| Any suggestions on where I can find a cheap replacement antenna. | Somebody stole the antenna of my Accent. Im more shocked than upset... | i mean how expensive can they be? well, i guess that's why im posting | now. Is eBay the best shot or....
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Maybe someone needed it to use as a weapon, or to render it into a fashionable roach clip. Sometimes, a person can be rather desperate, and at a time such as that, only a car antenna will serve. We must be loving, kind-hearted, and forgive the stupid bastard.
Let me take a shot at this (I'm an audio person, although I don't know the particular application).
An antenna is an antenna is an antenna. It's a resonant device, so there's some need for adherance to specs, but there's no magic to it. It just needs to be made decently and be the right length. The thicker it is, the less precise the match to the range of radio frequencies that you want to pick up -- in this case, ordinary broadcast FM. For most cars, an ordinary telescoping whip antenna from any auto parts store can do the job nicely. Another poster here (a radio amateur) mentioned 30 inches; I recall 31 or 32 (memory fails me). There are also antennas pre-cut to resonate at the middle of the FM broadcast band; these will be quite passable for AM as well. I've been seeing some antennas lately that appear to be a fiberglass whip with a wire snaked around it. That should be OK, too.
Ask the counterperson to take a look at your car and see what the most appropriate standard antenna is. Having said this, I'll acknowledge that there are a number of cars that require a more unusual type for mounting reasons, and sometimes, this has got to be obtained from the dealer, but this is really rare. Motorized retracting antennas (like on my Sonata) may need particular attention to matching because they need to have someplace to go down into, and they have to fit that someplace.
Richard
