Stubby antenna for the fortwo

[SMART]

Saw this image in the gallery and want the same one.



Does anyone know where I can get this exact one?

[SmartPassion]

Good looking antenna.

http://stubbyantenna.com/

[8X5X5ft]

Looks like the antenna that I have on my SL500. They are painted body color. Check with you MB dealer. Ken

[Winnetou]

These short aerials have lower gain than longer types, meaning that reception will be worse. The web-site mentioned above admits this. Of the aerials available there, the “pull-up� variety would offer better performance.

The smart would actually benefit from a longer aerial than the standard unit.

[CruisingAZ]

I put the six inch billet antenna on my Jeep Commander and noticed no decrease in performance.

[Winnetou]

The decrease in performance is greatest on the A.M. band, where the length of the aerial is a much smaller fraction of the wavelengths involved. If you listen primarily to strong F.M. signals, changing to a short aerial may not have much effect. Also, a short aerial with inductive loading may perform better than one without it.

From the web-site mentioned above:

• STUBBY ANTENNAS:
• Q: How is the radio reception of these antennas when comparing to OEM one?
A: The radio reception will decrease since these antennas are shorter.

Note also that the aerials listed there are rated on a 1-5 performance scale, with 5 presumably representing the performance of an optimal automobile aerial.

[gusfraga]

The short antenna for the new Ford edge fits perfect in the smart.

[Fredvon4]

There are a few car radios where the below info is not true but they are rare....generally, car radios have very low cost, and poorly designed AM radio sections and no connection to the external antenna

For most of the current major brand car stereos, the External antenna has zero effect for Amplitude Modulation (AM). The car radio's AM antenna is inside the radio, it is a ferrite rod with thin magnet wire coiled over it. The reason so many car radios do not receive well on AM is the antenna is inside a metal can (the radio) and again inside another metal can (the car)... Generally, the only thing your external antenna provides is the Frequency Modulated (FM) signal. In this case...if you get good reception with the stubby antenna, then a longer antenna will not do much...the opposite phenomenon is true...poor FM signal, Stereo Mode (ST) dropping in and out?...change to a longer antenna will help some

I do not have a smart fortwo yet...once I get mine I will take the Visteon Radio 10 out and explore all of its design... if as reported here it totally sucks... I will probably add in one of the better aftermarket head units with more capabilities

In the past I have had great success with removing the AM ferrite antenna from a car stereo and installing a much bigger and better antenna from a cheap garage sale Short Wave (SW) radio... I have also made my own AM antennas but found that the garage sale 1950s~1970s SW radios are about $5.00... I can't make a AM antenna that cheaply...

If you are real big into AM talk or rural farm reports kind of listening... I can tell you this...most of todays modern aftermarket car radios really suck... gone are all the old Delco rock solid radio receivers
KD5NCO

[jwight]

IMO, it's not the AM reception that sucks, it's the AM program content (excepting the farm reports, of course.)

[4-2NV]

Originally Posted by jwight

IMO, it's not the AM reception that sucks, it's the AM program content (excepting the farm reports, of course.)

Sports talk radio! Once you've heard chat, there's no going back.( sadly for me).