TV Antenna Signal Wire

your gonna have a problem with the antenna not picking up well if its near large grounded metal areas, i.e. car body or lids. Encasing wire in a grounded surrounding is generally a way to keep signal OUT. You may be better running something along a window or above the car in some way. Being RF you'll not get much interference from other wires necessarily unless you have radio frequency transmitters in the vicinity.i.e. a CB radio or the like. It may work a little but will be very poor performance if you do what your talking about. Your also going to want an omnidirectional arrangement so your reception doesnt go to crap when your not facing the station your receiving.

thanks Ah so you mean running the wire upwards behind the headliner under roof, I think I read about that before.

Is "omnidirectional" the same as "diversity" ? I'm getting the "powered diversity antennas"

"klara" wrote

Ummm, does "in the trunk lid behind the liner" mean the antennas will actually be inside the trunk, where the incoming signal will be totally blocked by the car's sheet metal? Or do you mean the antennas will be outside, with just the wires "behind the liner"?

If you use a good quality coaxial cable with proper impedance matching, you can run it anywhere you like.

Right, INSIDE the space between the trunk lid and the liner. I'm doing this because someone with same car did this.

thanks How do I go about finding "proper impedance matching" ??

You buy cable intended for the application, which probably means RG-59 variants with the crappy aluminum shield, or RG-6 with the crappy aluminum shield. You don't use cable that is rated for something other than 75 ohm characteristic.

--scott

Whatever antenna you purchase will have a characteristic impedance. You will find it on the antenna specifications. If it is 75 ohm feed, you are in great shape for coax feed with no adaptation.

The old outside TV antennas had 300 ohm characteristic impedance, for which twinlead wire was pretty near ideal. We could use RG-59-U, which is about 75 ohms, or smiliar coax by placing a tiny balun transformer at each end of the line.

If you use coax, be sure to take the time to fit the connectors properly. They are great when properly installed and a PITA when they arent.

This is one of the rare times Radio Shack may be helpful.