Rear window aerials

The system in my E34 sounds excellent. The previous owner uprated the whole system. New HU and speakers, then he fitted a 10CD changer, 2 amps and a 12" 1000w sub bass in the boot. Mike.

Add in crap radios for Ford too then. Or a crap aerial.

Have you pondered why most car makers have moved on from aerials in screens? Ever read up on aerial theory - or done any experiments? Ever use AM?

Of course, it couldn't possibly be that you are wrong, ever.

Have you ever encountered the concept of "fit for purpose"? An aerial doesn't have to provide sufficient gain to receive signal radiated by a

And who the f*ck listens to AM? Indeed who would listen to AM and whinge about quality?

Indeed.

My S60 had antennas in the bumpers and they were fine. The S40 had an electric antenna, and was fine. The Rover had a selection of antennae in the rear screen, and was fine. The Merc has antennas all in the rear screen, and is fine. However radio reception in the V50 is rubbish, and that has a stupid sharks fin on the roof.

For some unknown reason my Merc has SW available on the radio...

Not as regards screen aerials, no. But you don't have to take my word for it. Just look how they've gone out of fashion.

True. All you need to do is drive round a town with tall buildings to see how well that aerial works. Or hilly countryside. And I have experimented with the differences between screen aerials and a decent roof mount one. Chalk and cheese. If you say you get perfect FM reception at all times, you're either mistaken or don't know what good FM reception is.

Nice to have R4 when abroad sometimes. And I've got that in the south of France on a car radio during the day on LW.

BTW, reception and quality aren't the same thing. Not that I'd expect you to understand the difference.

History. The Germans had their MW frequencies removed after the war as a punishment so had to use the less popular bands. That's why they had a lead on FM technology for quite some time - if you wanted an FM car radio or portable at one time, only they made them.

YLSNED

Looks like your amp is fed by DC through the aerial lead - or maybe more wires strung alongside it. The BMW has a wire from the ISO connector to the amp anyway, so I'll test that when I get chance.

It's for 1960s secret agents, so they don't have to take their shoes off to recieve details of their next mission.

GTBOH

I get good FM reception at all times, to equal reception that I have had in cars with external aerials. Indeed as already noted I get better reception in difficult areas (the Apenines) than I do in a car with an external aerial.

Whereas you may be able to make a point for a theoretically better performance with an external aerial, for practical use it makes not one bit of difference.

Not, as previously noted, that I expect you to ever admit that you're wrong.

All that proves is that either the radio with the 'external' aerial is poor, or the aerial is, or poorly sited or installed. Or a combination of all of them.

As you've pointed out it *may* only make a difference in poor signal areas.

And your experience of two vehicles makes you correct?

Try taking your hypothesis that screen aerials are the best solution to a group where there are experts. It'll give everyone a good laugh.

It doesn't "proove" any of the above, just as it doesn't "proove" that either aerial is better or worse than the other. What it does show is that in some applications a rear screen aerial can produce results as good as or better than some external aerial applications.

And I've also pointed out that in poor signal areas it can swing either way.

Ah, I see, I've only owned two vehicles with radios, have I? Gosh that comes as news. When did you make this discovery?

Try giving a message ID where I've made any such claim.

radio 4? your old!

My parents have had a few of each type that I can remember. The ones where the radio aerial was the rear window heater as well generally had much worse reception than the ones such as their current Mondeo, which has a external aerial on the roof. One of them, granted I think it was a Rover, if you put the window heater on then all you got through the radio was like staticy crackly noise, turn it off, and then it was fine radio sgain heh.

But that's the old, s**te, rear window aerial which uses the heater elements and a balun. That's not how modern rear window aerials work. I suspect Mr Plowman is making the same mistake as you though.

Hmm, I was just saying rear window heater, but that was an assumption as I didn't know there was other ways to have a screen aerial. I have no idea how they actually worked, although that was surely the case on the Rover I assume as putting the heater on buggered the reception.

True - but I've been a fan of it since I was a youngster. I love radio drama and comedies. You hardly ever get new drama on TV - just series, all about the police etc. You get a new single play on R4 every day.

At least some older ones did use the actual heater element. The system on my BWM has two discrete aerials. But you can still tell when the heated screen is in use - the background noise increases.