Yesterday I finished the installation of the KapscoMoto Hidden Antenna from Amazon for $18.95 and the results are impressive! My hope was high but my expectations, not so much. My goal was to be able to listen to the Los Angeles news station KNX 1070 AM on 97.1 FM HD2. With the stock antenna, I could only receive the HD2 station for seconds before it cut out for 95% of the time, so it was worthless. After installing the new antenna, I get maybe 85% of the broadcast, not good but WAY better than it was! AM had been so bad that I had no hope of it improving enough to be useful. To my amazement, I can now listen to the AM broadcast! The quality is certainly not as good as in my other cars but it is good enough that I can stand it. I'd say on a scale of one to ten, the quality is now maybe a six, whereas before it was about a minus 2. :biggrin: The whine is still noticeable and somewhat annoying when slowing down to a stop, but at a constant speed, reception seems to be acceptable. My test drive was at night so the reception may have been better than what I'll see during the day. The cable is virtually invisible and the block is mounted to the inside of the black section at the inside top of the windshield, so it blocks no vision at all. The job required removal of the dash which isn't really that tough if you know how it is fastened, (I can help there if you want). At this point I can't recommend this addition to your car highly enough! Hopefully my entusiasm will be as high after a couple of weeks.:biggrin:
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Hidden Antenna Success!
- Thread starter Pantera Dude
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- Roadster
DrComputer
TeslaClubLA President
youlikeadajuice
P 9130
I'm having problems picking up the AM traffic stations from New York from where I live in Jersey, so mark me down as interested! How'd the dash come apart? Thanks!
I did take a bunch of pictures but there are so many I'll put them on a photo site and provide a link.
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Jethro Tull's "Living In The Past" is one of my favorite songs! When I was a kid, we had to change bad tubes in our TV's. :biggrin:
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The first time taking the dash apart took a while. The second time, (due to a bonehead maneuver), took less than an hour to get it apart. I have pictures of the clips which will make disassembly easier. I'd say this may not be a job for a beginner but if you've done any work on cars beyond an oil change, give it a go!
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The block is mounted with velcro. The cord runs underneath the dash.
jbadger
TR#506, MXP, ~3#1206~
Same, I am interested in this as well. Especially, since I will be installing a new head unit and speakers in the next couple of weeks.
Mark at the Costa Mesa service center told me their antenna booster didn't help much. How were your results?
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Ok, here you go! Hopefully you will be able to view the pics, a few have my comments in small print underneath.http://tesladashremoval2.shutterfly.com/
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The instructions on elisetalk.com suggested replacing the four clips, (that break during removal), that hold the airbage cover on with those available from Lotus. I'm guessing they are $20 apiece from Tesla. :biggrin: I used velcro instead, (we'll see how it holds up).
strider
Active Member
The Tesla antenna booster did nothing for me. The problem is that I have the solar guard windshield and the antenna runs along the front of the dash and up the A-pillar against the windshield. The solar guard windshield kills RF. Running it through the firewall isn't an option since carbon fiber is hell on RF too. I guess you could try and run it all the way to the front bumper since that's plastic...
I think it is only for earlier cars, though. They wouldn't do it for my 2.5--supposed to already have whatever the upgrade is. On my way home from work I listen to a PBS station--some parts of the journey better with AM, some parts with FM--same broadcast. But still sucks, no matter how you slice it. There is supposed to be an iPhone app for radio--haven't really looked in to it, but then one could play radio from the iPhone via Bluetooth. Usually, when driving I listen to the other dinosaur, DVDs, to avoid the entire radio situation.
wiztecy
Active Member
I had the Tesla antenna upgrade on my 1.5, still sucks with reception. Instead of getting fuzzy stations, its now kinda fuzzy thats annoying.
Would be interesting benchmarking Pantera's upgrade next to a Roadster that has had the Tesla Upgrade. Or even a person who had the Tesla Upgrade and did Pantera's upgrade path.
Would be interesting benchmarking Pantera's upgrade next to a Roadster that has had the Tesla Upgrade. Or even a person who had the Tesla Upgrade and did Pantera's upgrade path.
On some other radio thread I talked about the improvement when I got it I have SG glass on a 1.5 and without the Tesla booster in Cr*p reception. I mean, so bad it's insulting that it was ever put in the car and called a radio. Especially at $100K
The 20 mile radius that I normally drive in, had ZERO reception. After the booster I have FM about 80 percent of the time and AM that I can understand at fixed driving speeds (whine the motor noise static is consistent). Basically the same as Art described.
I guess YRMV...
The 20 mile radius that I normally drive in, had ZERO reception. After the booster I have FM about 80 percent of the time and AM that I can understand at fixed driving speeds (whine the motor noise static is consistent). Basically the same as Art described.
I guess YRMV...
wiztecy
Active Member
Interesting about the wine/static that's coming from the Roadster, I don't get any of that.... Possibly different head units yield different results, with that said also will the Antenna results. I had a Kenwood that had horrible reception in an ice, swapped it out for a Sony and the stations came in very clear.
jbadger
TR#506, MXP, ~3#1206~
Mine just came in, hopefully I can find time today or tomorrow to install this. I'm currently watching my bosses puppy, and it needs 100% attention.
I agree it would be nice to compare the cars on a test drive although I would be lucky to be able to compare apples to apples since I installed a Pioneer stereo. Still it would be a worth while test.
I am having a problem replying with quote. I get a message that says the message must be at least five characters long, what gives?
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I would allow yourself more than a day to do the job, unless you are a better mechanic than I am, (pretty good chance that you are). :biggrin:
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I would allow yourself more than a day to do the job, unless you are a better mechanic than I am, (pretty good chance that you are). :biggrin:
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