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I'm not certain if the matrix of button visible/absent, year build, firmware version, day of the week, etc was ever definitively clarified. My recollection is it's been a mixed bag of random experiences. Given anecdotes of DAB appearing and disappearing, I formed the totally unproven thought that the system detects DAB carrier signal upon start-up, and if present shows the button. If no signal is present... it removes the option.

If you get no other bites advising better, I'd connect an antenna and reboot Uconnect in a strong reception area. I'll put five bucks in the Salvos tin if it doesn't appear.

Cheers, Steve

TL;DR Update - Car needs to have a DAB setting enabled in the Uconnect programming to enable the DAB buttons and menu options. Just turned it on in mine using the Appcar-diag program and an OBDII module. Just need to wait for an ebay on glass DAB antenna to arrive to hook up to confirm the entire process works.

OK so here's my update to the DAB on pre MY2015 GC's. I think I have proof as to what needs to be done to get Digital Radio working.

You definitely need to have the DAB setting enabled on the car. Last month I tried parking my GC directly under the digital radio broadcast towers in the Perth Hills and power cycling the car (without an antenna connected) - DAB button still didn't appear - unless the car is a perfect faraday cage, seems unlikely that it wouldn't get any DAB broadcast signal at all even without an antenna connected while being parked less than 100m from a strong signal. Even some of the signal should be passively received over the wiring for the radio at such close range given the frequencies we're talking about for Digital Radio.

Tonight I connected to the car using an OBDII module and the Appcar-diag program on my laptop and enabled the DAB setting under Radio settings in the software. It took two complete reboots of the car bus (I.e. turn the engine off, open drivers door and close, wait for dash to switch off then start it up again, turn engine off and open door again). After the third engine restart the DAB button now appears on my UConnect screen and in Radio settings but unsurprisingly just says Radio Channel Unavailable and the seek buttons won't pick anything up because I don't have an antenna connected or even a length of wire.

Now that I have the DAB button I should be able to connect an antenna to the connector and tune the channels in properly.

My hunch about the DAB button appearing/disappearing after software updates is this - one of the v14 or v16 release notes states something like "DAB radio is enabled on supported cars" which means if you had a 2015+ (with factory DAB) it may not have had the DAB button due to a bug in the older v13 or v14 Uconnect versions but was fixed in a later v14/16 (can't remember which). If you had the DAB button in an old Uconnect version and it disabled after an update, it could have been that the fix that enabled it on supported cars also disabled it properly on cars that shouldn't have had it like the 2014's and earlier that didn't have the factory antenna. There were probably a small number of cars that had the wrong option set in the car on the radio that enabled DAB but it never worked due to not having an antenna which is why a small number of cars can just have an antenna plugged in to pick up reception without any other changes required. Possibly some late build MY14's or early 2015s before MY15 cars officially started rolling off the line with factory DAB so may have been getting software settings for MY15 put on them by accident - I've seen this happen before with other brands.

By turning on the DAB option using Appcar-diag, you're basically tricking the bus into believing the car has the factory DAB option for Uconnect which is why it then appears on the screen after a couple of power cycles of the radio and canbus to detect the options.

I've ordered an ebay DAB MCX antenna like many others have on this thread to plug in to try to completely close the loop on this one. Will report back once the antenna arrives and I've been able to confirm it 100% enables the feature on cars that never had a DAB button (and likely for those it disappeared on at some stage).


For those who want the factory official factory setup:

Looks like part# 68210919AB is the rear passenger quarter panel window for MY15 onwards with the antenna already on it however it looks like there could be the cable between the antenna connection on the window and the fakra connector on the car antenna loom is missing. I suspect part# 68170481AC is the wire that goes between the window and the existing radio loom connector.
 
I did a repeat of my Tower Test after enabling DAB on my car via Appcar-diag and I can now search and tune Digital Radio stations via the DAB button in Uconnect.

