Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 15

Thread: does a radio antenna alternative exist?

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Indiana
    Posts
    2,093

    does a radio antenna alternative exist?

    Friends,

    This question might be stupid, but the searches turned up nothing that worked, so I am asking....

    Has anyone ever developed an alternative form of radio antenna that does not require drilling the fender? For a period of time, American manufacturers embedded an antenna in the windshield, so it occurred to me that, perhaps, a wire antenna could be hidden in the rubber windshield seal. Has anyone ever done such a thing?

    Do any of you know whether there is any other 'invisible' antenna design that would give radio reception?

    (When we restored the steel on my '68 SWT, I located 2 NOS replacement front fenders. We drilled the front fenders for those '68 reflectors, but we did not drill for a radio antenna. Now that the car is painted, I simply do not have the heart to drill the beautiful paint job. So, I am trying to find an alternative for a radio antenna.)

    If any of you have knowledge of such things, please feel free to share. Any good answer will be covered in the next issue of ESSES with full credit. In the meantime, I will keep checking with people in my network, but so far, there hasn't been any viable alternative.

    Thanks for your help.

  2. #2
    My 75 Carrera came to me without a hole in the fender for an antenna so I installed a later windshield with an internal antenna and the associated under-dash amplifier. Easy fix and best solution I've found so far.

  3. #3
    member #1515
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    San Antonio, Texas
    Posts
    4,239
    My 81 Turbo had a windshield with both an integrated antenna and electric defroster.
    David

    '73 S Targa #0830 2.7 MFI rebuilt to RS specs

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    Posts
    103
    Windshield antenna is one route. Another is using a universal amplified or powered antenna. A Google search will return a number of products. I don't have experience mounting one of these, but it's something I've been thinking about. They don't work well through metal though. I know there's a hole in the metal dash structure of a 911 to the right of the speaker hole, above the glove box. I've thought about mounting a powered antenna there, attached to the underside of the dash pad. Then the signal only has to pass through the windshield and dash pad. I don't know how good the reception would be. These things cost about $25 so it wouldn't be too expensive to test out.
    Ben
    2012 997 C2S Platinum Silver
    1972 911T Coupe Tangerine Sold
    2006 Cayman S Speed Yellow Sold

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Indiana
    Posts
    2,093
    i am not aware of the idea of a 'universal amplified antenna.' what is that? what would it look like?

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Location
    San Diego, CA
    Posts
    103
    Like this, for example: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_12044U...l-Antenna.html

    It has a +12V wire that powers the amplifier and a regular antenna plug. Again, not sure what the reception quality would be. Just an idea I've been kicking around.
    Ben
    2012 997 C2S Platinum Silver
    1972 911T Coupe Tangerine Sold
    2006 Cayman S Speed Yellow Sold

  7. #7
    Just to save you guys some time. I tried several of these "hidden" amplified antennas in several locations in my car before settling on the internal windshield antenna. Results were poor in every case.

  8. #8
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Simi Valley Ca
    Posts
    499
    I remember that my 1957 VW, bought in Germany and shipped to California by my Aunt, had an antenna that ran along the underside of the body parallel to the running boards. it had small wires trailing down to either side about every 8 inches. Anyone have a picture of one of those?
    Bob B

  9. #9
    Senior Member majordad's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Location
    Cork , Ireland
    Posts
    451
    Coulld you not just hook up your smart phone and use something like AHA Tadio App ? I would never drill, asking for trouble and rust.

  10. #10
    Senior Member Haasman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    N.Calif., south of SF
    Posts
    1,965
    I have had some limted experience with hidden antennas .... they do work, but really limit reception.

    To test the concept, take an antenna that's attached to an existing radio, move an extended antenna out of the car (through an open door or window). The difference in reception is very noticeable, especially in limited reception areas. This of course pertains more to FM band the than AM.
    Haasman

    Registry #2489
    R Gruppe #722
    65 911 #302580
    70 914-6 #9140431874
    73 911s #9113300709

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

Message Board Disclaimer and Terms of Use
This is a public forum. Messages posted here can be viewed by the public. The Early 911S Registry is not responsible for messages posted in its online forums, and any message will express the views of the author and not the Early 911S Registry. Use of online forums shall constitute the agreement of the user not to post anything of religious or political content, false and defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise to violate the law and the further agreement of the user to be solely responsible for and hold the Early 911S Registry harmless in the event of any claim based on their message. Any viewer who finds a message objectionable should contact us immediately by email. The Early 911S Registry has the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary.