hidden FM antenna

[proz07]

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

[djmtsu]

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

[blwnrtr93]

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

[vex]

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

Something like this?

[proz07]

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

z

[vex]

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.

[Max777]

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.

[proz07]

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

[RoughRex]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Universal-Fit-Hidden-AM-FM-Car-Radio-Windshield-Antenna_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trkparmsZ72Q3a570Q7c66Q 3a2Q7c65Q3a12Q7c39Q3a1Q7c240Q3a1318Q7c301Q3a0Q7c29 3Q3a1Q7c294Q3a50QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZi tem180341164372QQitemZ180341164372QQptZCarQ5fAudio Q5fVideo#ht_5381wt_1018

[Whizbang]

some caddy models have under dash antenna

[need RX7]

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:)

[speedjunkie]

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

Something like this?

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

[Cp1]

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.

[vex]

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

So... any news on this?

[proz07]

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

z

[need RX7]

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:

[speedjunkie]

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.

[Whizbang]

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

[vex]

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.

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

[speedjunkie]

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

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

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

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

[Whizbang]

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

[$100T2]

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.

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

[speedjunkie]

double post

[speedjunkie]

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

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.

[muibubbles]

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.//

[speedjunkie]

http://www.ecshylites.com/catalog/item/604191/368049.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.

[proz07]

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

[speedjunkie]

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.

[proz07]

gotcha so in your opinion worth the 40ish?

z

[speedjunkie]

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.

[vex]

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.

[speedjunkie]

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.

[Turbo II]

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

[need RX7]

I'm interested as well. :icon_tup:

[speedjunkie]

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.

[dudemaaan]

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.

[speedjunkie]

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.

[Turbo II]

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. (http://www.metraonline.com/products.aspx?s=44-UA200) antenna at 3 of them for 19.95 and one of the stereo shops had another style similar to this (http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=105/category_id=110/home_id=59/mode=prod/prd105.htm) 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.

[speedjunkie]

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

[dudemaaan]

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

[Turbo II]

Made a splitter cable today for some antenna testing to try and see if I could get AM stations any better. Fail! I tried every combo available of antennas and hookups and no matter what I can't pick up AM stations around here while sitting in the carport. But like I said AM stations and coverage sucks around here anyway so... your results may vary.

[vex]

I would like to mount the antenna away from visible locations (glass, outside, etc). Do these antenna's work say in the trunk of an FC (Pretty much where the latch is)? I would be concerned that improperly mounting the antenna would yield less than desirable results.

[Turbo II]

Haven't run it back that far but I will today just to see. It does make a difference where it is though. If it's just laying on the passenger floor board it's not nearly as good as if I raise it about a foot off of it as in behind the plastic where the dash speaker is located. Just laying it behind the passenger seat on the bin works very well, laying it on top of the passenger headrest works extremely well as does being held up by the passenger window visor, laying it on the roof, holding it up to where the rear hatch meets the roof on the inside... But no mater where I've put it it works a hell of a lot better than the stock one which is stuck in the down position and I don't plan on replacing it again.

[Trout2]

I got a hidden antenna from these guys http://www.ecshylites.com/page/page/761353.htm for my FD. Mounted it to the vertical bracing in the area between the cargo area and tail lights. Needed a Motorola style male-male adapter. I'm getting much better FD reception than the OEM antenna, have tried on AM yet.

Jack

[speedjunkie]

^I did the same thing. I got my antenna from them and mounted it in the same place, but I lost a station or two, and I haven't been able to get the only AM station I listen to either. Well, I can't say I lost them really, since my stock antenna would not raise so I never had the stations in the first place. But compared to the reception in my civic with all stock equipment, I don't get stations in the FD that I do in the civic. Originally I had mine spliced together with an AV adapter (couldn't find the Motorola piece), but my stock antenna wire was bad going into the stereo anyway so I bought a wire extension and ran it in place of the stock wire.

Is that the link to the exact antenna you bought? If not, which one did you get? I can't get on the page while I'm at work but I'll check tonight if I can remember.

[Trout2]

I got the TT1E antenna. I found the adapter on crutchfield.com

Jack

[vex]

How's reception quality/mounting locations? I'm wondering if the location individuals have placed them is similar to a Faraday cage?

[speedjunkie]

I got the TT1E antenna. I found the adapter on crutchfield.com

Jack

Yeah that's the same one I got. Maybe I'll mount it somewhere else to see if I can get the other stations.

How's reception quality/mounting locations? I'm wondering if the location individuals have placed them is similar to a Faraday cage?

I get good sound quality on the stations I still get, no static or anything like that.

Where I put mine is (FD btw) in the most rear of the car, between the tail lights and the plastics, where it's hidden. I might put it under the rear strut bar and see if it get's the other stations though.

[Herblenny]

So, what did you guys do about the antenna hole?

[proz07]

So, what did you guys do about the antenna hole?

i actually just put in a body plug from my spare fd chassis for now i will fill it later when the bodywork gets done.

z

[speedjunkie]

I had mine filled in when the body work was done.

[vex]

So is that location (on the FD) surrounded by plastic or is there steel there? I'm curious because i'm debating if this will work on the FC (steel all the way around), or if I'm going to be SOL when it comes to hidden antenna.

[Trout2]

It's light weight steel support near the center. The antenna has a square plastic piece with double sided tape that puts the plastic antenna shaft about 1/8-1/4 in. off the metal.

Jack

[speedjunkie]

^I never actually mounted mine, I just laid it in there.

Like he said, there is a little bit of metal, but it's mostly the rear plastics enclosing it. Its not really like a metal cage around it.

[D4rw1n]

I have the hidden antenna from autoloc mounted on the glass near the top of the hatch. It is powered and works really well. You cant even see it unless you know its there.

http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/autoloc/product.lasso?prodinc=antennas

[luthernil]

I haven't tried hidden antenna and I think I'll always go for the normal one.