Without an antenna connected to the plug in the back of the car the range is obviously terrible and the stations only work within a few hundred metres of the broadcast towers but it does conclusively prove that it is a car based setting that has to be enabled via OBDII software flash to enable the DAB functionality on pre-2015 WK2’s. After that you just need to connect a DAB radio antenna as others have done on this thread and you are good to go!

Mystery solved. Total cost to enable DAB (if the button is not visible) is $49 USD for Appcar, the cost of a good quality bluetooth/WIFI/USB Elm327 OBDII interface ($20-$60) and a $15-$20 eBay DAB antenna.

Appcar has other potential car tweaking uses including being able to code scan faults codes on your car so the cost of the software and OBDII module isn’t a one off waste.
 
Mystery solved. Total cost to enable DAB (if the button is not visible) is $49 USD for Appcar,
Thanks for the heads-up on this, after looking about, there are a couple of threads on here about.
There is also AlfaOBD, which will run on Android devices for Au $48 and a free demo version, it is not locked to VINs either - https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=AlfaOBD+Soft

I will give the demo version a try and see what it's like. Look some pretty cool things you can do with these programs.
 
Ok, last update on this one.

Hooked up the ebay DAB antenna (MMCX connector) and DAB stations tuned in perfectly straight away. The antenna needs to be connected to the port connector without the bump next to it.. I guess you'd call it the bottom connector if you are holding the cable with the connectors pointing directly at you.

So the process is to enable DAB using Appcar-diagFCA and then connect an active DAB antenna to the vacant port behind the passenger side quarter panel trim inside the car. I'll let SNUKE comment on whether it can be done with AlfaOBD or not.

The only slight annoyance I have now is the antenna has a little red LED which seems to be lit permanently when the antenna is plugged in even when the car is switched off and locked. I just hate lights on things drawing power even when not in use.
 
Ok, last update on this one.

Hooked up the ebay DAB antenna (MMCX connector) and DAB stations tuned in perfectly straight away. The antenna needs to be connected to the port connector without the bump next to it.. I guess you'd call it the bottom connector if you are holding the cable with the connectors pointing directly at you.

So the process is to enable DAB using Appcar-diagFCA and then connect an active DAB antenna to the vacant port behind the passenger side quarter panel trim inside the car. I'll let SNUKE comment on whether it can be done with AlfaOBD or not.

The only slight annoyance I have now is the antenna has a little red LED which seems to be lit permanently when the antenna is plugged in even when the car is switched off and locked. I just hate lights on things drawing power even when not in use.
Black paint or sticker will do the job. The light eventually times out. I found opening a door will activate it for a short time.
 
Black paint or sticker will do the job. The light eventually times out. I found opening a door will activate it for a short time.

It does eventually go off by itself. I’m not sure if it’s just residual power still coming from the head unit for a short amount of time after switching off the car but somewhere between 5 and 20 minutes after locking the car it eventually turns off.

Had me worried for a while that it wouldn’t shut off properly and the antenna would continue to be active and draw power the whole time.
 
Can we get some pics of the antenna installed..:)
 
Can we get some pics of the antenna installed..:)

Unfortunately these are all I have as I installed it at night. It’s the bottom connector of the two in the panel covering the wheel arch as others have advised earlier in the thread.

Vehicle door Bumper Finger Wire Automotive exterior

Rear-view mirror Auto part Automotive mirror Vehicle door Automotive exterior

Electronics Technology Finger Electronic device Audio equipment


The black L shaped stick on part (ground I assume) of the antenna is stuck to the metal car body under the window behind the trim and the test of it is stuck to the inside window glass.

Antenna didn’t come with any instructions but I wouldn’t be surprised if I was supposed to sand a little paint off the car first before sticking the ground over the top of the bare metal.

I suspect the antenna may be better installed vertically instead of horizontally like I’ve done but there weren’t any instructions to tell me what the best polarisation should be.

