[BC] Car Radio Antennas

[RichardBJohnson at comcast.net]

A current trend is to make a short antenna out of
fiberglass. This is then wound with a lot of fine wire
to make a broadcast-band "Rubber Ducky" antenna.
This is over-wound with a loose spiral of heavier
wire to make a FM antenna. The resulting dual-band
rubber ducky works okay until you drive through a
car wash. The spinning rags in the car-wash break
the fine wire of the broadcast-band component,
resulting in a car radio installation that only works
for FM and 50 kW broadcast stations within 20
miles! Replacement antennas cost over $100
from the car dealers and third-party antennas
don't work because they are not resonant rubber
duckies!

--
Cheers,
Richard B. Johnson
Read about my book
http://www.LymanSchool.org


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: frankgott at aol.com
> You may have seen this in your local paper or on your station's?website:
> 
> 
> http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5joJW4F4GzD3zCLGLLbJvYJfMqIFAD8UB8NQO0
> 
> Yep, AM stations can disappear when you turn a corner in a car with a windshield 
> antenna.
> 
> Frank Gottlieb
>