I was thinking of replacing my antenna with something shorter. While I don't listen to the radio all that much, I do enjoy the fact that reception is generally very good.

Will switching to a "stubby" antenna affect this a great deal? I'd like to preserve the functionality of my current antenna, if possible. How short can I go without affecting reception? Is there a difference in quality between one aftermarket stubby and another?

 

I don't know the answer, but most who have done this and commented about it report no difference. I do believe that the MINI stock sound system uses a diversity setup, with two antennae (one in the rear hatch glass), though, so this may be the reason. I'm sure there must be some degradation on distant stations.

I rarely listen to music in my car, but one station I do listen to is weak in my hometown. Just for fun, I'm going to remove my aerial for tonight's drive home, and see at which point it begins to loose signal :-) For the record, I have the stock base system with stock antenna.

 

AFAIK the antenna is really used for AM, so if you only listen to FM any stubby would work. FWIW I took out the antenna on my M Roadster about 6 months ago and haven't had any issues with reception.

 

Interesting, I did not know that. And the station I have in mind for my test is FM.

 

Hmmm... Maybe I'll just try taking out my antenna first!

 

I'll be reporting back on my experiment too. Even a bad antenna shouldn't be worse than no antenna, I would think.

Years ago, I used to use that same logic in arguing against the Hi Po panel filters, such as the so-called "Filtercharger" from K&N that claims insane gains. I'd tell people to pull their filter totally out, and take a drive around the block. Any gains you would get from a panel filter will be less than that. Obviously this is seat of the pants, but for street cars, isn't that what matters? Anyway, no one ever reported any gain.

 

The length of the antenna is related to the frequency for which you wish to listen at a range greater than the respective power of the tower is transmitting. So, if you listen to 107Mhz, you'd want to have an antenna aprox. 2 feet long ... at quarter wave with a good decibel rating if you want to listen at great distances. For receiving, you only need something exposed to the signal that is both not interfered with (e.g. the surface of the vehicle) and long enough to overcome line of sight obstacles. FM is a line of sight transmission so hills, tunnels, etc. all will block transmissions (albeit you may receive bounced signals in tunnels and hills). Most FM stations transmit at around 100k watts and next to no antenna is needed for up to a few miles (line-of-sight). For every building, tree, structure between you and the transmitter, they diminish the effective range and the longer antenna with the better decibel rating will keep you listening to that station longer.

 

Someone knows physics!

 

So far, in the city, my stock radio works just fine without the antenna. No difference whatsoever. Now I just need a streamer or something to plug the hole...

 

That's what I was going to say. remove it altogether and see if reception is acceptable. The shorter antenna will give you reception somewhere between full length and nothing.

For me I listen to AM a lot and the stock antenna is too sensitive around power lines. Removing it actually improves reception in most cases (eliminates that loud AC hum) so it wasn't tough to go with a shorty. I cant tell the difference on FM at all.

Good luck with your mod.

 

FWIW I replaced mine with a stainless steel 6mm button head screw. I don't listen to the radio that much (use my IPOD) but when I do, I have no complaints. Good luck.

 

I completed my test. The station I used (the only one I listen to) is 25 miles from my place of work. Removing the antenna resulted in no perceivable difference whatsoever. Along my 30 mile commute home, I noticed signal loss (static) precisely where I would normally notice it with the antenna. After stopping to fuel, I replaced the antenna. For the rest of the drive, the signal was still weak. Absolutely no difference that I could perceive. My home is approximately 35 miles from the station. I really don't mind the look of the antenna. This is my commuter car, and I honestly only think about the antenna when I'm washing the car. So I expect I'll keep it as-is. This was an interesting experiment, however.

About Diversity. I didn't just pull that out of a hat. I remembered that I saw that in my Bentley manual. I looked it up, page 650-5 through 650-7 of the MC06 (2006) printing. Diversity actually uses THREE, not two antennas, as I previously thought. There are two separate elements incorporated into the back glass. Now I'm not going to pretend to know what Diversity is, and how it works. But I do know that some cars ONLY have antennas in the glass. When you pull the roof mast off, you still have two working elements on the car. I'm not too surprised that it works well without the roof aerial.

 

+1
Mostly loss in AM
with fm, most anything will receive...rubberducky style with a wire core should be more forgiving reception wise than solid bilit style....honda had a few that were popular on mini's for a while.

 

If i remember right, the diversity antenna were added in 2005...
Look in the skematics by date, realoem.
Then again i thought there was 2...not 3...so my info might be wrong/dated.

 

Diversity antenna in the glass. . . Well now that makes sense! Good work! I learned something today.

 

In Bentley, there is indeed different schematics for up to, and post Jan 2005. I couldn't make too much sense of them, and don't really have the inclination to figure it out at the moment. Well whatever the reason, I see that a stubby wouldn't hurt me, if I cared to have one. I do remember reading about someone who simply removed the rubber cap at the top, cropped the factory mast, and replaced cap.

 

Just thought I'd update... I removed my antenna and installed an anodized aluminum M5x0.8 screw with a fat 10mm anodized aluminum spacer, just so that I had something in the hole. I don't listen to AM radio, so I can't comment on AM reception. But FM was completely unaffected, including on at least one drive pretty far out into the hills.

 

I replaced the stock antenna with a 6 inch one from eBay and haven't noticed the slightest difference in reception. Lookin' and soundin' good!

 

I replaced mine with a stubbhy strictly for appearance reasons - I like the look of the stubby better. Reception is fine. My only regret is that I bought the Alta which is probably the most expensive one you can buy and a cheap eBay model would probably have worked just as well and looked as good.

 

i got this, early last year and hardly noticed any difference in signal
http://ecommerce.mossmotors.com/p/ne...ntenna/102-706

tis slick!

 

i love my alta super short antenna it looks awesome! reception isnt the best though. sometimes its scratchy

 

Noticed no difference with this one.

 

dang i have mine on a r53 and its reception isnt to great

 

I have a Craven in my Countryman (and had one in my Clubman Otto). I have the Alta for the convertible. No problem.

However, when I had the indoor cover on the Clubman before I sold him, my neighbor saw it and asked what the bump was.

I just told him that Otto was excited to see him.
He didn't ask any more questions after that.

 

It seems like you know what you are talking about here. I wonder if you could help me know what to do it my FM radio reception is already poor? The car is new so I don't think there is any corrosion in the connections. I do live in an area that is hilly and I believe that may be the majority of my problem.

Aside from moving, what might I do to get better reception from my car radio?