Rear hatch demister as an aerial?

My mk1 doesn't have an aerial, and I don't want to drill into my wing, so I was wondering if I could use the rear demister as an aerial. Could I use the wiring all the way to the switch and simply fit a coax to wiring and plug into my radio?
Has anyone done this, or offer any advice?

You can get aerials on eBay that tuck under the dash for about £10. I will be doing the same with mine over the summer.


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Backinblack said

You can get aerials on eBay that tuck under the dash for about £10. I will be doing the same with mine over the summer.


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I've got one and it's a waste of money. Hoping the rear demister might be a better option.

That's good to know. Just painted my one so in the same situation. Guess I shall just listen to the raspy exhaust note


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What will happen when the defroster is switched on? You will be putting current down into the Ariel socket and into the Radio…. Also if the radio is switched on you have the voltage running through that also.
Or are you disconnecting the power from the defroster circuit?

I will disconnect the switch from the circuit, as I won't use the demister. The demister would be a dedicated aerial.
Is it feasible?

Yes I suppose you could do it, however it would be directional, then since it isn't "Tuned" you may have to either amplify it, or get a trim cap to adjust it.  

An antenna isn't just a hunk of wire.

Briano1234 said

An antenna isn't just a hunk of wire.

Tell that to the metal coat hanger on my dads old car lol.
You can get an in line amplifier cheap on eBay

I I remember my school physics classes correctly, I believe AM and FM signals are transmitted as a vertical sine wave. Hence why the horizontal aerials don't work too well and why you pull up the aerial on the wing to get a better signal.

If you use the rear defrsoter then only the Vertical wires in it will pick up the signal.

Fords used to come with the aerials in the rear defrosters but that was in the days of Long wave and Medium Wave (LW & MW) radios and signals. These are more local 'ground propagation' signals and used for shorter, 'line of sight' comunications. Hence why there used to be so many aerials out in the counrtyside and on the roofs in towns. These waves could be picked up by the rear windows due to the wave length.

Anyway, sorry for the boringness!

Probably best to get a DAB radio and the associated stick on the windscreen aerial.

Or just use you phone through an aux socket. That way you can listen to the Mk1 golf OC playlist on Spotify  

Ian

borednow said

Hence why the horizontal aerials don't work too well and why you pull up the aerial on the wing to get a better signal

Or just use you phone through an aux socket. That way you can listen to the Mk1 golf OC playlist on Spotify  

Ian

My Honda Civic uses the lines in the rear screen as an aerial, and the signal is fine (which is what prompted me to ask).

There's a mk1 golf playlist?, I'm off for a butchers lol

Smig1003 said

borednow said

Hence why the horizontal aerials don't work too well and why you pull up the aerial on the wing to get a better signal

Or just use you phone through an aux socket. That way you can listen to the Mk1 golf OC playlist on Spotify  

Ian

My Honda Civic uses the lines in the rear screen as an aerial, and the signal is fine (which is what prompted me to ask).

There's a mk1 golf playlist?, I'm off for a butchers lol

Very clever people have set the Honda's rear screen to do it.
I'm not that clever!

Yup, check out the 'one tune everyday' thread. The links are here for ya

 Golf mk1 owner's club - playlist by Kenneth Cartwright | Spotify

Golf mk1 owner's club playlist - YouTube

Enjoy

Ian

Physics class, then all those years I spent in university, then military Radio and Electronics class were wasted?…. Spent almost a entire term on radio wave propagation.  

I used to own a 89 Olds that had the radio antenna in the front windscreen quite a few folks did it back in the day.   It would become directional on drives, and in the city it wasn't as noticeable as you got radio waves bouncing off of buildings and such.  

I have tried a few different antennas and the telescoping antenna on the fender usually does the job.   

Now with that said, just be sure that your demister wire isn't broken, as that too will cause issues.  

I fitted a Hrirschmann auto ariel so it's neat and unobtrusive and no one can snap it off once radio is off down it goes…

Plus people are fascinated by it… Well I am any way lol.

chortle said

I fitted a Hrirschmann auto ariel so it's neat and unobtrusive and no one can snap it off once radio is off down it goes…

Plus people are fascinated by it… Well I am any way lol.

It's like magic! It just disappears! Perhaps it's the Devil!

The Hirschman Antenna that you can buy new today is exactly the same as the one fitted by dealers back in the 80's.

I should know I sold them back then and have one fitted to mine for the last three years!