Windscreen Aerials

[trufflehunt]

I’m currently faffing around with the original fitted electric aerial on my MK1. 

The metal telescopic part has been bent/broken near the base for a long time.

I have a new one , complete with the toothed flexy bit that goes inside and pushes, and pulls,

the telescopic part up and down.

The remains of the old aerial at the base seem just about immoveably stuck in the remainder

of the motor shaft. 

 

I’ve considered alternatives.

Replacing with a manual system, with proper MX5 parts is up around £50. At the other end of the scale

there are some universal fitment things, and those rubber floppy things that I don’t care for.

There are also some cheapy windscreen aerials, a kind of 1 foot rod with what is supposed be an 

amplifier on them. These receive fairly mediocre reviews on the likes of Amazon. 

 

As I pondered what to do, I thought of an aerial that I fiited to one of my cars, 30 or so years ago.

It worked fine. Basically, it was like double thickness sellotape, with a metal strip about a half inch wide embedded, that

ran along the top of the front windscreen.

 

Any of this familiar, and does anyone know if they are still available?

 

[Benz3ne]

My regular aerial has been pretty shoddy and by the time I got around to looking at doing something I’d accumulated most of the parts towards a DAB radio - if that takes your fancy they tend to come with a stick-on DAB aerial which has worked absolutely astoundingly for me. No dropouts and I travel to Llangennech on a daily basis (not the most exciting place in the world…).

I’ve even been up the valleys with it and no issues, nor any at any point along the M4.

Like I said, if you’re looking at keeping things original spec, it’s not really for you but everything will be going digital at one point or another so I jumped the gun and am glad I did so.

[trufflehunt]

@Benz3ne

My regular aerial has been pretty shoddy and by the time I got around to looking at doing something I’d accumulated most of the parts towards a DAB radio - if that takes your fancy they tend to come with a stick-on DAB aerial which has worked absolutely astoundingly for me. No dropouts and I travel to Llangennech on a daily basis (not the most exciting place in the world…).

I’ve even been up the valleys with it and no issues, nor any at any point along the M4.

Like I said, if you’re looking at keeping things original spec, it’s not really for you but everything will be going digital at one point or another so I jumped the gun and am glad I did so.

 

Thanks

I’ve decided to ditch the rear aerial, have now put a blanking grommet in the rear wing aerial hole,

and bought one of these at my local Halfords, at £3.99 …

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Autoleads-Electric-Glass-Windscreen-Self-Adhesive-Mount-Car-Radio-Aerial-Antenna-/191931593504?hash=item2cb003b320:g:k8AAAOSwZVlXl1AV

 

Supposedly has an integrated signal amplifier. However, as I wanted to keep things simple, ie, a more presentable version of a coat hanger, 

and considering that any amplifier in something costing £3.49 is likely to be more about marketing than functionality...

I chopped off the earth, and power leads, leaving just the aerial lead. Then fitted at the top of the screen, and ran the lead along

underneath the top and side trim. 

 

Works quite well, and is unobtrusivel. 

 

I already had a £7.95 Bluetooth/FM transmitter in the cigarette lighter socket which gave me

DAB, Radio 6 Music etc from my smartphone/app, so for a total of £11.44 I can get DAB, or if 

powering up the app is just too much effort, I can listen to FM as I've always done. 

 

I'll likely in due course go down the route you've done, gradually accumulate the bits I need

for a DAB receiver, with USB etc., but for now, having spent quite a bit on the car so far this year,

I've gone for the budget route with the in car entertainment.