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Pure Highway In-Car DAB Radio


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Old 30-08-2013, 21:10
Brucie Bonus
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Does anyone use one? Are they any good? Thanks.

http://www.globalgps.co.uk//object-5...FaTLtAodSlAANA
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Old 30-08-2013, 21:17
steel wheels
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Yes I own 2 of these and have had no issues with either unit, the only thing i would recommend is to get an external aerial for better reception.

I actually only use the aerial inside our cars as I don't want to damage the paintwork and the reception is still good.
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Old 30-08-2013, 21:24
lundavra
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Yes I own 2 of these and have had no issues with either unit, the only thing i would recommend is to get an external aerial for better reception.

I actually only use the aerial inside our cars as I don't want to damage the paintwork and the reception is still good.
Every so often the plastic sucker on the windscreen mount falls off but I have a spare so swap over and usually find the first one recovers after a bit so keep as a spare for next time.

My first magnetic mount antenna rotted away (after several years) inside the base so had to replace. I glued it back together and keep in the back of the car as a spare.
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Old 30-08-2013, 21:38
Sniffle774
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Had one for six months and it was great. Only reason I no longer use it is that I got a new car with DAB built in.
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Old 30-08-2013, 23:11
Gerry1
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Yes, it's a good, well thought out device. It can also be upgraded to DAB+ which makes it reasonably future proof and handy if you travel abroad. You can also use it as a pocket portable, but rechargables won't last very long and reception via headphone lead will be iffy if you're on the move and not in a strong signal area.

The aerial lead is a bit short if you want to fix it anywhere other than on the windscreen, and that won't be a suitable place if it's heated (e.g. Ford) or athermic.

If you can receive several muxes and have lots of favourite stations (yes, I know that's unlikely) the lack of single-keystroke preset buttons can make it slightly fiddly.

An external aerial will be much better than a stick-on one. I've installed my Highway in the centre console of my Focus so that absolutely nothing is visible. No problems with having to remove the suction cup and cleaning the ring on the windscreen every time you park !

I've also broken all the rules by using a horizontal dipole on the underneath of the hatchback shelf. It works amazingly well, and again absolutely nothing is visible. I haven't driven a car with a factory fitted external aerial, but I doubt that there would be much improvement, except perhaps on BBC/D1 muxes in seriously remote areas. If you experiment in this way, just remember not to allow any aerial lead to contact the bodywork because the aerial lead is powered and shorting it out will destroy the radio.

It can be slightly fiddly if you drive on the fringes of muxes because you'll have to retune e.g. from one flavour of Heart / Capital to another.

Overall it's a very good device and once you've sorted out the wiring and achieved a good signal input I think you'll like it a lot.
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Old 30-08-2013, 23:45
Mr Pringle
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I've had very good results with an external mag mount antenna. Easy to install and shuffle away the wiring, and no problems with it moving on the roof: http://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/Kinetic...ar_aerial.html
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Old 31-08-2013, 00:06
lundavra
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I've had very good results with an external mag mount antenna. Easy to install and shuffle away the wiring, and no problems with it moving on the roof: http://www.dabonwheels.co.uk/Kinetic...ar_aerial.html
The only problem with the mag base antenna on the roof is that rain water comes down and drips into the car.
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Old 31-08-2013, 12:20
Charlie
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Had the same one in my van for about 8 years and wouldn't be without it.
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Old 31-08-2013, 15:16
Gavin_D
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This was the first in car DAB radio I got a very good unit I highly recommend you use an external magnetic aerial to get the best reception continuously
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Old 07-09-2013, 20:09
Mr Pringle
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The only problem with the mag base antenna on the roof is that rain water comes down and drips into the car.
Can't say I've ever had that problem, but I guess it depends on the car.
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Old 21-02-2014, 20:39
GoodBuddy
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My Highway has a strange problem at the moment. When tuned into either a national station (eg 5 Live) or a local station the signal fluctuates between maximum of 5 bars signal to maybe as low as 1 or 2. I even tried a new aerial and its the same.
I have just bought it indoors to plug into my PC via USB and try the aerial indoors for a steady signal but its still jumping around.

