hidden FM antenna
 

hey guys my fd's retractable antenna crapped out and i dont like the look of the squirel raper mast anyway so im looking for a hidden powered antenna. what have you used that worked well? or other options maybe?? iv read the FD has 2 antennas one mast and one in the rear hatch which both work together somehow and you are supposed to be able to get away with using just one w/ aftermarket headunit. i never tried the 2nd plug in for the antenna so ????? i dont know
z

I know Garfinkle has a hidden antenna in his FD. It works pretty good. Maybe try to get in contact with him.

I've heard the the hidden antenna's work very well and can pick up stations from a lot further than a "normal" antenna.

http://www.ecshylites.citymax.com/page/page/761353.htm

Something like this?

thats pretty much it and it takes no power...hmmmm Have you tried it?

z

nope. I may in awhile and I'll go ahead and shave my retractable antenna. But I have bigger things to do with my car at the moment.

dude, this is rad! I removed my ghetto power antenna, as well as all the wiring to it because it broke. This is so much simpler, I am going to purchase one and put it in the glove box or somethin.

hey if you do please let us know how it works... still up n the air as to how i want to do it.

z

some caddy models have under dash antenna

I'm interested in this as well, I'd really like to get rid of the stock antenna on the FC. Plus mine's broken anyway (I don't think I've ever seen a working one :rofl:)

I think I'm going to get one of these and see how it is. If I do, I'll post up the results.

a lot of glass shops here offer hatch glass replacements with a built in antenna in the glass that has a male spade connector to hook it to your antenna lead this works great and i get about the same reception as i did with the mast. i think it was a difference of $50 over the regular glass replacement.

So... any news on this?

lol i think alot of us are waiting to see if it works, just dont want to do it ourselves yet.

z

LOL, yep. If no one does it within the next ~3 months, I may step up to the plate. But I sure hope someone does it before then. :rofl:

I did order one, but I'm deployed right now. I'm going home in about a month so don't fret guys, I'm gonna get it done and let you all know how it goes, haha. I'll post up where I mount it and if I used any adapters and all that. I'm sure I'll have to get adapters because it's a Motorola terminal and I don't think those fit in our stereos from what I've heard. But I have an Alpine so I'm not sure yet. I will post in about a month though.

i plan on going this route as well. I have the "antenna is stuck in the raised position" look and i hate it.

Shouldn't need one. Motorola is a standard connection for car radio antenna

OK Alex, let us know how that goes then, haha.

Awesome, well hopefully that will be the case here. Now I just have to decide where to hide it.

i have a feeling we will see how yours works first. I have only 12 days til i leave for basic.

I'd run it behind the hatch above the taillights.

double post

Oh yeah, I forgot about that haha. Well get on it and get it done before you leave! HAHA. Good luck with that too man.

So I've been thinking about where to hide this antenna. I was thinking about laying it across the rear harness bar and wondering if that would help reception, basically making it a bigger antenna, but I'm not sure if it will work like that.

i had hidden one but fcked up the wires when i tried extending it... i think hiding it under the headliner is the best.. either front or rear.//

http://www.ecshylites.com/catalog/it...191/368049.htm

I forgot all about this. I bought the one in the link and installed it a couple months ago. At first I just removed my stock antenna and disconnected the cable going to the stock one. It was a male end, and I connected it with the male end of the hidden antenna using a female/female RCA adapter. However, the adapter was kinda loose so I taped around it...I know, ghetto. It worked, but it seemed like there might have been a little static. Although I have new door speakers too so it could be that, who knows. I also didn't have AM.

