>>> ANTENNA QUESTIONS <<<

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

Considering that I live in a very rural area, I have decided to try this antenna to give my radio as much reception help that I can.


http://www.amazon.com/Pyramid-3800-...UTF8&colid=CV7BFPJA08OD&coliid=I1MDFU2O35RJD7


I have a few questions concerning this installation.

1. The cable on the new antenna is 54-inches long; is this enough or should I also get an extension ??

2. Would it be possible for me to graft the new antenna onto the existing cable and base where it passes through the cowl-cover, rather than having to pull the radio, route the cable, and etc. ??

3. Is the cable simply a single shielded wire that could be easily spliced ??

4. This may be a silly question; but, could I experiment and sort of replicate the effects of this longer antenna by wrapping a coil of copper wire around the existing antenna and then extending the copper wire to the 53-inch length like the new antenna ??

Thanks.

 

[junk]

1. 54 inches seems plenty long to me if you do the factory routing through the firewall and behind the dash. It will be a pain to route, but you can probably use the old cable to fish the new cable in. Still need to pop the cowl panel off and pull the radio I would think.

2. I don't know about grafting the cables. I know the ford cable pulls off the base that attaches to the cowl on an 89. You maybe able to plug the new cable into that. Or get an adapter? Not sure.

3. Should be able to splice the cable if you wanted. May affect signal though which kind of defeats the effort.

4. I would wonder if you could unscrew the new antenna off the ball base it comes with and get it to screw onto your factory mount?

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

4. I would wonder if you could unscrew the new antenna off the ball base it comes with and get it to screw onto your factory mount?

I had been playing with that possibility in my mind; I don't actually have the new antenna in hand yet.

I plan to experiment with grafting the new onto the old base, if at all possible.

Thanks.

 

[Kevin 007]

Thats what I plan on doing. I won't be re-routing a new wire nor will I be pulling the radio. If I can't figure out a way to use the factory base, Im gonna leave it alone.

 

[SparkandFire]

Don't graft the cable ...

Here's why. The RF signal from the antenna to the receiver does not travel IN the wires through the coax, it actually travels in the space BETWEEN the two conductors. There are two components of an RF signal, E waves and H waves and they (E being the electrical impulse that travels on the surface of the copper and the H wave is the magnetic wave that travels in the airspace between the copper conductors) they have to both arrive at the receiver circuit at the exact same time in order for the signal to be full strength.

If you just cut and crimp the center conductor and the shield of the coax you will lose a lot of signal in the process. Even if you use a proper coax splice you're going to have a lot of loss.

I would definitely pull the radio and route the cable through the cowl and the firewall with the factory end still on it.

 

[riotwarrior]

Keep the stock antenna....tis the simplest solution....The stock antenna is fine. adding a different one may or may not work, satellite radio works about anywhere for most part.

If you feel you must change the antenna, do so as a whole, it's a package keep it as such.

 

[Blind Driver2]

That antenna didn't get very good reviews. Probably because it's made by Pyramid.