Radio annoyances

[gcm3]

Hi

Been meaning to ask this for a couple of weeks...

1. DAB station icons. Every other car I've owned did this automatically as I understand they're transmitted with the data stream. Obviously Tesla expect a logo of some sort as they've added a placeholder (grey box with musical note) in the UI. But why doesn't it just work? Looks really naff to scroll through myriad stations all with the same blank grey icon.

2. FM radio. Don't get me wrong DAB is great but not when you're driving in an area with poor reception which I often do. My previous recent cars would automatically switch over to the FM version but the Tesla doesn't seem to. It just cuts out. But that isn't the most annoying bit... How do you actually search for an FM station? Am I being thick? Ok, there's the direct tune option. If I type 88.5 for Radio 2, say, and it's not quite the right frequency I'd expected the Previous and Next buttons at the top would either increment the frequency or skip to the next frequency where it found a signal. And what if, like me, you've forgotten all those frequencies that so many of us used to remember. How do I actually auto search through the FM band, to arrive at a station and save it as favourite?

Many thanks.

 

[Alistairuk]

Hi

Been meaning to ask this for a couple of weeks...

1. DAB station icons. Every other car I've owned did this automatically as I understand they're transmitted with the data stream. Obviously Tesla expect a logo of some sort as they've added a placeholder (grey box with musical note) in the UI. But why doesn't it just work? Looks really naff to scroll through myriad stations all with the same blank grey icon.

2. FM radio. Don't get me wrong DAB is great but not when you're driving in an area with poor reception which I often do. My previous recent cars would automatically switch over to the FM version but the Tesla doesn't seem to. It just cuts out. But that isn't the most annoying bit... How do you actually search for an FM station? Am I being thick? Ok, there's the direct tune option. If I type 88.5 for Radio 2, say, and it's not quite the right frequency I'd expected the Previous and Next buttons at the top would either increment the frequency or skip to the next frequency where it found a signal. And what if, like me, you've forgotten all those frequencies that so many of us used to remember. How do I actually auto search through the FM band, to arrive at a station and save it as favourite?

Many thanks.

Icons don’t seem to appear for me either - I think the placeholder is just their standardised music display screen as when you play using Spotify the album art is in that space.

FM, I can’t remember how to get it up - it’s something like “tune or direct tune” - I randomly managed to get it to ask me to enter a frequency - if no one else has replied before I get back to my car I’ll have a look what I pressed

But yes I agree DAB not falling back to the FM channel is annoying (at least where it’s available)

 

[fancealot]

FM? what's that???

TBH i'd not noted the lack or 'difficulty' in getting FM stations up, the only stations I listen to are DAB only or internet streamed, so if DAB failed i'd use Tune in for it, I do agree it's a shame to see the grey note icon instead of the station, hopefully a quick software update one day resolves it!

 

[tomorrowman]

DAB ? Whats that ??? I though it was a dance move.

Spotify all the way

 

[Adopado]

But yes I agree DAB not falling back to the FM channel is annoying (at least where it’s available)

I can't recall the radio setting up process but ours does switch between DAB and FM automatically (mostly on FM in our vicinity).

 

[Spydaw]

I tried messing about with the radio channels but eventually gave up and created a 45h playlist on Spotify which auto plays on my phone when I get into the car

 

[Alistairuk]

I have investigated... my car has decided to do a software update while parked over the last few hours - apparently it now recognises stop signs

There's an option on Radio App for Direct Tune, enter the frequency and it will goto the FM frequency - although where I'm parked here it keeps switching to the DAB version of the station.

As for auto searching through the bands... hitting the left/right button on the left scroll wheel causes it to search as far as I can tell (it jumps to the next/previous station - i'm assuming its searching the FM list as it's not jumping to the next/previous on the DAB station list which appears to be alphabetical)

 

[Rich135]

What about the fact it doesn't show enough information on the DAB channels about which song/artist is playing?

In my previous DAB car I could see a constant scrolling feed of the DJ/Show name, followed by Artist/Track and then some other random radio station blurb. It really annoys me that I can't click on the "james Blun......." to find out what he is singing! NB: I don't listen to radio stations that play his music

 

[gcm3]

When I hit next and previous it jumps into DAB mode rather than search for the next tunable FM frequency.

 

[gcm3]

DAB ? Whats that ??? I though it was a dance move.

