Hidden Antenna idea??? Will this work??

Well I'm awful close to getting back to work on the 3G, tonite I spent a few hours cleaning and re-arranging the garage some from all the tile work/wood work/paint supplies/etc from the house work. Plus all the shit that got drug out of the house and parked in the garage since we dont know what else to do with it and dont want to get rid of it since it's stuff we will use eventually.
Whoa, way off topic, but anyway, as I was out there, a thought occurred to me (kinda scary I know!!) My new 4Runner has an integrated antenna in the rear side windows, that's basically defroster lines on the glass. It's a double antenna setup.
Could you use the rear defroster lines in your car for a stereo FM antenna???? If so, how would the connection from the antenna wire to the defroster be made?? I never use my rear defrosters anyway, living in Tx we see snow or ice maybe a few days a year, and I always just run out a couple large cooking pots of warm tap water out to pour over the car to melt away any ice (not hot so it doesnt shock the glass!) since it works so much faster and you have clear windows all around instantly almost.
This could potentially solve my hidden antenna issue if it's possible to do......

I don't know, they do have some resistance to them. Some JDM models had them in the rear WS, but they had some kind of amplifier between it and the radio.

hmm i might try this in a few days if i do i well let u know how it turns out ;)

to catch RF signal... you'd need to have a decibal-gain antenna (powered of some sort).

i'd suggest grabbing a 4 foot (approx) aftermarket antenna that has a little bit of bending-ability to the rod itself, maybe about .125" in OD (outside diameter), and slap it camoflage style on the hood, next to a seam, maybe on the top part of the window on the outside, paint it to hide the apperance.

the heater system wires may not be a great option for RF reception, due to there extremely small width

just as a question... isn't the stock 3geez antenna (at least on my LX) powered? and hidden when not used? so... why not just employ that design, maybe stuffing a thicker, higher-powered antenna in the stock slot to gain some additional reception? bore it out a little if necessary. this may be kinda stupid to point out, given the fact that your specifically looking for a "hidden" antenna... but antenna reception can often be more effective when the rod-style antenna is pointing straight upward, or at some sort of angle

.: local RF nerd

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hidde...spagenameZWDVW

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Originally Posted by LX-incredible

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Hidde...spagenameZWDVW

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looks good and easy to install just one wire under headliner down a piller under dash to radio :-D

i built one into my spoiler,don't know if it works yet,spoiler is off due to bodywork.

Well the thing is, I did away with the stock roof mounted antenna. And the heater lines on my rear window are actually a bit wider than the antenna lines on my 4Runner. Now, the 4Runner's lines are in sort of an odd pattern, probably due to angle to the transmitter or something, but it has two seperate antennae, or a Diversity Antenna, and the stereo has a switch inside that calculates which of the two antenae are getting the better signal and it uses that signal. But with as many lines as the rear window has, maybe adding a powered inline amplifier, I'm guessing it could work, unless there's something about the RF Frequency that would prevent it from receiving the signal?? I'm not much of an RF expert so I dont know the ins and outs of RF reception and what effects it.

As far as amplifying the signal, isnt there some simple in-line 12V powered amplifiers you can just mount under the dash and put a 12V switched line to it? The power to the retractable stock mast is just for the retractor motor as far as I know.......

they got ones that u can buy at a car parts store, i put one in my 442 around the front window hidden under the trim, works pretty good

cool.....i like the shaved look also....tell us how it works....even tho i dont really listen to radio.....IPOD FTW....but sometimes i forget to charge it and i have to go back to radio.

well disconnect your window defroster at the connection, hook up some cable to it and try it. if it works great,if not you can try some of the other ideas. as far as an antenna amp you can buy them from jc whitney,and probably lots of other places. if you want something trick, and you use the defroster lines, use the power going to the defroster grid to run the 12 volts to the antenna amp. just use a smaller inline fuse of an amp or so. then you can turn on the defroster and it turns on the amp.i got rid of my roof antenna completly. i made a piece of steel to go in the oval shaped hole,welded it in,then welded up the screw holes. after grinding it down smooth,and a small amount of filling, it looks a hundred percent better. the cars have really nice lines,that fugly antenna really screws with them,

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Originally Posted by lostforawhile

the cars have really nice lines,that fugly antenna really screws with them,

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No doubt. I still plan to try the defroster lines as an antenna. I might look at how it's all hooked up on my 4Runner. I know it's coaxial wire going to the antenna, Im guessing I'd have to ground the outer shield to the body, and connect the inner wire to the defroster grid, for it to work right. Might be a bad ass mod ya never know lol.