I've had an inside antanea for 2 years now. It's the type that Julianos and others sell that has two plastic strips sticking out of a box. Anyhow, I've always been dissapointed with the reception I got. I had it mounted in the header panel above the windshield. Now that I'm doing interior work on my 34, I took the opportunity last night to move it to different locations. Can anyone who uses these tell me where it got the best reception. By the back window? Under a running board? Outside the car in a concealed place? Radio static drives me nuts!!!

I can tell you a poor place to mount it.I put mine under the dash of my 41 chevy and get static on all but the most powerful local station,and on the road just forget it,put in a tape.I have been thinking about trying a conventional antenea mounted under the car to see if it worked better.If you find a good solution to your problem let me know.

If the '34 is fiberglass and you're doing interior work, try a conventional antenna under the headliner. If it's steel you're going to have to mount it where steel doesn't block the signal. Factory cars with inside antennae embedded two wires in the windshield.

mrwillys, I found out many years ago that if one has a fiberglass car, there are parts on the car that can be used as an antenna. I.E., The windshield frame, a hood hinge if one is being used, a simple wire placed near the rear of the car to help eliminate motor noise. I have yet to see a glass car manufacturer mold a metal plate into the firewall that can be grounded to the frame. A friend is using an inside type antenna in his "glass" roadster mounted up under the cowling and it works well.
I have to laugh sometimes at the cars at shows that are obviously fiberglass with an external antenna mounted on what would be an otherwise "clean" spot. Even disappearing antennas! When mounting the antenna cable to something like a windshield frame that is isolated by the fiberglass, be sure to run the shield of the cable to a ground of some type. Good luck Fred P might triumphs over right.
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Fred P.

Can't believe the timing on this subject. I'm currently installing a radio in my "glass" coupe and was just wondering what to do for an antenna.
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Dick Z

My 32 roadster is a Downs bodyw/fenders and the antenna is mounted under the passenger side runningboard. I'm happy with it,of course when you are cruising at speed there is so much wind noise you don't hear the radio anyway. Guess I could install earphones. RP peggys other half
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Peggy Diegan

Ahem.
First of all, FM is largly line of site so you need to be in a geographical location to receive the signal. I don't assume we are talking about AM radio. That having been said, it's a good idea to get the antenna as HIGH as you can.
You might have noticed that most antennae are mounted vertical and high on the body of the car.
One can still mount the antenna vertical but NOT have it poke out of the car if it's fibreglass. A good example would be in the trunk of the car, hidden up inside a fender.
On a steel car it's a different story as the steel of the body would interfere with the antenna itself and it's ability to receive the FM signal. One of the things about antennas is that they like what's called a "ground plane" even if they are only receiving a signal. This ground plane is usually the steel body of the car.
I'm thinking that if you put a piece of aluminum foil UNDER the antenna in the trunk of a fibreglass car that would help. Nest ce' pas?

Once again, I've typed more than I know.

Jim
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Time is natures way of keeping everything from happening at once.

I know of a coulpe of references for manufacturing antennas for fiberglass and metal airplanes that may be of benefit.Through the efforts of Bob Nuckolls of Aeroelectric Connection and Jim Weir of RST Engineering we have the information we need and can use as they are generous enough to share the information. Please see:

General design:
http://www.rst-engr.com/kitplanes/KP0009B/KP0009B.htm
http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/coaxconn/coaxconn.html

For metal bodied rides:
http://www.rst-engr.com/kitplanes/KP9911/KP9911.htm
http://www.rst-engr.com/kitplanes/KP9912/KP9912.htm

For plastic bodied rides I have references in my files at home which I can dig out, scan, and supply to anyone interested. I can post them on a web page someplace if there is any interest. Again, Jim and Bob get all of the credit for teh design and development. All I do is copy their ideas, make the antennas and bury them in te fiberglass of my project.

You will have to work out the length of the legs of the antennas, but that's half the fun of doing it yourself.
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Speed is relative - until you hit something

So what do us Steel Rodders use? I just filled up a torn up antanea hole about a week ago on the 49. It was butchered pretty badly, so I just cut a patch pannel and welded it it in. Should I have just repaired the hole?

I was planning on using a hidden antanea, but now Im getting the feeling that it wont work with my truck being all steel.
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Damn, I wish I had more time.
35 Ford Pick-Up

Please see the links for the metal bodies rides, I don't think it matters of the body is steel or aluminum. One nice thing about the copper tape is you have flexibility to experiment with locations & orientations quickly and inexpensively (relative). I'll look in my archive file at home tonight and see what else in in there, it's been a couple-three years since I dug through them.
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Speed is relative - until you hit something

Hi Guys, thanks for all the input. I should have stated that I have an all steel 34 sedan. I found a sweet spot that works leaps and bounds better than the spot it was. ( above the winshield, behind the header) I'm using an after market antanea from Julianos. It has a small guage wire lead that's 10 feet or so. It also has a ground wire. I removed the window garnish from a rear window, and sandwiched it between the glass, frame, and window garnish. It's size allows it to be descrite, it's out of view, easy to install. I ran a ground to the frame. On my intial test, I picked up Baltimore radio stations from my York, PA location. (55 miles away) I think this will be sufficient. Now, if I can only figure out a way to mount a CB antanea...........

LOL
Bob
(MrWillys40@aol.com)

I have just used two in different cars. Bought the ones from custom autosound. Put one inside console in '48 Cadillac, the other behind back seat of '33 Chev. Both work well. You can't expect as good a performance as from a regular antenna, but I am happy with these.
Bob

Thanks Airdriver. I saved the site to my favorites and will be referring back to them in about 3 months if all goes well on the 49 build-up.
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Damn, I wish I had more time.
35 Ford Pick-Up