Recently I just bought an extension cable for the antenna wire because my stock wire was screwed up on the stereo end anyway. So I ditched the stock wiring and adapter and hooked everything up correctly. Unfortunately I've had the car apart again since then so I haven't tried it to see if anything changed. I'll post up when I do.

not bad lots of static or little scale 1-10? and did you try different mounting positions area's? where did you have it mounted? in a fb/fc/fd?

z

Oh just a very little bit of static, barely noticeable. I forgot to mention where I mounted it. It's an FD, and I put it all the way in the rear of the hatch, behind the plastic. I didn't actually mount it to anything, I just have it laying in there.

gotcha so in your opinion worth the 40ish?

z

Well, considering I pulled my stock one and had the hole filled in during body work and paint...absolutely hahaha. Actually I do think it's worth it regardless though. Like I said, I haven't seen whether I get AM yet (there is one talk station I listen to, so I'd like to have it), and I think there MIGHT have been one FM station I didn't get that I normally listen to, which is kinda odd, but it's a good antenna from what I can tell. The stations come in really clear.

Finally an Answer! I'll probably end up buying this in a little while (when I get my security deposit back). I have to buy an oil scavenge pump first.

Yeah sorry, haha, I've had it in for a while but forgot to post about it. I'll try to remember to test out the AM and all the channels tonight (since I have it hooked up properly now) and I'll post up with those results. The website said that antenna is tuned for AM too, so I'm hoping it was just the way I had it hooked up that was causing problems.

So, now that you've had it a while and mounted and tested it thoroughly how does it work?

I'm interested as well. :icon_tup:

Yeah, sorry guys, I still haven't tested the AM haha. I've been dealing with modifying my hood, trying to get it to fit, and my roommate fixing my front bumper. If I can remember, I'll test it tonight.

I know, likely story ;).

Oh and Greg, I wouldn't exactly say it's mounted, it's just kinda laying in there haha. But it IS hidden.

Are the stations you listen to local or kinda far away? I live in a smaller town and the stations i listen to are 40-70 miles away. They come in good in my truck and with the old power antenna, but not with the built in factory hatch antenna or with a shorter rubber antenna i picked up. The factory hatch antenna gave the picket fence sound, and the short rubber antenna just didnt pick the stations up clearly. The only station that worked clearly was a local country statiion. (pass) i thought about trying a hiden powered glass mount antenna, but rather see how different antennas work for others before spending more on crappy antennas.

I'm not sure how local these stations are actually. I just did a search and I saw about 2 or 3 of the approx. 7 or 8 stations I listen to are local. The others may be too, but I didn't see them on there. They come in pretty clear though.

I just did the test. No AM still, so I'll be writing the company about that, cause it's supposed to have AM too. The stations come in more clear though, since swapping out to correct wiring (and extension). I'm still not getting one specific station on FM either, not sure what's up with that. Cause MOST of the other stations come in clear as a bell.

As a side note, my stock antenna never did work for me. By the time I got the car it would raise about an inch and stop. And it didn't pick up SHIT. So either way, this is a step up for me haha.

EDIT: The station that doesn't work is 96.1FM and it's here in Colorado Springs! One more thing though...I'm not sure just how much it's not picking it up. I have to scan for stations, I don't have it where I can just select the station. So maybe it's coming in, just not enough for the stereo to stop on it.

Since Eric is taking so damn long.... ;)

I was out today and decided to hit a couple of car stereo shops and a few auto parts stores to see what I could find since both antennas on my 7s haven't been working for a while and I just put an HD receiver in the Turbo. I found this Metra Electronics Corp. antenna at 3 of them for 19.95 and one of the stereo shops had another style similar to this for 49.95. I bought the cheap one just to try it out figuring worse case scenario it would be fine for the Vert since I don't use the radio that much in it. The damn thing works great on FM and FM HD stations. In fact I picked up more stations that I was getting before. Haven't tested it driving around or really mounted but trying it in several locations in the car just sitting there I was impressed. I also tried it with and without power to it just because I was curious. Without power it was still better than my antenna but when I put power to it, HUGE difference! But for AM stations, it doesn't seem to be any better (hard to tell around here, AM sucks) than the regular antenna. I want to try and use the AM antenna in the windshield to see if it helps but it ends in a female plug so I'm going to have to find or make a connector/splitter of some type to do it.

Good job Greg! That Metra one is pretty cool. I wonder how it would perform on OUR AM stations.

Just ordered the metra one through amazon. Was around $15 shipped.