Spotify all the way

View attachment 592138

Yep totally with you there but sometimes there's no network connectivity and silence ensues. I wish there was someone storage available for Spotify to cache tracks like on our smartphones

 

[pdk42]

It's a sad fact that most DAB stations use a pretty low bit rate. You'd be better off with FM (which is actually pretty high quality if the signal strength is good). However, the Tesla keeps switching away from FM to DAB if it finds the same station there. I've no idea if it switches the other way too. For sure the UI for the radio is pretty crap.

 

[geordie12]

anyone else have this issue?

I have Radio X on Tune In...works fine on phone, sonos etc etc...however in the Tesla click on Radio X and it just sits there...no spinning wheel no nothing...other Tune In stations seem to work ok.

 

[interbear]

anyone else have this issue?

I have Radio X on Tune In...works fine on phone, sonos etc etc...however in the Tesla click on Radio X and it just sits there...no spinning wheel no nothing...other Tune In stations seem to work ok.

I have the same issue when trying to listen to Radio Clyde in the car via TuneIn. For football mainly, I need to use TuneIn as I’m in South Wales not Glasgow. Works fine via TuneIn on every other device I have, just not in the Model 3. I don’t have any idea why.

 

[GRiLLA]

It really annoys me that I can't click on the "james Blun......." to find out what he is singing!

Just assume the title is "Melancholy Bull****"

The scrolling thing, doesn't that just encourage people to stare somewhere other than the road?

 

[MrBadger]

I have Radio X on Tune In...works fine on phone, sonos etc etc...however in the Tesla click on Radio X and it just sits there...no spinning wheel no nothing...other Tune In stations seem to work ok.

I have the same issue when trying to listen to Radio Clyde in the car via TuneIn. For football mainly, I need to use TuneIn as I’m in South Wales not Glasgow. Works fine via TuneIn on every other device I have, just not in the Model 3. I don’t have any idea why.

Could it be that having a non UK Sim, the material provider thinks that you are outside the UK?

It can possibly be confirmed by using a UK wifi rather than the lte link.

 

[Adopado]

It's a sad fact that most DAB stations use a pretty low bit rate. You'd be better off with FM (which is actually pretty high quality if the signal strength is good). However, the Tesla keeps switching away from FM to DAB if it finds the same station there. I've no idea if it switches the other way too. For sure the UI for the radio is pretty crap.

Yes, I paid attention on a drive the other day and as I drove through challenging reception areas the radio swapped back and forth seamlessly between DAB and FM as necessary. I am guessing that people who have only set up DAB stations will not get the switching. The FM stations probably need to be available in your list, perhaps?

Given the different amount of delay on digital and analogue transmissions I am surprised that when the switch takes place there is no interruption in the track that's playing ... there must be some clever buffering and matching, even on the analogue side, to allow this to happen.

 

[Neilio]

anyone else have this issue?

I have Radio X on Tune In...works fine on phone, sonos etc etc...however in the Tesla click on Radio X and it just sits there...no spinning wheel no nothing...other Tune In stations seem to work ok.

Which radio x? I think tunein has separate feeds for London and national. I use the London one and it works, except for when the car decided to lose connectivity for the whole South West corner of the m25 on my way home from holidays

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Yes, I paid attention on a drive the other day and as I drove through challenging reception areas the radio swapped back and forth seamlessly between DAB and FM as necessary. I am guessing that people who have only set up DAB stations will not get the switching. The FM stations probably need to be available in your list, perhaps?

Given the different amount of delay on digital and analogue transmissions I am surprised that when the switch takes place there is no interruption in the track that's playing ... there must be some clever buffering and matching, even on the analogue side, to allow this to happen.

Thanks for this, I'd wondered why the radio didn't seamlessly switch between FM and DAB, and the reason may well be because I don't have both FM and DAB stations set up, perhaps. I'll have a go at making sure I've set up both later, and see if that helps.

Around here DAB is patchy in places, and although FM gets a bit noisy it usually remains usable, unlike DAB that just goes silent, often for ten minutes or more. As a consequence, I've not been using DAB at all, as the car didn't seem to be able to switch automatically. I only really listen to R4, so the difference in quality between FM and DAB isn't an issue.

 

[Rooster6655]

Yep totally with you there but sometimes there's no network connectivity and silence ensues. I wish there was someone storage available for Spotify to cache tracks like on our smartphones

When premium connectivity expires, you might find its actually better using your phone

 

[tonyj01]

I think the radio is a neglected area of the software. They don't care.

I think mine does not switch, has never switched, but on FM its BBC R1, R2, etc On DAB it is listed as BBC Radio 1, radio 2, etc.

In addition, some years ago, we had RDS data on DAB and FM, now that has gone, its on FM only. Some US based programmer switched it off and then it's gone forever.


Tony