My EF is going to the body/paint shop for complete exterior overhaul.
I'm having them shave the emblems & wanted to shave the antenna.

My question:
Is there an alternative aftermarket anteena that can be used for better radio reception that can be hiddedn like under the head-liner near the rear of the car?



Thanks for any feedback.

 

I sell a glass mount, amplified antenna. It's abt 8" wide. Ground the small grounding strap, and run pwr antenna turn-on, it mounts inside the vehicle glass. Reception is so-so. Cost is abt $25, you can find these things just abt anywhere.

 

why are OEM antennas so much better with reception?

 

Any antenna that points skyward will work better for just that reason. Take a collapsable antenna and push it down, radio gets fuzzy, pull it up, clears up. Glass mounted ones are better now then they ever were, but still suck IMO.

 

metra also makes an amplified hidden style antenna used for hotrods mostly. 44-ua20 is the model.

also...the reason an external anteanna works when pulled out is because it's longer and outside the protection of the vehicle. it's the reason why a CB antenna works better on top of a car then beside a car.

 

Also, something to keep in mind with internal antennas is window tint.

My cell phone loses a bar of reception when getting in my car, due to the metallic based tint. Dyed tint won't affect too much, but the metallic tint kills reception.

So, if you have metallic limo tint all the way around like I do, forget even trying to use an internal antenna (the darker the tint, the thicker it generally is, so the worse reception is).

And longer isn't always better, in terms of an antenna. FM reception works best when the antenna is a specific length (about 57"). I collapse the AM antenna on my weekend car down to around 2/3's of its length for optimal FM reception.

 

The Theory
FM waves, like any other wave, travels at the speed of light, and has a specific length to the signal waves (called wavelength). For some reason that is beyond my understanding, antennas built to multiples of 5/8th of the wavelength get the strongest signals - even stronger than full wavelength antennas; using a multiple of the 5/8th length increases the strength a bit with each multiple, up to the limit of resistance on the wire (in other words, an antenna 6 times the 5/8ths length might work, but anything beyond 12 times probably can't send the signal from the ends down the wire to the radio).
You can lead the antenna wire out through a window and tack it to the underside of overhang of the roof, or to the wall, which will also help the signal by getting the wall out of the way. The higher you can put the antenna, the better the signal will be. Also, the antenna doesn't have to be perfectly straight; it can go around a corner without a problem, just make sure each side of the antenna, measured from the corner, is a multiple of the 5/8th wave length.

The Math
To build an antenna that centers on a specific station (such as a weak station you want to receive better), use the frequency of that station in the following formula. Otherwise, use the central frequency of the FM dial (98 Mhz) for the formula to get complete coverage. In Tampa, Mix 96 transmits at 95.7 Mhz (95.7 on your FM dial), 98 Rock uses 97.9 Mhz, 103.5 Thunder uses 103.5 Mhz, et cetera.
Formula:
300 / (frequency in Mhz) * (5/8) * (1/2) = length in meters of the ideal 5/8ths antenna using twinlead 300 Ohm wire.

To simplify the formula:
93.75 / Freq in Mhz = length in meters of the ideal 5/8th's antenna.

So, to get the length of the ideal 5/8ths antenna for the full FM radio spectrum (centered on 98Mhz):
93.75 / 98 = .95663265306 meters, or 95.66 centimeters
(which converts to 37.66 inches).

To build a stronger antenna, multiply that result by a whole number.
Example: 0.9566 meters * 5 = 4.783 meters
So an antenna made of (5) 5/8ths wave sections for 98 Mhz would be 4.783 meters long (which is 15' 8 5/16 ")

you also have to remember that this is antenna uneffected by vehicle interference.

as far as tint goes, according to my tint guy. metallic tint, no matter what the percentage of light allowance it is, is the same. a 50% tint has the same heat protection and metallic content as a 5%. you are correct when you say that metallic versus non metallic is gonna have different interference.