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Opitional FM antenna ??

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by ralphbongo, Aug 17, 2006.

  1. ralphbongo

    ralphbongo New Member

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    OK I want a clean look no wires and not that geekie rod antenna on the roof. I ordered a shark fin from PC but as I wait for it I have a thought. What if you unhooked the rear window defroster and used the grid for a hidden antenna??? :blink: Has anyone tried this and did it work?? If not I may try it next weekend and see if it works. Foo we don't need the defroster in Fl. anyway. Any thoughts on this ??
     
    #1 ralphbongo, Aug 17, 2006
  2. Rangerdavid

    Rangerdavid Senior Member

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    Seems like I had a car in years past that had the radio antenna embedded in the windshield. I can remember what model it was though..... I don't know why that wouldn't work, but you'd loose the use of the defroster. :huh:
     
    #2 Rangerdavid, Aug 17, 2006
  3. eagle33199

    eagle33199 Platinum Member

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    A lot of high end cars (my fathers lexus, for example) have it embedded in the windshield. I would encourage you to go for it, but in the process don't do anything you can't undo (it may effect resell, your life conditions may change and you bring the car up north, whatever). I can think of a couple of reasons why it may not work:

    in order for a defroster to work, the wires have to have a fairly high resistance so they heat up. I'm not sure if this is different than that used in the wires for radios.

    The change in surface area may have some effect on the radio, good or bad... not really sure.
     
    #3 eagle33199, Aug 18, 2006
  4. jmann

    jmann Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rangerdavid @ Aug 17 2006, 09:51 PM) [snapback]305015[/snapback]</div>
    pontiac use to offer that in the vans in the models around 2000. They dropped it and went back to real antenas because the reception just plain sucked.
     
    #4 jmann, Aug 19, 2006
  5. getoutside

    getoutside New Member

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    Your defroster will appear as a resistor to your radio, or a closed circuit whereas the car antennas in windshields have been typically placed in a dipole format similar to the same type of 300 ohm antennas one might get with a home receiver for fm reception.
     
    #5 getoutside, Aug 21, 2006
  6. justsoup

    justsoup New Member

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    I would wait for the Sharkfin antenna and not mess with the defroster. I have a Sharkfin and it works perfectly and it looks sharp.

    Good luck
     
    #6 justsoup, Aug 21, 2006
  7. ralphbongo

    ralphbongo New Member

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    Thanks for the input.The FiN came today and its on the car. Reception is almost as good as the stick but the look is much better. Something I found with the stick is that with my xm antenna mounted behind it xm reception was not as good. Now with the fin this also has been fixed.(no I didn't mount the xm under the fin). I tested it there but took a hit on the xm. Guess I will just have to live with 2" of wire showing. :(
     
    #7 ralphbongo, Aug 21, 2006
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