Using rear window demister as an aerial?

[Seems Unlikely]

My car doesnt have an aerial fitted atm and having suffered from crap aerials in the past i thought i'd trawl the net to look at aerial types and the like, anyhow i found this article so thought i'd share!

Using rear window demister as an aerial AS WELL AS demister (http://www.ek9.org/forum/resource-area/31048-diy-internal-home-made-car-antenna.html)

I like the fact it doesnt lose functionality as demister and seems to work, may be trying this out myself!!

[richy rich]

IIRC the arial is in the rear quauter light window demister.

[BraindG]

On the galant the lower part of the demister is the aerial, the legnums have the aerial in the rear side windows.

[Seems Unlikely]

Ahhh ok i thought i'd found something really clever... Mine had two aerial jacks behind the radio, a large and small? It also has gps aerials on each side of the windscreen and a satnav headunit. As the radio reception was so poor i assumed the aerial jack being used was from the gps and wasnt suitable for FM radio. I will go back and check around again. Thanks for the heads up. Corin

[elnevio]

The large (i.e. looks like a normal aerial lead) goes to one of the windows, possibly the left, and the smaller one goes to the other. It is for a diversity set up. You can use the one on one side as the aerial, but will find the reception is not the greatest. Although I don't have problems with the national stations.

[Barney]

Wasn't there a post by Steelie some time last year about the antenna signal being amplified and there is a power cable that is often disconnected when the imported JDM radios are ripped out (wrong freq range) on import and not reconnected?????

[eyeballprawn]

It also has gps aerials on each side of the windscreen

If they are near the wipers then they are de-icers.

[Seems Unlikely]

Cheers Barney and Nev i will look at those too.

The stereo had been wired in by an imbecile, they joined the earth wires from the stereo and sat nav head units together but never connected them to ground.. Earth was by the cage mountings.

The aerial jacks are as Nev described above, a large and small jack that join together thru bonded sleeving, i thought on first reading Nev meant these go to front windscreen, not seen any other jacks for the other aerials so maybe it buried? There was a also (dim memory) another wire so maybe this for power antenna? Time to pull out the centre console again.. It has a sat nav control unit in the boot, and various leftover cables from sub bass units etc so a can of worms already. Also a tiny 'shark fin' like aerial on the rear roof, and the aerials on each side of the windscreen. So many aerials and no radio!!

Just seen your post Dylan, they are vertical on each side of the windscreen, near the edge. De icers? The plot thickens!

[Turbo_Steve]

The vertical ones sound like DAB or Sat Nav to me : was under the impression the de-icers were horizontal at the front.

Facts: As Nev states, there are two identical aerials, one in each rear window, of the VR4. They're "Active" aerials, meaning they don't work without power.
Where do they get the power from? Well: as also correctly stated, there are two aerial plugs behind the stereo - one small, one 'normal' sized.
Trace these back, and they join together to run to the back of the car. In the same "Bundle" is a single core cable - this needs +12v to power the aerials. Without it: you get next to nothing. On the factory setup, it's powered by the Stereo itself, however on mine I've wired it to come on when the ignition is on. You may need to be a bit careful with this, as any electrical noise introduced on this power feed drastically impacts your radio reception (from experience).

And before you ask, there is no affordable method of getting diversity working on a non-diversity tuner. SO if you REALLY want diversity (which works really really well, btw!) your best bet is to invest in a Becker or Blaupunkt headunit. These are among the best of the best, sound great and generally cost a fortune, but the range toppers all have twin-tuners, and can be adapted to support diversity antennae.

Whereabouts are you: if you're near Huntingdon, I have no problem in sorting it out for you?

[horndog]

And before you ask, there is no affordable method of getting diversity working on a non-diversity tuner. SO if you REALLY want diversity (which works really really well, btw!) your best bet is to invest in a Becker or Blaupunkt headunit. These are among the best of the best, sound great and generally cost a fortune, but the range toppers all have twin-tuners, and can be adapted to support diversity antennae.


Thats interesting, I never knew about aftermarket headunits with diversity, how much adaption is needed - do you know? I tried a couple of head units and only get average reception
When I asked at a local stereo place they looked at me as though i was speaking Japaneese,

[elnevio]

Well, I've got an Alpine head unit that has a diversity set-up. It is the head unit that came with my Leggie. When I took it out to put in a UK one, I noticed that the 'large' aerial had the inline band expander fitted, and the small one was still plugged in to the head unit! No wonder my reception was ultra pants!!

I do wonder about installed two band expanders though? Might not be too bad.

[horndog]

I did look for UK diversity head units but couldnt find any and the shops I spoke to didnt have any ideas,

I tried 2 other head units (a Sony and an Alpine) but didnt get any better radio reception
I can pick up a few channels but its just not great

[Turbo_Steve]

HornDog - is your aerial correctly powered as above?

I used to get Radio 1 and Radio 4 only, until I wired the aerial power up correctly.

As for the aftermarket headunits, UK models are rare: I've just checked the Blaupunk website, and their latest models have done away with twin tuners, so they can't be modified any more (it used to be a case of drilling a hole in the PCB and soldering and additional aerial connector in - it wasn't a TRUE diversity setup, as it wasn't simply using the best signal at the same frequency - it would actually use the second aerial to hunt for the same station on other frequencies and then go with the highest gain. Invariably this worked the same as long as the station carried RDS). I think Becker still do one......but it's over £1000.

[horndog]

Thanks for the info, cutting and soldering inside the radio is beyond what i feel comfortable doing,
I was looking at a new head units before I had to replace tha wifes turbo (mine is a really old Sony Double Din CD/Tape/Radio), so its back on the cards in the next month or two - I'd not heard of Becker before, I quite like the look of them as well, there are a couple on eBay at the moment so I'll see what they go for.

Any Reccomendations in the £350 price bracket? - I'm not up on my Car HiFi, just want good sound CD/MP3/Radio, no bells or whistles, wide range of music


HornDog - is your aerial correctly powered as above?
I think so, Ive looked at the other threads on the forums and seen the common problems, I tried unplugging the Aeriel Amp power cable and loose most channels when stationary.

[Turbo_Steve]

I can only give you the advice I follow, and many are likely to disagree:

Kenwood are full of features, but I generally find they sound rubbish.
I've had many Sony's - all have proved unreliable. I wouldn't buy another (and this goes for anything with a Sony badge on it, these days).
I love Pioneer. Consistently seem to be designed with Sound Quality in mind, they come with useful, audio focussed features and usually at a good price point. I have a Pioneer Headunit which has just started to show symptoms of a problem - after 10 years! I have another bottom of the range model which has sounds excellent and is reliable - after 5 years. These are models that are low in the product range, too.

Becker is amazing kit...and very expensive.

Alpine are also consistently pretty good, and usually better designed and with more features than Pioneer. They're generally a bit pricier, though, and I've not been super-amazed at the reliability. They're good kit, though: they're generally a lot more expandable, and better integrated.