I'm a new owner of a beautiful Purple Haze 2006 Mini Cooper Cabrio! I enjoy the sound of the radio on HK sound system....when I can get reception!!!! Has anyone else had problems with locking in on radio stations? I know from my prior car that the stations I'm trying to get are not weak signals.....most are major NYC radio stations. I had no problems before I purchased the Mini. Is this the radio, per se, or the antenna? Also, I was toying with the idea of replacing the radio for one with an Ipod connection, HD, and possibly satellite. If I do this, can I go to a 3rd party car audio installer (i.e. Zippos here in NJ), or does this need to be done by Mini? Would the 3rd party installer be able to get my steering wheel controls to work with the new stereo? Anyone have these experiences, please speak up!!

 

No idea about reception, other than not a very common complaint.

As far as third party head unit, MINI will not do it. Go to your favorite local shop. Just make sure that the head unit has a port for a WIRED remote control and then you can use an adapter like PAC's SWI-PS to retain the steering wheel controls.

You should know that I believe you can purchase Ipod and SAT radio modules from MINI that Integrate with the factory Boost head unit. Not sure about HD, but isn't that a moot point with Satellite?

 

It may be your antenna. I had a problem with reception when I had the stock antenna installed. In particular my AM reception (I may be the only MINI owner who listens to talk radio) was susceptible to interference from overhead power lines. I swapped in a stubby - in my case it's the stock antenna for a Honda Fit - and the problem cleared up instantly.

 

 

In case you do stay with the H/K and get the factory iPod adapter, you will not be able to see what's playing on the head unit display or use your existing playlists. I found this out too late - wish I would have replaced the head unit to allow all the new gizmos built in (satellite, bluetooth, nav, iPod, etc.)

 

Homerwest,

From 05 on, you can see whats playing on your head unit and scroll on the head unit by playlist, album, or author, if you are using a full iPOD connection (not the AUX in). I use a Gateway-100 iPOD connect from newministuff.com with the H/K radio. You have to enable the radio to do text display. I also have a Parrot 3000EVO blue-tooth connected. Everything controlled from the multifunction steering wheel, displayed on the radio, and voice recognition for dialing. I don't know if the factory iPOD connector has limitations.

Mini06Ragtop
Nothing wrong with a new head unit though, if that's what you want.

Sounds like the weak reception is a faulty antenna connection. I would first test the antenna with a mulitmeter for resistance/continuity, before replacing the head unit. If you have a H/K radio with a digital amp, you have a nice radio. Be careful you don't unintentionally lose the functionality of your amp, going to another head unit.

 

Hahaha.....I happen to work for a telecom engineering company. I'll check my RF department to see if they can help determine the problem. However, in talking casually to one of the test engineers here, he believes it may be a bad cable, or oxidation of the antenna (which I will check tonight).

 

That's what I had been promised by my MA, but the factory iPod adapter (not using the Aux input) shows CD 1 thru CD 7 for the various playlists, and TR## for the track number. Not the wealth of info I thought I would be getting for my $500. Seems there are several aftermarket products (including the one you have) that are much better than the factory units....

 

I also live in NJ

but my reception seems awsome for FM radio.

I also listen to some NYC stations.. z100.. etc.

They all work good if not better that our other cars in the MINI. I also have the H/K in the cabrio

 

I did not know that. I wonder if you could run the "text enable steps" and get what you expected.

 

I checked the antenna....no oxidation....very clean contacts. I will need to call the dealer and ask if they can check the cable....

 

That seems right and it's a BMW thing. The HU basically thinks the Ipod adapter is a CD changer. I agree for $500 you should get more.

 

Also with the Gateway-100 the HU thinks it is a CD changer. When first installed I did not get text, until I enabled the radio. Same as you I just got CD # and track ##'s.

 

Interesting thread. Does anyone know where to find the "text enable steps" for the '06 stock radio? Or do they only exist for the HK radio?

 

Here are the Text Enable Steps I took:

Text Display on BMW(Mini) head units is disabled by default and has to be enabled manually after the Gateway 100 is properly installed in the car. To do this, I performed the steps below.

----------------

1. Go to http://www.dension.com/icelinkplus.php

2. Select "Dension Support Center".

3. In the KNOWLEDGEBASE box seach for "display text".

4. Select the Article "Enable or disable text display on BMW Head Units (Gateway 100)".

5. Download (click 0n) "BMW_Start_text_selector.mp3*"

Depending on your browser setup clicking on the link
usually starts playing it. To save it on the PC,
use Save target... in the right mouse button menu.

6. To save the file, wait until it finishes playing,
then press right click and use save as.. function

7. Copy to the iPod via iTunes and start playing it (file can be found
in the /Music/Genres/_Config/GW_Menu/BMW text/ folder on the iPod).

8. Connect iPod to Gateway 100 while the file is playing.
It will start the output device selection procedure.

9. Select the CD# on the head unit which is displayed on the radio. "Confirm selection" is FF button (long press of the clockwise arrow, until you see >>)(You are selecting car radio display, navigation screen, ...) where you want to get text displayed. If no text displayed, wait one minute, procedure will be terminated and Gateway will return to normal operation.

10. TEXT DISPLAY IS ENABLED!!!

(To disable Text Display and return to basic operation mode with display on the iPod, download BMW_Text_disable.mp3* file and activate it as described above.)

Please note, Dension's Web Site indicates "text display is not supported on BMW MINI due to the limitations of the MINI head units." However, on my 2008 Mini Cabrio with Harmon/Kardon Radio, this procedure did enable text display.

The key here is you are sending instructions in the form of an mp3 file to the head unit. If I had any 4/2005+ MINI BMW head unit, and any mfg's iPOD connection, I think I would give it a try. But that's just me. Try this at your own risk. I don't want to glitch your radio. I think there are posts somewhere by others who have enabled the text on their non-HK Head Units.

 

Bwaaa Ha Ha - I might have to try that!

 

Please let us know if it works on your model radio. If for some reason you can not download the mp3 file, I can send it to you.

 

bobj, Thank you for the instructions. I'll give it a try and report my results.

 

I just tried the procedure on my '08 Cabrio w/ H&K Radio and dealer installed (OEM) iPod adapter and it didn't do anything. It must only work with the Denison adapters.

 

I tried bobj's procedure on my '06 (September build) standard OEM head unit. No luck. Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge, bobj. If anyone knows how to get ANY iPod data to display on a OEM base head unit plus OEM iPod interface combo, I'm all ears. Question: does anyone know the name of the company that makes the OEM iPod interface for the MINI?

 

In case anyone still cares about this, I just succeeded in enabling text in my Mini (see sig for description of car). The tricky parts were that:
1) the filename on the dension website is different from what is listed above
2) the gateway must be in "gateway mode" (not ipod mode)

The best resource for this procedure was the dension downloads website under "gateway 100" "configuration files"

Heres a direct link to it:
http://www.dension.com/downloads?fie...guration+files