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There have been several requests in the past for what to do to replace the factory AM/FM antenna with something hidden. My needs were a little different - I have a CB antenna mounted in the factory location - but the results are the same.
I installed a "Tune Trapper" antenna under the dash panel. If you believe the advertising, it's a "hand tuned" 1/2 wave dipole no ground plane antenna designed for the 88-108 MHz FM band. I was sceptical because I know how dismal the performance of most hidden antennas is.
It works pretty well! It's not better than the factory antenna but it's about equal in signal reception and it's much better than any other hidden or windshield antenna I've seen.
It is a semi-flexible pole about two feet long that can be mounted vertically or horizontally. I chose to lay it across the dash just in front of the trailing edge of the upper dash panel. I used a couple of pieces of 2-sided tape to hold it in place and then put the dash panel back in place.
I now have AM/FM, Sirius, and GPS antennas hidden under the dash panel and I get great reception with all of them. If you're looking for a way to get rid of your external antenna, I recommend this product.
Last edited by WhiteBird00; 10-12-2020 at 09:13 AM.
Reason: Replace missing photo
No cutting involved - all antennas (AM/FM, satellite, and GPS) are completely hidden under the dash panel. Reception for both Sirius and GPS are better than even the factory installed systems in my wife's SUV. AM/FM reception is about the same as with an external mast antenna.
a bit off topic, but WhiteBird00 since I was considering doing a similar setup with the hidden antenna and putting a cb antenna in the stock location, what kind of cb antenna are you running and what kind of range are you getting out of it?
I have an NGP (no ground plane) antenna from FireStik called the Venice. NGP is very important because there is so little metal in the body of our cars to make a good ground plane. The Venice is a 5/8 wave base-loaded antenna that looks close to factory when installed in the stock location. I get an average of about two miles with it and better than that under some conditions.
Which antenna? Both were purchased from the manufacturer and neither is a sponsor. Just google "tune trapper" for the AM/FM antenna or "firestik" for the CB antenna.
I wonder if you would get any better reception with the antenna moved a little further up, closer to the hood...?
I tried various positions under the dash when I was installing it and none seemed to make much of a difference so I went with the most convenient mounting. There's an indentation that runs across the dash there so the antenna fit without interfering with putting the dash panel back.
Between Sirius and USB, I seldom use FM except to get traffic info for the GPS so being able to match factory reception is quite enough for me. I have heard that the same antenna can get better reception if mounted above the headliner (under a non-metal roof) or vertically along the A-pillar.
Thanks for the info on the antenna WhiteBird00, this just saved me from buying the metra antenna that sticks to the glass, I found the tune trapper last night but couldn't find any rewiews on them
11-07-2008, 04:37 PM
New hidden AM/FM antenna 
