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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Car Audio / October 2006short antennas
This is my first time reading and posting to this group; if I'm raising an old issue, I apologize and would be grateful if would aim me towards an appropriate FAQ. I would like to replace the broken antenna on my 1987 Toyota Celica with a short antenna. I've seen them on various web sites but I'm wondering whether shorter antennas (I'm thinking in the 12" to 15" range) pick up signals significantly less well than "regular" sized antennas. If the technology is such that short antennas work about as well as regular ones, then my next question is what is a reasonable brand? Thanks. Richard You know, it's not the size of your antenna that matters. It's what you do with it. MOSFET (sorry guys, I just COULD NOT resist) > This is my first time reading and posting to this group; if I'm raising > an old issue, I apologize and would be grateful if would aim me towards [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Richard I kind of figured I was opening myself up to that comment when I wrote my post. However, I'd heard of the legendary maturity of this group, so I was not worried. :) I'm not opposed to a serious answer though... > You know, it's not the size of your antenna that matters. It's what you do > with it. [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >> >>Richard OK, since I was the one with the smart-a.s answer, let me give this a shot.... First of all, this group DOES have a VERY extensive FAQ that can be found at: http://www.mobileaudio.com/rac-faq/ But I took a quick look through the FAQ and did not see any specific reference to antennas. But I did find this: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/radio11.htm An explanation of antenna priciples that may be useful in your search. As we all know, technology has enabled cetain types of antennas to become shorter (due to coiling and other technologies). However, height (the higher the better) will always be a factor with some type of radio bands. I am frankly not an expert on this subject and perhaps someone like Matt or an EE can chime on on this. But I would try perusing through that second link I gave as it contains some antenna basics that may be of use to you. I hope this helps, MOSFET > I kind of figured I was opening myself up to that comment when I wrote > my post. However, I'd heard of the legendary maturity of this group, so [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > >> > >>Richard > An explanation of antenna priciples that may be useful in your search > A > we all know, technology has enabled cetain types of antennas to becom > shorter (due to coiling and other technologies) With the exception of fractal antennas, the fundamentals that gover antennas haven't changed significantly since the '20's : Anytime you decrease the physical size of the antenna from quarter-wave by coil loading (a 1/4-wave at 100MHz is around 2 1/3ft 234/freq. in MHz), you decrease the bandwidth. Just a fact of life. Yo may notice this on the FM band with a helically wound vertical, or yo may not, it depends. But 20MHz is a pretty wide bandwidth and th performance of the stubby vertical is likely to drop off sharply on th band edges > or a > EE can chime on on this Does a wannabe-EE count? : -- JimJ[VT] Thanks very much for the help! MOSFET wrote: > OK, since I was the one with the smart-a.s answer, let me give this a > shot.... [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > An explanation of antenna priciples that may be useful in your search.... > With the exception of fractal antennas, the fundamentals that govern > antennas haven't changed significantly since the '20's :)... Well, I got the shorty antenna (its about 14") and I can say that so far the FM reception (in the Atlanta area) seems about the same as with my prior "regular" antenna; however, AM reception is horrible. Of the 4 AM stations I occasionally listened to, all of which came in at least decently with the old antenna, only 1 comes in now and even that one is not great. I have not been out of the Atlanta metro area since I installed the antenna, so I don't know how the reception of Atlanta FM stations will work when I wander a bit from town. I guess my experience is more or less consistent with what MOSFET and JimJ(VT) said which is that a shorter antenna is going to lose something. Richard > Thanks very much for the help! > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > With the exception of fractal antennas, the fundamentals that govern > > antennas haven't changed significantly since the '20's :)... I was looking at the same type thing to replace mine and i kept seeing film antennas. Would they be bad to since they are even smaller. TroyT. |
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