Antenna Delete

jcox123 · March 22, 2010

FM is not as good as with the antenna vertical. However, XM is not affected because the XM antenna does not use this for reception (see top of cab for XM antenna)...

trucc_boi · March 22, 2010

fm reception isn't harmed much although i cant really tell because the radio here even just downtown is fuzzy even before i moved it into the fender well.. i can still get abilene stations (80 miles away) although i only listen to XM.

it will decrease the reception, but you are going to have to do it and see how much it affects the reception because radio stations broadcast and different frequencies, blah blah, etc..

i listen to xm and it looks cool and is cheap and i was sold on the idea. very easy to do as well.

it will decrease the reception, but it may not be noticeable if you have a good station.

Sean006 · March 22, 2010

wow...that looks pretty good...

STINSAN3 · July 7, 2010

Thought about doing this to mine, but don't know for sure If I really want too.

zcs626 · July 7, 2010

i didn't read through past the 1st page, but i saw on another thread of instead of using the vinyl plug....people bought the Escalade antenna cover since that truck uses a rear windshield antenna. there is no hole in that black cover on those models

C. Charles Hahn · July 7, 2010

i didn't read through past the 1st page, but i saw on another thread of instead of using the vinyl plug....people bought the Escalade antenna cover since that truck uses a rear windshield antenna. there is no hole in that black cover on those models

That's great for GMT800s, but that doesn't work for GMT900s.

Willshire · July 7, 2010

It only makes sense you would lose some reception otherwise, radio and cell antennae would be in buildings and not 300 ft in the air. That's for transmission but reception would work the same way. IMO

sboutin · July 22, 2010

someone enlighten me on the "actually" material a car radio antenna "wire" is made from. Is it a solid wire?...or stranded?. I do know they are heavily insulated....sooo if one were to buy a short adaptor, or antenna cable,..and put ring terminals on each end,...would it tend to work better and not cause interference when "re"routing the antenna under the hood..or cowl...wherever it may be?

splat10 · July 23, 2010

Ok, several years ago I was the engineer designing and implementing many of the whip style antennas on most Chrysler and Ford Vehicles, my company didn't supply much to GM but we did work on and quote the GMT-900 antenna. I did most of the development work on the H2 side mount antenna (FWIW). I am not an RF engineer but learned enough from ours that i can answer the questions.

First, the mast antenna is 31" long for AM reception. 31" is the height of the 1/4 wave of the mean AM frequency. therefore it is tuned to that freq. Second, it is a ground plane antenna meaning it requires the interaction with the ground plan around it to function properly. That means the A pillar, hood, and fender all affect the recetion of the antenna. If you look at the H2 or the older Jeep Liberties they have a side mount antenna where it sits below the plane ofthe hood. You'll see the mast on those vehicles is more like 35" long because the bottom 4" of the antenna are not funtional due to the hood and fender blocking the reception.

FM frequecny is 100 times higher (1mHz vs 100 mHz) therefore the FM reception is much less affected by the ground plane around the antenna. That's why you are seeing the FM reception not hurt too bad by relocating the antenna. It's likely that you AM would be trashed by moving the antenna. If you don't listen to AM give it a try, it should work. however, by adding the single axis wire to locate you are in effect increasing the lenght of the whip. I'd recommend using Co-ax (75 ohm RG-58 is what is used on the GMT-800 and 900; Ford and Chrysler use RG-62, or did 5 years ago when i left).

On the glass antennas, you can't just add glass to replace a whip. They are tuned and amplified electronically. You'd need that module too.

XM and onstar act in the 3 Ghz range which is why the xm antenna can be a little puck, because the wavelength is very small so the antenna can be too.

oldscsc · July 23, 2010

Very interesting info Splat, thank you. I don't think my antenna relocation did ANY damage to my FM reception. I regularly listen to a couple stations from 40 miles away, and I was pleasantly surprised when they came in just as well as with th antenna in the air. I'll have to check AM now out of curiosity.

sboutin · July 23, 2010

however, by adding the single axis wire to locate you are in effect increasing the lenght of the whip. I'd recommend using Co-ax (75 ohm RG-58 is what is used on the GMT-800 and 900;

..soo if...we have one of these laying around at home,...is this what u mean?

sboutin · July 23, 2010

....never mind,...answered my own question....the 2nd axis wouldnt be shielded....so no ring terminal.

Is there enough slack on the stock antenna cable to move/relocate the entire mount, and not just the antenna?

sboutin · July 30, 2010

..found these at Lowes and used 2 of them to hold antenna in place on side of the fender. Took two pcs of vacuum hose,- 1/2" long, cut an 1/8" slit down the center (like a hot dog bun) and used that to hold it in place, the clamps are racheting and hold it tight

Sorry no pic,...

sboutin · August 3, 2010

...so I couldnt find this RG-58 cable,...soooo,..I did what any impaitent person would do and use RG-6 coax cable for audio/video, and put a ring terminal on each end of a 10" or so pc, and double heat shrunk each end.

it came in surprising better. Less static on my favorite station which broadcasts from the mountains 100+ miles from me.

Drove around a bit to some downtown spots between buildings were I knew I use to lose the station, and it was about the same as stock.

Now the next part is better,..in another thread of the same topic,...someone tried a 18awg wire about 3' long up the A pillar with their antenna delete. I tried this as well, on top of "keeping" the stock antenna under the hood.

.....sweet....no more losing my station at those spots....comes in "better" than stock. No joke.

I used the hollow upper portion of the door jam gasket to run the wire up into,..out of the way and shielded from the elements,..and wont affect the door closing or sealing....!!!