Additionally, even those stations that were added manually are not stable. I mean that they may sound not always clear and this is in the city with a good radio coverage. I tried to switch all the possible settings in the Radio app to find if any can solve the issue but no luck. As I mentioned, I didn't have such an issue with my previous head unit. I'm in the Europe region, if it matters for the solution.
Is it an issue with all the DUDU devices, or it is an issue with my device only? I would appreciate, if someone could suggest how to fix this issue and make DUDU find the stations automatically.

Mikescotland

Jurka I'm in Europe and radio is actually better than my dedicated pioneer stereo.
Without how you wired it, if there is an antenna amp etc it's hard to tell what's going on.
I complain about a lot in Dudu, radio isn't one if it. It's excellent.

picasso1850

Jurka do you have a power antenna and is that set to on in dudu settings?

HSathler

Jurka I had this problem too, when I installed DUDUOS on my 3rd-party unit. What I discovered was that, in radio settings, the region was set as Asia. Changing to my region (South America) did solved the problem.

Jurka

picasso1850 Mikescotland Thanks for the response. I have connected my car's built-in antenna. I have Nissan X-trail produced in 2017. So, it should have an active antenna. Could you please suggest where I can find this setting to set it to on? I don't remember having it in Radio settings.

picasso1850

going off memory but its in Vehicle section....I think.....Canbus >(password 108), factory settings > Other Settings> Antenna

Jurka

picasso1850 Thanks. I have checked and can confirm that it was enabled. I partially solved the issue. I tried previously with enabled and disabled Auto-sensitivity feature. However, I didn't know that after disabling Auto-sensitivity it still has too high value. As a result, it couldn't find anything. I have set it to the minimum value and it was able to find 9 radio stations automatically, which is still small number of stations. As an experiment, I have installed NavRadio, and it was able to find around 20 Radio stations without any issues. So, I believe it might be an issue with the built-in Radio app. As a result, I'm going to use NavRadio instead of the built-in one. Probably, this information might be helpful for other people who has an issue with the Radio.

Mikescotland

Jurka what antenna are you using? If you're using simple one without an amp you basically shorting the circuit.
So for simple antenna this option is off.
For car integrated (im using one) it's on.
I'd actually advise you to check the reception with just 30-50 cm wire inserted to the middle hole in the radio socket. If it picks up more station or more stable, means your antenna in the car is cooked.
Other than that, the unit might be faulty. On auto sensitivity it picks up even too many stations, radio is very good in Dudu7.

Jurka

Mikescotland Hi! I'm using a car integrated antenna. I tried both with enabled and disabled antenna feature. I don't think the this is an issue with the antenna because NavRadio application was able to find around 20 Radio stations without any issues, whereas built-in application was able to find at maximum 9 Radio stations. That's why I believe it is rather an application issue than the issue with my antenna.

Jurka

HSathler Hi! In my case, the correct region was set. It was the first thing I have checked. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion.

picasso1850

Jurka This is a long shot diagnosis but have you physically inspected the exterior housing of your antenna? In some cases the plastic housing on roof antennas starts to fail over time and you can see worse reception after a rainstorm. Again, its a long shot diagnosis but just trying to think of something for you. Maybe @DUDU-Meng has another suggestion.

Jurka

picasso1850 Hi! Thanks for the suggestion but my antenna is completely fine. If it were the issue related to the physical connection or antenna, NavRadio application wouldn't be able to search and find all the stations. I still believe that it is the software issue with Radio app itself. Otherwise, any Radio app would fail searching the Radio stations. For now, this issue is solved for me by switching from built-in Radio app to NavRadio application. I will keep an eye on how it works for several weeks and update the post once I discover something new.

picasso1850

Jurka Understood. I mentioned longshot because we usually don't think about outside weather conditions when trying to diagnose an internal car issue. IE - maybe navradio worked good because it hadn't rained outside for a week so moisture penetration levels were non existent. Anyhow, good luck and hope you can find a resolution. 🙂

Mikescotland

Jurka did you set correct region for radio in Dudu7 settings (not radio app settings)? Some regions have different scan options (0.05 or 0.1 Mhz raster) so might be that radio doesn't scan exact frequencies.

Jurka

picasso1850 I have an update regarding the radio issue. I was testing it during the week. Despite the fact that NavRadio was able to find multiple stations, the signal wasn't strong enough when I was driving the car. That's why I double-checked the connection of the antenna as you suggested. It appeared that it wasn't connected good enough. The reason is that the antenna connects very tightly and it was necessary to apply more force to insert the antenna all the way. After the antenna was connected with more force, everything works as expected. Built-in Radio app was able to find all the stations that were in NavRadio. As a result, your suggestion about the bad antenna connection was completely right. I still don't understand why NavRadio was able to find all those stations and built-in Radio app wasn't able with the same antenna connection. I would expect similar behaviour for Radio apps with the same physical connection. Anyway, the issue is solved now and everything works good.
Thank you everyone for the help and all the suggestions.

picasso1850

Jurka That is awesome news, Jurka! Thanks so much for providing the update, it put a smile on my face knowing everything is working good for you. 🙂