MX-3.com

I'm looking to shave the antennas on both of my MX-3s, and would like not only preserve my ability to listen to the radio, but improve it. The stock Antennas on my cars suck, and I get static in the middle of the city my stations are broadcast from. I'd like to remove this problem from my life.

Does anybody have any suggestions for an easily concealed antenna that doesn't weigh a ton, that will meet my needs?

Thanks a bunch.

maybe its your headunit? my old sony deck had great reception but my new alpine 7" touchscreen multimedia deck gets horrible reception.

I'd considered that, but it honestly doesn't make sense to me. I get great reception in any area without power lines or lots of businesses, but the moment either of those are present my reception turns to crap. This is with the antennas extended, as well as retracted. Extended does improve the signal noticeably, but not enough to allow me to turn up my music to a desirable level. It's pretty hard to crank it up when all you hear is static.

Also, it's a problem in 2 different cars.

Hey mrmazda on our first purple k8 i had same problem here was my solution and it seemed to work so well

first i took the existing wire hooking into the back of the stereo took all the antenna wire out got a new wiring kit for antenas from crappy tire and took a 6 inch bmw antenna 30$ at wreckers mounted it on the roof towards the rear window ran the new better quality wire gold plated aswell and results were night and day i figured it was the bmw antenna more so then the wires.. But..

I also mounted my ground wire from the radio to bare metal, Not on the stock location either.

Best of luck. . Ps i havnt done it on our klze because i only listen to ipod and digital stations

best of luck let me know if youre attemping this. Well worth it and could use other antennas thats just what i found wandering around

When it gets static-ey, open your window and just grab the antenna with your hand and see if it improves.

Not sure what that will tell you, but its fun.

Ryan wrote:When it gets static-ey, open your window and just grab the antenna with your hand and see if it improves.

Not sure what that will tell you, but its fun.

Been doing this for 2 years, and it gets cold in winter.

Also, it tells me that the antenna SUCKS.

whitete wrote:

Thanks for the tips, I've considered this but decided I want to go with the flush roof look, and try to keep the Antenna as hidden as possible! It means it will cost more, which sucks; However, I get to ditch the bent piece of Metal that's adorned my car for ~20 years

search ebay for hidden antennas or the mazda 6 in roof antenna ? good luck on the project let me know how it goes

Good news: there are plenty of aftermarket antennas for you to try.

Bad news: antennas are hit or miss, which means you may need to buy a few of them, before finding one that'll work, especially near power lines.

More bad news: generally speaking, the more selective an antenna is, the more expensive/harder to hide.
You have 2 choices here: you can go for a high end, passive antenna (which is gonna be complex, and, most likely, very hard to hide, or you can look for an active one (a simpler antenna, equipped with a high frequency amplifier/filter) which is gonna be expensive, and a little more complex to install.

Finally, there's always a chance that, no matter what you do, you won't be able to get rid of the interference. Power lines emit an EM field around them, that is, because of the sheer power that produces it, very difficult to filter out. Depending on the line voltage, and the current that flows through it, that may prove to be an impossible task for a car antenna.

Awesome, more money.

Yeah, I knew you'd love it...

I'll probably attempt whitete's suggestion for one of the cars...

HD Radio is free, or you could pay? for Satellite radio.

FM radio is still FM, you can only get so good in quality. That or start building a good Mp3 collection.

Even with a great FM reception, I love how a CD/Mp3 sounds in comparison.

Nd4SpdSe wrote:HD Radio is free, or you could pay? for Satellite radio.

FM radio is still FM, you can only get so good in quality. That or start building a good Mp3 collection.

Even with a great FM reception, I love how a CD/Mp3 sounds in comparison.

I have a dedicated car iPod and an iPhone, I just don't take the time to constantly update my collection. Most new music is crap, but I do find it tedious having to download things manually, avoiding the financial rape that goes along with iTunes.

Internet radio!!! Get with the times