Shorter antenna
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Junior User
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From: Atlanta, GA
Shorter antenna
I recently bought a '03 F-150 FX4, and love it.
One minor problem I'm having though is the antenna. I keep the truck garaged, but it's so high that the tip of the antenna catches the edge of the garage door when pulling in/out.
Does anyone know of a direct replacement antenna I can put on my truck that's about 2" shorter than the factory antenna?
I'm not looking to change looks or functionality in any way, I'm just concerned that one of these days something weird will happen and it'll get "hung."
One minor problem I'm having though is the antenna. I keep the truck garaged, but it's so high that the tip of the antenna catches the edge of the garage door when pulling in/out.
Does anyone know of a direct replacement antenna I can put on my truck that's about 2" shorter than the factory antenna?
I'm not looking to change looks or functionality in any way, I'm just concerned that one of these days something weird will happen and it'll get "hung."
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Junior User
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From: Atlanta, GA
Originally posted by silvapain
The problem is, the antenna is that long to have a harmonic with the center of the FM radio spectrum. If you shorten it, it will not picl up the lower frequency radio stations as well.
The problem is, the antenna is that long to have a harmonic with the center of the FM radio spectrum. If you shorten it, it will not picl up the lower frequency radio stations as well.
But does anyone make such a thing?
Actually, does the Ranger have a shorter antenna rod? And if so, is the male connector on it the same diameter/thread ratio as the antenna mount on the F-150?
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Junior User
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From: Atlanta, GA
Originally posted by silvapain
So then I could split open the casing, unwrap the wire, cut the antenna almost off, re-wrap the wire, and have a custom short antenna?
So then I could split open the casing, unwrap the wire, cut the antenna almost off, re-wrap the wire, and have a custom short antenna?
I'm not sure exactly how far apart the windings would have to be to avoid this problem, but I'm fairly certain that a 2" shorter antenna rod wouldn't cause a problem.
A 2" long antenna rod, on the other hand, would almost certainly have this problem.
I did, however, find an 18-1/2" antenna at http://www.billetspecialties.com/ that will, with an adapter, fit a Ford antenna mount. Only problem is that it's billet, and I don't really want that, but it will address my immediate concern until I find a more permanent solution.
Edit: Does anyone else find it odd that the forum auto-links the word antenna, but if you follow the link and type antenna into the search box, you get no results?
Last edited by Grimolfr; Oct 21, 2003 at 04:26 PM.
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From: Chicagoland
Here's a sugesstion. If you have a tinted rear window, take a piece of 16ga. wire, and adhere to the back window in a criss-cross jagged formation (like the way that the antennas that are impregnated in the rear window of some cars are). That would (theoretically) work. May not look the best on the inside, though. Crutchfied sells an AM-FM signal booster for $15 as well, in case you loose reception when you shorten the antenna.
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I love it when half of a word is linked to something completely different than what you are talking about.
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From: Oregon
I'd probably go ahead on the idea of cut 2" and rewrap, or even just cut. I imagine that the transmit towers in Hotlanta are close enough to where you live that bit of loss won't affect it too much.
If it's real important: a 1/4 wave whip is a little less than 2 1/2' long at 100 MHz and the range between the upper and lower band is about 4/10's of a foot. That means you'll still be within the band if you cut a couple inches and that's if it's a solid whip. If it's got wire wrapped around it to make it a electrically equivalent 1/2 wave. It'll matter even less.
If you wanted to just strip back about 4" of rod. Unwrap the wire. Cut off two inches of rod, and then rewrap the wire on the remaining two inches. It would work fine and you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I'd be concerned about resealing it to match the rest of the antenna.
If it's real important: a 1/4 wave whip is a little less than 2 1/2' long at 100 MHz and the range between the upper and lower band is about 4/10's of a foot. That means you'll still be within the band if you cut a couple inches and that's if it's a solid whip. If it's got wire wrapped around it to make it a electrically equivalent 1/2 wave. It'll matter even less.
If you wanted to just strip back about 4" of rod. Unwrap the wire. Cut off two inches of rod, and then rewrap the wire on the remaining two inches. It would work fine and you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. I'd be concerned about resealing it to match the rest of the antenna.
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I got a cheap little ant at AutoZone for less then $10. It may not be as good as the stock ant, but it works fine for me. If the stock one is 100% then this little one is 95%. The truck fits in the garage with out draggin' the ant and the camper fits fine also
Elder User
Joined: Jul 2003
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From: Cupertino, CA
I posted this very question a couple of months ago. Metra makes a 16" antenna that has a coil in the middle like a cell phone antenna. I spoke with their tech support guys, who warned me that I would notice a loss of signal...but I didn't. The good stations still sound good; the lousy ones still sound lousy.
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