Relocating the radio antenna

[raeder]

Originally Posted by soonercruiser

No there yet!
The Cruiser has been in the paint shop 4+ weeks now.
And, I believe that they want to take Thanksgiving week off.
I am not going to put on any pressure; as they are doing an awesome job, and removing parts to paint that I thought they did not need to.
I dropped off a modified Chrysler wing emblem for the one they broke taking it off the rear hatch yesterday.
Carl had it all covered, ready for the bottom gray metallic spray today.
But he peeled back some of the plastic to show me how David had wet sanded and buffed the blue above the beltline....and it is like glass!!!!


So, I'm not likely to be getting a chance to do those things like the antenna until the week after Thanksgiving.

Sounds like they are doing a great job!

[soonercruiser]

I has some time late this afternoon after 'honey dos" and yard work.
So, I decided to tackle the new radio antenna location.

Cleaned the windshield well; used adhesion promoter too.
Mounted the antenna and it's little box end just outside of where the headliner an A pillar will be.




Made sure the wire would be tucked immediately under the headliner and A Pillar.




Tucked the antenna wire under the rubber drain hose for the Moon Roof.




Then, ran the wire into the end of the dash framework, to the right of the glove box.




Tapped into the hot 12V pink wire at the passenger side kick panel and door jam cover.
(Made sure my cargo lamp still lit up.)




Then ran my hot wire back up the kick panel are to the dash.




Connected the hot line to the Signal booster.




Yes! Signal Booster light came on.




Finished connecting to the radio.
Tucked the extra wire length and booster behind the support for the glove box.
And YES, tested the radio!
(Awesome FM signal!)




And here is how it looks from the outside.
Basically invisible, since I have tint at the top 25% of my windshield!
If it does show up at all in the daylight, I will take another picture.




***Now, the only mistake I made was....I thought that I bought a booster for both AM & FM when I purchased it.
But, on the label of the booster it says FM signal boster.
So, if I don't get my talk radio well enough, another booster will be easy to install.
I do spent most of my time listening to the local Classical Channel.

[soonercruiser]

BAD NEWS!!!

I had a chance to drive around today and really test out the hidden antenna!!!

HORRIBLE!!!
DON'T BOTHER BUYING THIS TYPE OF HIDDEN ANTENNA!!!
https://www.amazon.com/ZHOL%C3%82-Am...093bd8_p_2_t_p

Mine was a bit more expensive....but the same design.

FM, even with the signal booster, was much worst than OEM.
Hardly any AM at all - even in town stations!
FM seemed to be NOT OMNIDIRECTIONAL....in that It was better when I was heading different directions in relationship to the radio tower.

So, THIS GUINEA PIG presses on!
I did some research on the web, and there seemed to be a lot of advertising of their biased product in the so-called independent ratings.
Even Crutchfield seemed to only have the lower end types of antennas.

So, I was relegated to making the second buying decision based on feedback ratings.
It was good to confirm that the first one I bought had horrible ratings by the users.

The GF-Link antenna had great ratings, considering the limitations.
And, is both AM & FM rated.
So, we'll see. (Glad the dash is still apart for my DIY painting of the bezels to match the Deep Ocean Blue.)

https://www.amazon.com/GF-link-Hidde.../dp/B07CNMDTY8

[soonercruiser]

2 Days of using the GF-Link hidden antenna, and I can tell you it is a ton better than the first one I bought!

https://www.amazon.com/GF-link-Hidde.../dp/B07CNMDTY8

FM is great...BUT....I can still hardly even get the in-town AM Talk Radio Station.
Now granted, I am using the booster, which is only an FM signal Booster.

So, my next step is to try and final a signal booster for both AM & FM.

**This time before I installed the antenna on the windshield, I did it outside in the driveway for testing purposes.
NO PLACEMENT INSIDE THE CAR WAS AS GOOD AS HOLDING IT UP ABOVE THE ROOF!!! NADA!
(Which tells me....down the road....I may try out a shark fin in the future.)

What I also discovered was.....FOR AM.....that the AM signal/reception was significantly degraded (high pitched interference) any time I brought the antenna close to the sheet metal of the car; and especially near the A Pillar....which is full of wires and power lines.
The AM signal was much better at night, when our local station is on higher power.

So, although not technically "HIDDEN" from view inside the car, the best signal was gotten with the GF-Link about half way down the passenger side A Pillar, and about 4 inches away from it, left, towards the drivers side.

[soonercruiser]

OK!
SO I ADMIT THAT THIS WAS A BUST PROJECT!!!!

*NOW, it is cool to eliminate the Radio antenna mast on the fender.
I do like the clean look!

**BUT.....NOTHING IS AS GOOD AS A LONG ANTENNA!!!!

In the last week, I even installed a different "Signal Booster" that was supposed to be BETTER for both AM & FM.
NOT IT IS NOT!!!
AM STILL ESSENTIALLY WORTHLESS.

Since I do like my talk radio, I will probably have to go with a Shark Fin above the body.

***HIDDEN ANTENNAS SUCK!!!!
Do not do it!
As I mentioned in post #14, even the best ones had to be held above the metal body of the car to work on AM.

***P.S. Yes, I am going to try to use my "smart" phone and the iHeart Radio App....before going to a Shark Fin..........entering the 21st Century!