A little known secret about MINIs and antennas. Those of you who have removed the antenna while washing or whatever have noticed the radio will usually still pick up just fine. The reason?

There are actually two antennas!

The 'main' antenna, of course is the one on the roof (or the one in the right-side glass in pre-'05 cars with Nav). The secondary is the defroster grid in the rear window. The defroster grid is RF-isolated from the electrical system, and the RF signal is sent along with the antenna signal to a diversity antenna control box located above the right rear speaker under the side panel. The diversity controller constantly determines which of the two received signals (coming off either the antenna or the grid) is strongest and sends that to the radio. When you remove the antenna, the only remaining signal is that from the grid, and that is sent to the radio all the time.

The grid does not work as well as an FM antenna like the roof one does, but in strong signal areas, it's almost no different. Those wanting a smooth look can remove the antenna entirely and still be able to listen to local stations. The diversity system allows you to use stubby antennas with little or no loss of performance.