Anyone else got this issue?
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Old 21-02-2014, 21:02
superbike999
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When it's in the car, are you using it with the Pure power supply and external aerial, or trying to use it with just rechargeable batteries? You need to use the power supply to get a full steady signal.
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Old 21-02-2014, 21:05
GoodBuddy
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Yes its powered via the plug in and running a magnetic external aerial. It used to give a solid signal.
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Old 21-02-2014, 21:19
Inkblot
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It's not the dreaded problem of being overloaded by a more powerful transmitter, is it? I've had that when driving past the Membury mast by the M4, or in the town centre near the Malvern transmitter, and in both cases Digital 1 disappears because the signal from the nearby mast is too powerful for the Pure Highway to handle.
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Old 21-02-2014, 22:20
GoodBuddy
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It's not the dreaded problem of being overloaded by a more powerful transmitter, is it? I've had that when driving past the Membury mast by the M4, or in the town centre near the Malvern transmitter, and in both cases Digital 1 disappears because the signal from the nearby mast is too powerful for the Pure Highway to handle.
No nothing is interfering. It worked fine until about a week ago. It happens all the way on my route down to St Albans. As mentioned it happened even when tuned in at my the house with the aerial plugged in.
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Old 02-03-2014, 20:42
GoodBuddy
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An update and maybe a word of warning to others with a pure DAB highway.

The highway was still playing up so I decided to treat myself to a new DAB unit. I went for a Halfords Sonichi and new aerial which worked lovely- for a few days then started playing up.

To cut a long story short, the reason the new unit started to play up was because I wasnt using the supplied power lead- instead I was running it from a similar lead plugged into a USB in the car. I ran the proper lead (both 5v) but now it works perfectly.

I then plugged in my original Pure Highway with the origional power lead that came with it and bingo- it works like a dream.


Moral of the story is- use the damn lead it comes with and don't run things like that off car USB's.
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Old 02-03-2014, 21:09
gomezz
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How were you able to use a different lead to the one supplied with the Highway as it has a non-standard connector at the unit end?
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Old 03-03-2014, 09:12
GoodBuddy
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How were you able to use a different lead to the one supplied with the Highway as it has a non-standard connector at the unit end?
My Highway has a mini usb plug in. You may have the newer version.
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Old 04-03-2014, 20:11
GrannyGruntbuck
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They are excellent and I have upgraded mine for Dab+ use when driving around Europe.

Sadly though, with my current car, I get rain dripping in when using the mag mount.

It never happened with previous cars.
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Old 04-03-2014, 20:21
GoodBuddy
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They are excellent and I have upgraded mine for Dab+ use when driving around Europe.

Sadly though, with my current car, I get rain dripping in when using the mag mount.

It never happened with previous cars.

Touch wood its never happened to me yet. My aerial is on the rear and comes in through the boot.
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Old 05-03-2014, 12:12
Kiko H Fan
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It's not the dreaded problem of being overloaded by a more powerful transmitter, is it? I've had that when driving past the Membury mast by the M4, or in the town centre near the Malvern transmitter, and in both cases Digital 1 disappears because the signal from the nearby mast is too powerful for the Pure Highway to handle.
Me too.
Within a 2-3 mile radius of it, Planet Rock drops out.

I am using the external mag mount aerial.
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Old 05-03-2014, 15:00
lundavra
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It's not the dreaded problem of being overloaded by a more powerful transmitter, is it? I've had that when driving past the Membury mast by the M4, or in the town centre near the Malvern transmitter, and in both cases Digital 1 disappears because the signal from the nearby mast is too powerful for the Pure Highway to handle.
I have driven past transmitter sites with my Pure Highway and can't remember any problems. The DAB antenna seem to be at the top of the mast so there should not be a particularly high field strength immediately below.
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Old 05-03-2014, 15:31
vinnielo
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I have driven past transmitter sites with my Pure Highway and can't remember any problems.
It only happens when you drive past one that doesn't radiate the multiplex you're tuned to.
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Old 05-03-2014, 15:33
Gerry1
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I have driven past transmitter sites with my Pure Highway and can't remember any problems. The DAB antenna seem to be at the top of the mast so there should not be a particularly high field strength immediately below.
Membury is a well-known problem. It's not that the D1 signal is too high, quite the reverse. There's no D1 transmitter at Membury, so it's an adjacent channel problem.

Bit like trying to get RTL 1440 as you go past Brookman's Park pumping out Sunrise on 1458.
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Old 28-12-2016, 03:28
DiandalScotland
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sorry for bumping an old thread but my original pure highway packed in tonight, well flashes on with pure highway listed then goes off again. dont know whats up.

any way maybe of resetting it or is it a goner ?
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