The previous owner put one of those stubby 4" long antennas on my car. I can only pick up one or two local radio channels. Is my only option to go back to one of those ugly 16" long OEM antennas, or is there a better option out there?

Thanks!

 

I just installed an OE Mini on our 03' and seems to work nicely. But that said our other 03' has a 4" on her and no complaints with it either. Not sure if you could borrow a 16" and see if your signal amplifier works.

 

Running that 4" stubby here, bought from MiniMania in 2012 with no issues since, maybe a little less reception for weaker AM stations but FM reception is just as good as the OEM 16" aerial.

 

I've got the Cravenspeed shorter antenna and it works fine to pickup radio stations at the same quality as the original antenna.

 

I bought the same about a month ago and it works great.

 

I have the shark fin antenna on mine and have never had any issues getting any radio stations. Picks them up just as good as my other vehicles 2ft long metal antenna..I will post a pic of the one I have for you shortly .

 

Signal Amplifier? Maybe that's my problem? The previous owners pretty much bypassed the factory amp in the back, pulled the OEM head unit, and installed an aftermarket stereo system in the car. Where is this signal amplifier located? Maybe I should pull the stereo and make sure the guy even plugged the antenna plug into the back of the head unit? People do weird stuff.....

 

Here.

 

The antenna amp is located in the hatch. Wire in a longer antenna inside the car and run whatever on the outside. Or increase wattage to the antenna to increase range.

 

Check to see if the power antenna or remote amp turn on wire from the radio is connected to the power antenna wire in the factory plug. Most antenna amplifiers require a turn on lead to operate and some installers leave that wire disconnected when the car doesn’t have a power antenna.

 

OE MINI stubby on my '05. OE BMW stubby on my wife's 135i. (same part, different boxes) Both work great.

 

I used the ECS All metal & OEM MINI one and they works great, i did lose some on the AM stations, but i really don't use that.

 

Yea, I guess I'm lucky too. I'm in SoCal, R53, with NO antenna. just the mount with nothing in it. Picks up the stations that I listen to...so far.
I've thought about that shark fin thing just to clean up the look, but haven't bought one as of now.

Mike

 

I live in the NC woods, stubby do not work on my cars.

 

Here's a link to this!

Usually MINIs don't care what's on the antenna base, my R53 had a busted antenna base for years with no signal issues. For sure I'd check the signal amp as well as the wires to the antenna base.

 

OEM stubby no issues.

 

Scratch one MINI stubby antenna (and base) due to a car wash.

Interestingly, with the damaged base removed and the hole in the roof covered with tape, my reception is pretty much the same as it was prior to having the antenna forcibly removed. That leads me to believe that a) the antenna base and rod really don't matter ; or b) the signal amplifier isn't working correctly.

How do you check the signal amplifier to ensure it is working as it is supposed to?