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Smaller Aerial on a Duster?

12K views 42 replies 15 participants last post by  Roger 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi,

Has anyone put a smaller aerial on their Duster? I am looking for a slightly less ridiculous aerial, especially after whacking it off the ceiling of a multi-storey car park.

Cheers
 
#3 ·
I fitted a beesting version cheap and easy to fit. Simply unscrew the old and screw on the new . The most difficult thing about it is to choose how long you want the new aerial as it comes with three different fittings /lengths. They are for sale on the web on Ebay and dirt cheap.

The new one doesnt catch my up and over garage door now so good move.
 
#4 ·
After mine scraped along the roof of a French car park I just pushed it back so it wasn't so vertical.

I took my car in to be resprayed last year, when I went to collect it the aerial was missing. I pointed this out and the paint-shop manager said "bloody salesmen, they'll nick anything", and then she took one of a brand new duster and put it on mine.
 
#8 ·
Look on Ebay where the Bee Sting replacement for the Duster aerial is only £2.60. It screws on in place of the original and comes with a choice of length. No wiring to do and a 1 minute job. Did mine so i could use the roof bars and also to not hit the garage up and over door.
Hi Den

I don't suppose you still have the link for this one?

As Millar says , and I have read on the Hyundai Coupe forum I go on now , some of the bee sting arials have terrible reception.

If yours is ok I will order the exact same one :)

Cheers
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hi Den

I don't suppose you still have the link for this one?

As Millar says , and I have read on the Hyundai Coupe forum I go on now , some of the bee sting arials have terrible reception.

If yours is ok I will order the exact same one :)

Cheers
Cannot beat a full length rod, as fitted by Dacia. Trust me. I'm an ex communications engineer !! All the others are a compromise !! :eek:
 
#11 ·
Any good compromises though Roger??? To be honest I tend to use the CD player a lot more than the radio.
I only live down the road from you in Coseley
I tend to listen to BBC WM. The best reception around my area (Netherton) where the signal is 'thin' has been in my Dacia. My SEAT & Peugeot both had a short 'curly' aerials (antenna is a 'Yank' term as far as I'm concerned !!) and BBC WM used to 'drop-out' on my drive on them !! :eek:
 
#13 · (Edited by Moderator)
I only listen to WM when they have the Wolves match on there. He he
Know Netherton well, used to play Sunday League football round there a lot until a couple of years ago.
Sorry. Mrs Roger says I'm not allowed to converse with you anymore 'boing boing' She is a season ticket holder !!! :eek: I'm not by the way, my team plays at Rootes Hall !! ;)
 
#14 · (Edited by Moderator)
Georges :wub: aerial got damaged in a multistory as it pinged off the height thingies at the entrance...
The blobby bit on the end has vanished.
The drive thru hand wash guys ...i take him there cos i cant reach the top or middle to clean him...hed end up with a stripe down the middle...knock the aerial to vertical all yhe time...but ive now got them trained to lie it flatter...i think this is how it got damaged...
So....when george had his 2nd servce i asked if i cud order a replacement blobby bit and they said no...but i now wonder if that is truthful cos hes a car and u can normally replace any bit ! Perhaps the entire "full length rod" as Roger says...George is sniggering on the drive....is a better option....I shall have to make enquiries about aerials at the dealers :ph34r:
DM x

Posted Via The DaciaForum.co.uk App
 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
Come on someone on here must have bought an Ebay one and still have a link ? There are dozens of them going for well under a fiver but I am bound to pick the crap one that doesn't work !!! :D :D
On a practical point any bit of metal will work on VHF Nation wide coverage radio stations i.e. BBC RADIO 1-2-3-4 as they use RDS which means they constantly 'hop' between transmitting sites, to give you the best signal.

The problem arises on single transmitter site i.e. BBC WM. Beacon Radio etc where to signal only comes from one point and if you hit a 'blind spot' the signal drops out when the receiving aerial falls short of the correct length.

Without going into the maths, the ideal length, for a frequency of 95.6Mhz (BBC Radio WM), is an aerial of 0.783975 metres, about the size of the one Dacia fit as standard !! ;)

Here endeth a lesson on aerial theory !! :p
 
#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
There are heavyweight text books on the subject of aerial theory and design. Before replacing the aerial supplied you may wish to consider the following.

The aerial fitted is known as a quater wave monopole, an old and proven design. Basically the length of the monopole should be a quater of the wavelength (or multiple thereof ) of the transmission you wish to receive. In the case of FM radio this means that at 100Mhz which has a wavelenght of approx 3 Metres it should be approx 75cm or thereabouts. I would suggest that the supplied aerial is indeed of a suitable size and correctly designed.

Alternatives that are used by manufacturers bee sting , sharks fin and those embedded in the rear windscreen require the inclusion of a signal amplifier to overcome the limitations of their design. This requires a power supply usually supplied via the aerial lead but requires a suitably designed radio not only to provide the power but also to accept such an aerial as input.

While it may be feasible to overcome these problems it is not something to undertake lightly and the performance is unlikely to be as good as the monopole.

Of course if you are close enough to a powerful transmitter you can stick anything on the roof and get good reception.

David
David !

I wasn't going to go that deep !!

As I wrote, about the length of a Dacia aerial !!

Was you into radio communications as an well ?

73s

Roger ;)
 
#21 ·
i have to say when I got the car I did wonder why I had the equivalent of a fishing rod on my roof, particularly since most manufacturers are going smaller.

Carbone has explained it perfectly.

Thank you, I will save my money and but some furry dice instead.
 
#22 ·
I purchased a 4" aerial from Halfords last week and around the Central Belt it works great. However, I've noticed that when travelling up the A9 the signal starts to break up much closer to civilisation (and presumably the transmitters) than the longer one supplied with the car does. I'm heading up north shortly so I guess it will be back on with the big one.
 
#23 ·
I was composing my missive while you were posting so wasn't aware of your post.

No I worked as a computer technician but years ago I took City and Guilds Radio TV and Electronic Servicing so altough I never worked as such. I have a little knowledge of the subject.
I did that course in the early 60s, before they added electronics to it. I then did communication radio & line transmission in the late 60s ! ;)
 
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