durable am fm antenna upgrade?

So my FM antenna ripped off today on what was otherwise a nice Sunday ride on Sugarloaf Mountain Road. I had a nice 12 or 18 inch floppy rubber antenna. Now that it's ripped in half, it looks like it was more flash than function - couldn't find any metal in it:exclamati I have searched the internet for replacement antennas and found nothing that would appear to work. Anyone have an idea who makes a functional 12 or 18 inch stubby and where to get one?

Here's my existing mount on my 95 XJ Country 4.0L 4x4:



dis-flamer: My searches only brought up CB antenna threads, which although perfect for future upgrades, doesn't resolve my current f-up.

If you have a cb antenna, Firestick now sells a adapter to hook your am/fm into the CB antenna. That may not help your situation, don't know.

I'll post a link.

Here it is;

http://www.firestik.com/CatalogFrame.htm

Click on mounts and accesories, it will be in the scroll down box on the left hand side of the page, all the way down and is called a CB/AM/FM splitter

That's interesting...I don't have a cb antenna right now, but it might be the right time to upgrade. Are there any that would mount to my 'old' FM antenna threads?

I found, bought and like the internal, electric amplified antenna box, about a 4"x1"x1" hide a way in the dash antenna, that I used to replace my busted antenna. I bought it online, I think it was www.crutchfield.com. Check Google for antenna and crutchfield if the url is wrong. I think they had an Ebay store too for radio/CD players and antennas. They have both kind of antennas, hundreds of antenna models listed online. I paid about $30 for my internal one, and it saved me the hassle of pulling a tire and or a side panel to get the old antenna mount out and new one in.

marnco said:

That's interesting...I don't have a cb antenna right now, but it might be the right time to upgrade. Are there any that would mount to my 'old' FM antenna threads?

Click to expand...

You can put a CB antenna in place of the radio antenna but you will need to use a CB antenna stud mount and co-ax, the radio antenna mount will not work for a CB transmitter.

Its been done on here and it makes a trick looking set up!

I think it's time to go through with the AM/FM to CB/AM/FM conversion. My FM reception was nil to begin with (probably on account of the solid rubber "performance" antenna). If needed, I'll boost it with the electric antenna (thanks Ecomike).

Thanks for the help. I do appreciate it, especially for something so minor.

I want the antenna to be installed by an experienced individual for trim and tuning sake. I'm new around here - any of you guys know a cb install shop in Boulder?

From the looks of that picture, you have major corrosion on that Jeep. If you had poor reception with the old antenna it might have lost the ground. When I installed my electric amplified antenna it worked great until I started the engine, then it had terrible noise. What was strange was I had a diesel. Turned out all I needed to do was add a good solid ground to the radio case itself and all the noise was gone!

Well, I think most of the corrosion-looking stuff in the picture is of my stylish Colorado mud-job to cover up the primer showing through my worn paint job on the hood, roof and fenders.

New paint is my next major project on "Sherman" once I get the exhaust system sorted. I think I smell mild exhaust fumes under the hood, which I assume is a simple sign of a cracked header/manifold (I think I may even see a crack). At 120K, right after major engine work and a new cooling system it's probably not a bad idea to replace the cat and pipes methinks. Or I guess I could slather on some JB Weld and opt for fresh duds.

Anyway, I think it's more abrasion than corrosion, but you are absolutely right I need to mind the ground. A little sanding or grinding the hole to make sure the mount contacts steel? Say, is the OEM fender antenna mount hole 1/2" or what? That would make it a relatively clean stud mount swap...