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MG MGB Technical - Installing electric antenna

I want to install an electric antenna in my 68 mgb gt. Moss sells one. Does anyone know how to get the antenna into the cavity behind the fender?
sbarkley

Just need to take off the splash panel behind the front wheel. It is bolted in and has a rubber gasket on it. Good time to also clean out the dirt you will find behind it.
Bruce-C

Are you refering to part #386-960.

I purchased a power antenna, similar to the in the Moss catalog, years ago from Radio Shack for around forty dollars. The mast goes down flush and I get great reception with it.
Considering the cost of shipping, you may want to see if someone local has one. When shopping for mine, I found them available at autoparts stores, car audio stores, Target, K-Mart, and Radio Shack. At the time, Radio Shack was twenty to twenty-five dollars cheaper.
If possible, I like to purchase things locally, so if there is a problem, it is easier to return.
Kimberly

My advice is don't get a fully automatic antenna. Buy a semi automatic one. With a semi auto you can control the height of the antenna. A fully auto one extends completely as soon as the radio is switched on. FM signals only require a short antenna. Mounting it in the trunk might be an option to consider. Barrie E
Barrie Egerton

Many modern electric antennas do not extend much past the length needed for FM.

One piece of advice on installing any antenna is to use metal strap or brace supplied which mounts to the base/bottom of the unit to stabilize it. Some folks don't bother with these and eventually they end up with a loose antenna and a buggered hole in the fender and a poor ground connection to the body at that point. FWIW
Bob Muenchausen

What I've never understood is the lack of clearance below the hole in the fender. An inch and three quarters below top fender level is another hole in the 'inner fender' which is structural. Another 6-1/4" below that is the solid bottom of the inner structural part. Is everybody drilling a hole in this section to install their electrical or retractable antenna? The Moss catalog states that you need 9" of clearance. I don't like the idea of another hole in that area, but guess that's the only way to do it if you want your antenna in the front fender? Joe
Joe Ullman

Hey folks, my abandoned 73B project has no antenna holes anywhere. With this in mind, where is the best place for one and..........where does one put the speakers? In he doors? In the dash? where were they, (it?), originally? Thanks, Tom
Tom

At the rear of the front fender wells there is a cover plate to access an antena mounting. Most antenas come with enough cable to reach either side but not enough for the back fenders.

I have speakers in the kick panels ahead of the doors and another pair in the doors themselves.

If you ask nicely, an installation shop might let you look at their book which shows the exact position to cut the holes.

Dan Robinson

Tom

ay want to consider a pillar antenna. I have one on the passenger front pillar. When retracted it is below the roof line. Works really well and does not break up the lines of the front fender.
Bruce-C

Joe - sounds like you have your outer hole too near the bonnet or too near the back of the wing. Mine doesn't foul that inner box-section, I'm attaching a plan photo so you can see the approximate location. The 'grommet' should be capable of being set to cope being mounted on curved side portion of the wing, rather than the flatter top part.

Tom - the usual recommendation is diagonally opposite where the ignition is to minimise interference, and that is where the roadster came with one i.e. left rear. However that needs a very long cable or extension. The V8's is on the right front, the ignition being more to the left side on that. That is fine i.e. no interference, but if you get interference there is probably something wrong with the installation, aerial trimming on the radio, or ignition. Many cars seem to have had an interference suppressor fitted to the coil +ve anyway.

Paul Hunt 2

The postioning that Paul has shown is approx. the same as what I have used for my GT. I had no clearance issues with the rest of the bodywork inside the void area of the fender behind the wheel well.

Tom,
Sometimes ignition noise issues arise from poor grounding of the antenna. The fittings for the antenna (swivel base) create the antenna's ground and making sure that the clamp part truly makes ground usually goes a long ways in insuring that RFI (radio frequency interference) will not be a problem. When I did my antenna's install, I made sure that the clamp had a good clean surface to mate to and in the end, I have not had a problem with RFI.

A person may find that the antenna chosen does not have a sufficiently long enough coaxial cable and an extension is required. Whether or not this is the case, you might also consider one of the many antenna amplifiers for automotive radio use available as an inline addition between the antenna and the radio if you feel that either the antenna's performance, distance from the radio, or the radio's less than stellar tuner performance is a factor in not getting a good clean signal.

And finally, the use of condensers as RFI filters on your distributor and/or coil and your alternator/generator should be considered mandatory for all better quality car radio installations. Really good tuners will minimize RFI's impact on the radio signal, but increased sensitivity can sometimes be a bit indiscriminate as to what it selects and amplifies. So, filtering out noise at the source is sometimes your best bet for giving the actual radio signal a fighting chance to get to your radio's tuner section as cleanly as possible.
Bob Muenchausen

Thanks for the picture, Paul. That kind of explains that....the hole in my fender is two inches closer to the bonnet, and two inches further forward. It's a rather raggedy hole, so 'may' not be factory. There was an antenna installed, but only retracted into the top 6 inches or so that projected above the wing; any existing radio had been removed. By the way, the $90, 4 x 50 watt, Blaupunkt model Austin CD41 radio that I picked up fits the existing opening fine with no interference, but doesn't really look properly vintage.
Joe Ullman

so, will probably end up welding a patch into that old antenna hole before painting. And I thought that I was running out of things to do!
Joe Ullman

Bob, my radio suffers from RF interference - obviously ignition related and noticeable as soon as I get 10 to 20 miles from our local NPR FM Transmitter (50,000 watts). I intend to check the antenna ground, but I am unclear on what size and where to mount condensors to damp the RFI. I am pretty sure that my ignition wire is non-resistor, as are the plugs. The antenna is on the right front fender, so I strongly suspect interference from the coil mounted literally inches away. I did install a power line filter at the radio and also an antenna Noise filter at the radio, so I'm thinking I have to damp the interference at the source. So any info on how to get rid of the annoying noise would be appreciated.
David Burke

There are (or used to be) suppressors that you put on each spark plug, then connected to the plug wires.
Dan Robinson

Suppressed plug caps, or suppressors inserted in the leads, were used with solid copper cables but these were phased out for factory use many years ago (before the MGB) when suppressed leads were used, originally carbon string, but current silicone cored are much preferable. It's probably illegal to run copper HT leads with no suppressors as they do cause so much interference. If in doubt, measure them. Copper leads will be zero resistance, resistive leads will be in the 10s of thousands of ohms.

12v suppressors were fitted to the coil 12v terminal to damp the buzzing of the points, and also the 12v feeds to the voltage stabiliser and pump to stop occasional clicking.

If the aerial is in the cavity behind the splash panel there is a solid metal panel between it and the engine, so it shouldn't pick up much radiated interference from that source (given suppressed HT leads). Have you tried tweaking the aerial trimmer? That usually makes a big difference as it balances the aerial circuit with the radio which gives the maximum signal to noise ratio.
Paul Hunt 2

Some radios are not too specific as to where an antenna trimmer is, not even in there manuals. Some never address this issue. For some types of modern tuners, this may not be an issue, I don't know for sure, but in my youth I can remember having to trim this little capacitor for best reception as Paul says, but mostly for AM signals. Today, it may be inside the outer metal case (which also acts as an RFI shield) or through one of the ventilation holes or a hole for its adjustment in the case. Look to see if you can see a flat bladed screw head directly under one of those holes, it may be the trimmer capacitor, but be careful. If it is unmarked, it may just be coincidence and NOT something meant to be tweaked by the consumer.
Bob Muenchausen

This thread was discussed between 19/02/2008 and 03/03/2008

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