Antenna wiring

[Smokin' Rubber]

hey Raging (or anyone else) do you know where the antenna connects to the radio? and if it would be possible to pick up TV radio waves? I'm wondering if I can connect it to my LCD and attmept to get local channels in the car

[joatmon]

the antenna hooks up on the back of the radio. You will probably be able to pick up some TV signal, although how much is questionable. The stock antenna is probably not very efficient across the broadcast TV bandwidth. The FM band falls above TV broadcast channels 6. I've had some analog tuning radios that you could tune low enough to pick up the audio off TV channel 6. you can try conecting it and see what happens, if you do then let us know what you find out. You'll probably need an antenna adapter, and also some sort of splitter it you want to leave it hooked up to both the radio and LCD. Splitting will cut power to the radio in half though, maybe a switch would be better.

[Jahntassa]

Your LCD has a tuner in it, right? I know some of the larger ones do, but I wasn't sure about the 7 inches. Just making sure...You could try getting an antenna splitter, but...the problem you'll run into is this. The antenna connection is the GM antenna connector, so you need to adapt to a standard connector, put in a splitter, then re-adapt to the back of the radio. This many connections is sure to affect your regular FM/AM reception. Try hitting up a Circuit City and see if they still have an Accellevision antenna. It's one of the glass-mount jobbies that can go at the top of the inside of the windshield, or rear glass, and has a standard coaxial connection to go into a VCR or TV. Not sure how much it costs, but couldn't be more than $50.Not the answer you're looking for, i'm sure..but it'll give you better reception overall.

[Smokin' Rubber]

Yeah the TV has a tuner and ironically it has it own antenna, but as you can imagine that might be a bit hard to extend when its positioned in the glove compartment lolYou're probably right getting the seperate antenna from circuit city would be the easiest (altho slightly more expensive) and would most likely yield the best results. I wonder if I could mount the antenna somewhere less noticeable that the front or rear glass. My mom has XM with the seperate antenna stuck to the front windshield and I think the extra little black bumps look a bit odd but thats just meOrI could make a switch circuit for reception from the antenna and have it on the top of the glovebox somewhere easy to reach. My concern though would be just what you stated which is the interference created and diminished signal strength. That said, if I was going to do it I would need the pin layout of that connector in the back of the radio. I suspected that most of the pins are for power but couldn't tell which were which from what I could see. The easiest way to make a switch I would assume would be (after I found out which wire(s) and pin(s) are related to the antenna) to cut the wire coming out of the pin(s) a few inches from the connector in back of the radio itself leaving the actual pins in the right places in the connector (so I don't have to deal with re-adapting it to the radio). Then connect a bit more extension wire to the wires on connector so they will reach to the glove box where it would connect to one side of the switch. Buy some more coaxial line from radio shack or hardware store and get and adapter to attach to the end for the TV (if it didn't already come with an aux antenna cable which it might have). Then the last thing to do would be connect the lines leading from the antenna to the input terminal on the switch. I think that would work but I may never know, I guess its a matter of cast versus benefit. I might need to get a new antenna with a wider bandwidth range anyway which still might cost $50 so going the seperate antenna way might be the same cost for less work. Gonna have to think about this for a while too many things to consider like if there is anyway to adjust the range of the antenna on the fly

[ragingfish]

The antenna isn't part of the wire harness on the radio.It's separate from the wiring. It's a heavy-ish black coax-like cable that plugs into the radio on the rear right (closest to the passenger when the radio is in the dash)

[Smokin' Rubber]

...... thats wierd because when I pulled the radio out there were only 2 cables that I saw one for power and one for output to the speaker, I guess I'll have to go check again

[omarq]

the big connector has everything in it.. power, ground, speaker wires, and remote. The think black one with the pointy is the antenna connection.

[Smokin' Rubber]

oh alright perfect that makes it alot easier thanks just curious tho it looks like the connection is split farther up the wire (looked like two wires consolidated to one) altho I couldn't tell cause there was foam insulation around it.

[cohocarl]

I had a DVD/VCD/MP3/TV tuner in my Vibe. http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=932I did purchase an antenna cable extension which I spliced some coax into it and ran it to the tv tuner. It did not work as well as I had hoped. In fact, it was a waste of time. I purchased one of those powered "tv" antennas on ebay, which is supposed to work inside the car, and it did bring in some stations, but still wasn't all that great. About the only way I could get some decent reception was to put it on the outside of the car, but couldn't drive with it hanging out. This isn't the seller I bought mine from, but it's the same antenna: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...&rd=1There are some external tv antennas for cars, but the ones I've seen look like a boomerang, and are quite large to be putting on a Vibe.How about a "stealth buddy"? http://www.truckersmall.net/stealthbudd ... SA...=WDVW

[Jahntassa]

Quote, originally posted by Smokin' Rubber »oh alright perfect that makes it alot easier thanks just curious tho it looks like the connection is split farther up the wire (looked like two wires consolidated to one) altho I couldn't tell cause there was foam insulation around it.The Vibe FM/AM antenna is powered, that other wire you saw is power to the antenna, and then the antenna connection itself.

[Smokin' Rubber]

Quote, originally posted by cohocarl »How about a "stealth buddy"? http://www.truckersmall.net/stealthbudd ... VWHahahaha (removed) thats funny would look hilarious on the carSo I guess its pretty pointless trying to get TV reception in the car then? It seems like the only way to do it is go with a big antenna (maybe a low profile one or something) and stick it on the roof somewhere

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by Smokin' Rubber »So I guess its pretty pointless trying to get TV reception in the car then? It seems like the only way to do it is go with a big antenna (maybe a low profile one or something) and stick it on the roof somewhereThe other issue at play here is that broadcast TV isn't what it used to be. Cable and satellite are so common now, there aren't too many strong broadcast signals out there anymore, with the exception of in and around major metropolitan areas.IMHO, not worth your time or money.

[Smokin' Rubber]

Yeah thats what I was thinking, even though it would be really neat, it would require way too much work and money for what I would get out of it

[ragingfish]

Just hook up a DVD/VCR combo...you'll be all set.

[Smokin' Rubber]

Xbox has DVD playback so I am set lol