dmccorki

my 2004 sl500 with a v60i has terrible reception once one gets into a 2bar signal area. the same phone in a 7series bmw works great. the mb dealer has no explanation and claims that mb has a 3amp power boost on the antenna, which according to verizon should significantly improve the reception.
the dealer has replaced the phone twice and had a technician go over the phone system. other mb owners claim similar reception issues.
any suggestions?

scorchie

Convertibles, by design, have the antenna placed lower in the car than possible in a sedan. Don't expect the reception to be better than a roof mounted antenna.

BTW, the car does not have a "3amp" power boost. It doesn't even have a 3-watt power boost. That sort of stuff was stopped in 1999. The only boost is a compensator to overcome the loss of caused by the wiring inside the car. More like 3dB.

-s-

miroj

Sunman threw out his compensator and install an American product. It was about $250. He claims that is solved all the problems.

scorchie

Yes, he uses an excellent power booster (a true one, with several watt output). I think he also uses an aftermarket antenna. For some cars, we ship an aftermarket antenna because it is easier to install and placement is better than in most US cars (which is in the bumper!).

Normally, we just bypass the compensator.

I installed the compensator on my W211 and I am doing testing to see if it improves this car's performance. I believe stripping out the Teleaid splitter and all the extra associated wiring and connectors might be a superior solution to the installation of the compensator...

-s-

Wolfman

I am sure that a true booster is the best solution as well. I can however also say that the compensator makes a significant difference in our SL setup.
We have T-Mobile (using a UHI installation) with somewhat spotty reception where we live (several deadzones on the highway). I tried first bypassing it as Scorchie mentioned, but without the compensator I lost service at times and only had 1-4 bars (avg.3). With the compensator, no deadzones and minimum 3 bars, with reception is usually at full signal strength.

Perhaps you may want to have MB replace the compensator and the antenna switch.

Wolfman

dmccorki

thanks.
mb claims they have tried everything. since they apparently misstated the boost on the antenna, i wonder about their efforts.

regarding the comments about roof antenna vs. convertible, i get better reception in the sl with a hand held startac than i do with the antenna system that is part of the sl. so i am not sure the 2 foot-at most-height difference between the bmw and the sl has that much of an impact.

i have been told that substituting a v60i for the v60s(which i am now told is the model installed in the car) makes a positive difference--anyone have any knowledge about that possibility?

if anyone knows of a good independent phone shop in the washington dc area, i might visit them and get some help.

Wolfman

You mentioned trying a StarTac. Why don't you try this simple test...

Take the v60 out of the cradle. If the signal strength increases when you unplug the phone from the car, then the MB install is faulty no matter what they say.
The phone should also be fine (as it has been replaced). The most obvious areas are the compensator and switch, but it could also the the cradle, the antenna connection from the cradlein the console, a pinched cable or the connection to the actual antenna.

Good luck,

Wolfman

scorchie

I would disagree with this. I have seen phone systems in convertibles (CLK, SL) that had poor reception despite every item working properly (the functioning of the antenna switch and antennas can be verified in Star Diagnosis). Even with the switch removed out of the system, the reception was inferior to when the handset was removed from the cradle and used out of the car kit.

Because multiple parts were replaced in the cars, and all items checked unded diagnosis, and it was multiple cars, I believe that the culprit is the design of the system, not any faulty parts.

-s-

dmccorki

i have removed the phone and the reception is still bad. the old startac is superior to any of the new phones--verizon says that the new phones use a lot of battery power to run new phone accessories whereas the older startac just used the battery to pull in the signal.
anyway, all of the v60 phones that i or my associates have used have poor reception in the two bar signal areas, but other car manufacturers seem to have been able to improve the phone's capability thru the in car antenna system. mb, however, has a problem, which they admit but they do not have a solution--or at least they are not willing to fix retroactively.
so i am trying to find a technical shop that knows enough about the mb command system that they can improve the signal thru a boost or whatever.
i have no technical knowledge so i am only conveying what i am learning or being told be others.

Wolfman

Can't argue on something you will certainly have seen more issues with. On our SL the reception is quite good, but this will certainly be impacted by the location of the person, the carrier and the frequency of the phone. Isn't the old StarTac also using the 900mhz band vs. the 1900mhz one?

Wolfman

scorchie

I think a lot has to do with several variables: terrain, carrier, phone technology, and band. So, it's really difficult to say that "this is good" or "this is bad". It's just that with the convertibles, I've seen numerous users have difficulty for their situations... in the Bay Area, most people seem to have good luck due to good coverage. Some people have had bad luck in LA using Cingular (GSM on 1900MHz only) out at the coast (mountainous, as 1900 doesn't have good penetration of terrain or buildings).

A couple people with R230 SLs in the local area seem to get good performance here! But then, my CLK with the compensator disconnected (it's still fitted, just out of the antenna path) gets much better reception than my W211 E-class with or without the compensator... and that's using the same UHI phone in each car.

It's tough to make recommendations with these variables involved...

I believe all the StarTacs for MB were 800MHz only... not completely sure about that.

-s-

dmccorki

do not know whether it is 900 or 1900. how does one determine?

dtkw

We don't have 900 here in the USA. If it's GSM services, now that Cingular and ATTW are one, most likely there would be both 850 and 1900 bands available in most places. If your phone still works inside the back of a grocery store, most likely you're using 850. But again, when I had TMO before with 1900 only band. I had services inside a few stores in the back but no services in many. My guess would be those stores where I had services had some repeaters installed. Not sure about it tho.

dmccorki

i do not know whether it is 900 or 1900. in the washington dc area much of the cell system is digital but analogue is still the fall back. the startac searches and decides which is the best signal and works fine. the v60s in hand held fomat is useless in the weak signal areas. but in the bmw and other auto systems that have, what i assume, is a boosted antenna system, the weakness in the v60's signal gathering capability is overcome.