Either way it’s all working fine without bare metal ground and installed vertically.
 
Very nice installation. ?
 
Yes I can confirm that Alfaobd (Android Edition) Will Enable the DAB Button - Just waiting on my Dab Antenna to Arrive. I Used the VGate OBDii BLE4.0 Adaptor.
JGC 2014 Limited
Hi

Thanks for that. I have the same AlfaOBD (paid version), and the same VGate OBDii BLE4.0 Adaptor. Can you please outline the steps to do this???

Thanks heaps!

Eddie from Perth
 
Yes I too would love to know how you activated DAB using alfaodb if you could explain what settings you went to to do this. I have ordered my antenna and purchased alfaobd and can't seemt I find where in alfaobd to activate it. Thanks.
 
Hi nihonjin

Here it is:
Ignition on ACC
Connect Bluetooth
Select JEEP
GRAND CHEROKEE (WK2) MY2011>
Select BODY COMPUTER
SELECT CONTROL UNIT - MY2014 -17
Connect to the above
Click icon with red car with bonnet open
At the Select Procedure, scroll down to "Car Configuration Change". Click on that.
Find ECU Config 3 - DAB/DMB Present. Select Value - YES
Follow the prompts from there.

I think I then exited the app and open and close the driver door a few times. It takes a while for the DAB button to appear.... And there you have it!

Good luck

Eddie
 
Good to hear that!!

Which aerial did you order? Also, once done, can you please outline the steps/pics of how to get to the plug for the aerial? I have read of how some did that, but not clear. One person said he pulled the cover above the seat belt, and found the plug there...tried it, but could not reach deep enough....??

Thanks heaps.

Eddie
 
I first removed the rubber from the door trim just near the seat belt area of the rear passenger side. I then started to feel my hand inside the C panel and pop out the top cover. I didn't completely remove it rather enough to see in and access the connector that was sticking up attached to the side of the car.

I ordered the following:



But it did not come with a male SMB connector Soni couldn't connect it in yet. I have since ordered a male to male smb connector. I did have at home a DTV aerial that had a male SMB connector on the end so I plugged that in to test and I had signal and all channels scanned in. When my connector arrives I'll swap out my DTV aerial for the proper one I ordered above.
 
Hi, Nice thread, here is my input - I recently purchased a MY15 Cherokee Limited (build date build date sep 2014 vin number 1C4PJMHSXFW554841). It does not have the DAB button or Aerial for DAB. Reading through the posts I purchased a DAB aerial then tried installing it. I took apart the back trim looking for the connection many have talked about. I started on the left could not see it, then looked at the right side just in case it was there, but could not see the connection. I don't think my car has the connection. I then pulled out the radio to see what is connected to the back of it. It has two aerial input wires I think one is AM/FM and the other is for the navigation aerial with two other inputs empty. Do others who have the DAB connection have an extra wire in the back of the radio?
I tried my new DAB aerial, testing it in the other two aerial inputs in the radio but no luck. I am still waiting on getting my OBD2 to set the DAB button on, I will keep you posted on what I find. Thanks.

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Auto part Trunk
Auto part Vehicle Car Tire Automotive wheel system
Product Electronics Technology Electronic device Auto part
 
I first removed the rubber from the door trim just near the seat belt area of the rear passenger side. I then started to feel my hand inside the C panel and pop out the top cover. I didn't completely remove it rather enough to see in and access the connector that was sticking up attached to the side of the car.

I ordered the following:



But it did not come with a male SMB connector Soni couldn't connect it in yet. I have since ordered a male to male smb connector. I did have at home a DTV aerial that had a male SMB connector on the end so I plugged that in to test and I had signal and all channels scanned in. When my connector arrives I'll swap out my DTV aerial for the proper one I ordered above.
Thanks Nihonjin

I actually ordered the same aerial last week, and waiting for it.

Hope I have the aerial cable in the C Panel!!!!!!!

Cheers

Eddie
 
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