ausmini :: View topic - Internal car aerial: anyone got one that works?

Just wondering, If I insulate the bumper from the body could I use it as an aerial?

Harley wrote:

Just wondering, If I insulate the bumper from the body could I use it as an aerial?

Maybe but usually the length and diameter of an aerial are important. Height also helps, this is why Ballistic has a whip aerial halfway along the roof gutter.

One of my cars has a factory 2 part window aerial, a bit like 2 forks facing eachother, the reception was tops till i got metal based tinting, now i would call it 80%.

I'f there's a window kit i would give it a go.

One of my cars has a factory 2 part window aerial, a bit like 2 forks facing eachother, the reception was tops till i got metal based tinting, now i would call it 80%.

I'f there's a window kit i would give it a go.

I've got the hella glass mounted aerial

Author:	Harley [ Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:17 pm ]
Post subject:	Internal car aerial: anyone got one that works?
Has anyone here had any success with internal mounted aerials? I don't really want to hear about all the Joes that havent had them work, just interested to know what ideas have been tried and have worked. I'm thinking of a few alternatives though have no experience: 1. Stubby aerial mounted on the parcel shelf 2. Window mounted aerial on back window 3. As above, but mounted externally to the car under the bumper or something.

Author:	drmini in aust [ Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:30 pm ]
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I had a window mounted one on the back window, it worked but range was not as good as my current rubber one on the front guard.

Author:	Harley [ Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:34 pm ]
Post subject:
Just wondering, If I insulate the bumper from the body could I use it as an aerial?

Author:	VulcanBB18 [ Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:39 pm ]
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Harley wrote: Just wondering, If I insulate the bumper from the body could I use it as an aerial? Don't see why not! My first car was a '76 Mitsubishi Galant and from the factory it used an insulated bootlid as an aerial , worked pretty well even with cheap aftermarket stereos cheers Jacob

Author:	mini_mad_matt [ Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:41 pm ]
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My Mazda has the aerial in the front windscreen and it works really well. I'm not sure if there would be any place that could make a custom one to fit a mini, but that would be pretty cool if you did. And that way there is no ugly antenna sticking out

ausmini https://www.ausmini.com/forums/

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Author:	Tombo [ Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:41 pm ]
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Harley wrote: Just wondering, If I insulate the bumper from the body could I use it as an aerial? Maybe but usually the length and diameter of an aerial are important. Height also helps, this is why Ballistic has a whip aerial halfway along the roof gutter. One of my cars has a factory 2 part window aerial, a bit like 2 forks facing eachother, the reception was tops till i got metal based tinting, now i would call it 80%. I'f there's a window kit i would give it a go.

Author:	BALLISTIC [ Mon Mar 14, 2011 9:57 pm ]
Post subject:
Tombo wrote: Harley wrote: Just wondering, If I insulate the bumper from the body could I use it as an aerial? Maybe but usually the length and diameter of an aerial are important. Height also helps, this is why Ballistic has a whip aerial halfway along the roof gutter. One of my cars has a factory 2 part window aerial, a bit like 2 forks facing eachother, the reception was tops till i got metal based tinting, now i would call it 80%. I'f there's a window kit i would give it a go. As far as I know you can get an aftermarket window kit (looks like a rear window demister) . . . these people might be able to help . . . http://www.nolimitelectronics.com.au/

Author:	Harley [ Mon Mar 14, 2011 10:17 pm ]
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Tombo wrote: One of my cars has a factory 2 part window aerial, a bit like 2 forks facing eachother, the reception was tops till i got metal based tinting, now i would call it 80%. I'f there's a window kit i would give it a go. The window tint line raises an interesting point. That might be the difference between good systems and ones clamesd to be crap. Windows in my car are tinted, so might not work effectively.

Author:	VicMini13 [ Tue Mar 15, 2011 7:00 am ]
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I had an internal antenna in the Rover - worked fine, but the reception was a little lower than an external antenna. For example, heading out of Melbourne on the Hume, FM would drop off around Wallan instead of Seymour. Around town it was fine, and in the country you could always pick up something (whether it was worth listening to is another story ) The one I had was a little black box with a small flat bar sticking out each side about 6 inches. It also had a built in booster that only pulled a few milliamps and could be powered off the Head Unit's Trigger wire (used for amp or external electric antenna trigger). I had it mounted vertically up the passenger side of the rear window - big mistake on the location though because AM only ever picked up the "scream" of the fuel pump just below it in the top of the tank

Author:	michaelb [ Tue Mar 15, 2011 7:19 am ]
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I have an internal aerial in my Cooper S, stuck to the inside top of the windscreen, just behind the rear view mirror. Had it for a few years and works OK around the city. It is powered by a seperate 12v feed and consists of a small box which I assume contains some electronics and then two small antenna strips sticking horizontally out of the box. Total length about 350mm. I think these are still available in some of the auto shops? Had mine for probably 7 or 8 years. I didnt want to drill holes in the Cooper S body.

Author:	mini bug [ Tue Mar 15, 2011 7:22 am ]
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I've got the hella glass mounted aerial and it works well around town. It has a booster built in to it. It looks like this one - http://www.passionauto.co.uk/products/a ... erial.html

Author:	michaelb [ Tue Mar 15, 2011 7:30 am ]
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Quote: I've got the hella glass mounted aerial That looks very similar to mine.

Author:	Cooper_Matrikon [ Tue Mar 15, 2011 7:31 am ]
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I have the same. Works well.

Author:	Irish Yobbo [ Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:46 am ]
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When I got my mini, the guard mounted ariel was broken (as usual). So I ust got an old TV ariel and shoved it in there - works better than any other ariel I've tried.

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Author:	simon k [ Tue Mar 15, 2011 9:58 am ]
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the electronics & radio guru I work with said to try just poking a bit of plain wire (normal plastic insulated wire like in the wiring loom, not shielded coax antenna cable) into the centre bit of the radio's antenna socket, and put it "somewhere" in the car, doesn't matter where. Run it along the dashboard or under the carpet or whereever you feel like it - it'll probably work as well as anything else. Get your radio and poke some wire (maybe 6 feet) in it, and see what sort of reception you get, chop a bit off, if the reception is still good, chop some more off - when the reception goes away, you've chopped too much. If you can't find anywhere convinient, you might like to run a loop around inside the roof rail, and down through the windscreen pillar. Your bumper bar idea would work, except the wire would probably break off, and you'd want to use the back bumper so it's away from your ignition Radio antennas aren't clever, and radios work a lot better than they used to, which is why poking a coathanger into a broken antenna works as well as the old antenna did....