Antenna's

[adidasboy918]

Does anyone here have one of those shorty antennas on your cars/trucks? if so how does it work and how does it look on it? thinking about the 8in one but not sure yet.

[zach45]

i think one of our vendors is a supplier

[GaryL]

I've got one on my Suburban. I unscrewed the original and screwed in the new one, took less than 5 minutes.

The only things I have noticed different are that it doesn't get quite as good reception as you get out of town and when I took the truck through an automatic carwash (not the touchless type) it was a little bent when the truck came out. I was able to straighten it back up with no problems.

[dwill3015]

Not a good picture but this is my 8" Shorty atennna. I got it from our vendor here and it works great!

[adidasboy918]

How's the reception on yours Darcy? I like the look of it but I also want the great reception that I have with my stock antenna.

[moogvo]

Ok, here's the deal on antenna reception...

Your eadio antenna is more than just a random length stainless steel whip. It is actually tuned to resonate in the center of the FM broadcast band. (CB'ers will remember that the full wavelength of a CB antenna is 102" at the center of the CB band... longer or shorter equals higher SWR.)

The FM broadcast receiver antenna is typically cut to 5/8 wavelength of the frequency it is receiving. If it is too high or too low, effectively, it has a high SWR, which in this case won't damage your radio (because you aren't transmitting) but it DOES reflect the signal back out into the air.

If you are listening to a local high powered station, it will really make no difference, but if you are listening to stations that are further out on the fringe, you will be disappointed.

This was really the long way around saying "If you change the length of your antenna (shorter OR longer) it will not work as well as the original antenna."

[95CTburb19]

I have the 14 inch shorty on my truck and I also don't get as clear reception as I did with the stock one. It does look cool though.

[adidasboy918]

THats what I was afraid of. I'll have to think more about it then. Most stations I listen to are local and really strong signal tower ones if I'm not listening to XM.

[dwill3015]

Nice info Tom!
I would have to agree that when i use the radio it is only for the local stations and they come in just fine but I would agree that in remote areas it seems a tad bit weaker than the stock antanna. I love the shorter look and it suits my needs great! I DO listen to XM 95% of the time though so I don't rely on the radio too much.

[EagleTalons]

Instead of getting a shorty why not get a retractable one? <s>I kinda want to get one like that for my Scottsdale.</s> Just realized the antenna is in the windshield...