Saw on the brigader site that all 04 wil come with shark fin arial

I asked this question a while back if SF would work with stadrad radio and got politily slamed. I do undertsnad that currently it is used for sat nav and the arial then rersides in side window. So if rumour is true then it would seem a retro fit woulkd be possible and perhpas the fin does indeed work as radio arial

I want a white fin!!!!

any comments?

 

MINI now offers a satellite radio option. I assume the sharkfin, like the jacuzzi vent in the middle of the headliner, are just blanks.

I'm guessing MINI simply decided to streamline a bit by building all cars with the window antenna, nav or not. So now they just fill the hole with a dummy satellite antenna.

 

Decent guess.

Okay, then, how about my idea of retrofitting the side window antenna? I asked at Classic MINI and they hadn't heard of such a kit. Does anyone know what would be needed?

 

I know this wouldn't work for eveyone: but I just unscrewed the aerial part, left the base, and it looks just like a sharkfin to me. I did it just for looks b/c I usually listen to CDs. However, my radio still appears to work as well. It looks pretty good.

 

I know this wouldn't work for eveyone: but I just unscrewed the aerial part, left the base, and it looks just like a sharkfin to me. I did it just for looks b/c I usually listen to CDs. However, my radio still appears to work as well. It looks pretty good.

Is this a bad idea though?

 

I saw the fin on a 2003 at the dealer's and they told me it was the navigation system! Is this right?

 

Yes, the sharky is standard for the nav equiped minis.

The thought is that for the 2004s the factory will use the sharky for all models to cut costs. But that's just what I've read on here and MINI2, not from any official press releases.

 

On NAV equipped MINIs, you get the factory installed roof mounted shark fin antenna and the radio antenna is embedded in the rear side glass.

I have also read about the shark fin antenna becoming standard equipment regardless of the car having NAV, Satellite or the standard stereo.


I personally like the 16 inch radio antenna mast...it gives the car the appearance of a big sized remote control MINI.

 

>>The thought is that for the 2004s the factory will use the sharky for all models to cut costs. But that's just what I've read on here and MINI2, not from any official press releases.

Since MINI has only designed the Sirius radio equipment for non-nav equiped cars I doubt that everybody will be getting a sharkfin in the near future. MINI would have to design the sharfin to accept the Sirius antenna which now fits into the base of the existing antenna.

At this time there is no MINI designed option for Sirius on Nav equipted cars, and according to MINI there is no intention to come up with one. MINI feels that the Nav system isn't popular enough to justify the design costs.