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radio antenna

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radibob

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So I have a working period motorola radio for my Sprite but no antenna and I am reluctant to drill any holes anywhere.
Anyone have a creative way to fashion an antenna on these cars without drilling any holes?

I have a trunk luggage rack and was actually considering insulating it from the body and using it as an antenna.
 
That might work pretty well.
I got a period fender mirror / Arial from the silent auction at Midget 50th and installed it.
Works ok, better than no antennae for sure, but not as good as a 'real' antennae. However, it's good enough to listen to the morning drive show on my way to work.

radibob said:
So I have a working period motorola radio for my Sprite but no antenna and I am reluctant to drill any holes anywhere.
Anyone have a creative way to fashion an antenna on these cars without drilling any holes?

I have a trunk luggage rack and was actually considering insulating it from the body and using it as an antenna.
Click to expand...
 
The OLD Fords mounted the antenna under the running board. Don't know why you can't mount below the body in rubber standoffs.
 
I also had one under the hood for a while - it worked but out from under the big metal bonnet is better.
 
You may want to look into boat antennas for this application. Not the big, old fiberglass ones, but the wire that you can tape to the inside of the dash or behind a panel. I've used them on several boats and they work really well...not the best, but good enough.
Rut
 
I bought some coil winding from radio shack and ran it along my roll bar. I connected that to the center lead of the caox coming from the radio. Then I grounded the shielding from the coax to the roll bar. It works way better than my conventional antenna did.
 
I am using a boat antenna on my BE. It is made by Shakesphere (they make lots of different boat antennas). It is a strip antenna that I installed just above the bottom of the windshield. It is very thin and goes about 1 1/2 feet at the bottom of the glass. I can send you a picture if you give me an email address. I like this antenna so much that I put one on my Pathfinder SUV. I did not want to drill a hole on the fender and this works great! Most people do not notice it until I bring it to their attention.
Charlie
 
Another good reason for a hidden antenna:

Nothing says "come steal my radio" like a big ol' aerial.

Go ahead, ask me how I know. :madder:
 
what about a copper strip stuck to the windscreen. RS sell CU tape, it's got an adhesive backing, and you can then solder the dialectric (inner core) of the coax to it. Insulate outer core this end.
 
The problem with most adhesives attached to the windshield is that the sun will break it down quickly. Then you are left with an ooze you need to clean up. Try to find something that uses the same adhesive that the DMV uses.
 
If you insulated it well I don't see why that wouldn't work, kellysguy. But how to insulate??? Maybe it would work anyway?

Kurt.
 
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