Radio aerial alternatives

[Velorum]

I replaced the rear wing mounted telescopic aerial today with the best quality one (stainless steel) that I could find - its manual as I didnt want to go down the automatic/electric route. Even tightened up well I wouldnt describe it as the most solid fitting on the car!

Does anyone know of an alternative to a fragile rod sticking out of the body work? Years ago I owned a Skoda (no jokes please) that had an aerial embedded into the glass of the sunroof - I was wondering if there were similar ones that could be retro-fitted into the inside of the car without drilling holes / making a mess. I have also noticed some modern cars with a small fin like affair on the roof just above the rear window - is this a new kind of aerial? Something like that in silver would not look too obtrusive on my rear wing and would cover up the holes where the telescopic one is!

Ian

[Mike_Brace]

My Italian 244 has an electronic aerial fitted to the windscreen behind thw mirror.

Mike

[Velorum]

Thanks Mike!

I will start looking for one.

Ian

[Velorum]

My daughter has just pointed me in the direction of this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...MEWA%3AIT&rd=1

Clever girl!

Halfrauds do an aerial like the one in Velorums last post, only for £15........

[Velorum]

Only a couple of quid in it when you take the postage into account I guess!

[Velorum]

I have ordered the internal aerial for the rear window - I suspect that the reception wont be quite so good but with a bit of luck it will be acceptable. The local auto factors sells a neat little chrome 'blanking plate' which I will use to cover up the aerial hole in the rear wing.

Ian

[Alec Dawe]

Originally Posted by Velorum2003

The local auto factors sells a neat little chrome 'blanking plate' which I will use to cover up the aerial hole in the rear wing.

Ian

AHH! Good. I was considering the same route, but was wondering what to do with the nasty hole!!
Thanks.

I welded mine up. All I need now is to buy one of those internal aerials (subject to Velorum testing them!) and I can listen to the radio again.......

[Velorum]

Internal aerial arrived today from ebay seller with no instructions but looked straightforward. I stuck it to the back window and ran the cable down the inside of the back seat and through the small hatch behind the armrest and plugged it into the socket in the boot.

Result = terrible! It will not produce a strong enough signal for the radio to automaticaly tune to a station. Manual tuning means radio 2 & 4 can be obtained but reception has crackles etc.

I have done some google searches and connot really glean much information in the way of troubleshooting, however a couple of things occur to me:

a) The aerial itself may be of poor quality (I have had substandard items from ebay sellers in the past).

b) An internal aerial may not be up to the job.

b) The rear window heater element may be interfering with the signal.

Take your pick! I havent given up on this and will continue to investigate in car aerials or other alternatives and report progress here for those interested.
The good thing is that this project hasnt involved altering anything or drilling holes etc so there is no damage done and I still have the original telescopic unit in place to use if I need it. I will persevere with the in car one for a couple of days - my daily communte is 50 miles so I can give it a pretty thorough test.

Ian