Antenna in windshield

[Jeepwm69]

My radio reception is TERRIBLE. Factory antenna wires are in the windshield glass. Not sure if the antenna is the problem or the radio (old Pioneer with digital tuner circa 1993-94 with supertuner).

How long did GM do the radio antenna in glass trick and when they stopped, where did they put the antenna on these trucks (pics would be lovely....)?

[INSIDIOUS '86]

I believe they did it on all the squares. As I recal the 70s camaros had them as well. I live in an area with a lot of deep hills and valleys and don't have an issue with reception
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[sethv]

I have great reception with my antenna, could be your radio.

[Keith Seymore]

'68 Pontiac GTO was the first application, and then many applications after that.

Squares had the windshield in the glass through '87 and then those carryover '88 and up R/V trucks got the mast antenna again for the remainder of the run. Antenna was mounted at the rear of the RF fender.

So, based on the fact that there are millions of vehicles on the road with a windshield antenna - I bet your radio is the problem.

K

[Goldfinger]

You can't beat a window antenna. well you can, but mine is excellent everywhere. i would say it could be the connections. clean them up and see what happens

[MalibuSSwagon]

My 86 C10 has the mast mounted on the RF fender, would that be out of the ordinary then?

Well even with the antenna mast, my old 90's tape deck sounded terrible. I put in a new radio, and much better. I'd say its your ancient stereo

[motornut]

my old Pioneer had settings for the antenna,try looking up for the manual
also some time the plug changed in size make sure it's going in
I guess some of mine were done after
thought it was weird but
78 pass
79 win
79 drivers
88 pass
89 win sucked, i stuffed one loose in the fender it worked

[hatzie]

I had 2 Pontiacs, an Olds and 4 of these squares with the windshield antenna.
There's a 2-3" snap on pigtail at the bottom center of the windshield that plugs into a coaxial pigtail cable under the dash pad. They work very well unless the pigtails are damaged or unplugged.

Windshield button pigtail
Behind dash cable

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by MalibuSSwagon

My 86 C10 has the mast mounted on the RF fender, would that be out of the ordinary then?

Yes - not sure how to explain that, unless it had been crashed and repaired with 88 & up parts...

K

[quadzero]

I had the same problem, I guess the previous owner did also because the truck, (87) came with a fender mounted antenna still in the package. But I ended up changing the stereo and now the glass antenna works perfectly.

[Pyrotechnic]

I always wondered, why did they stopped using them? Other than the fact that there's nowhere to stick an antenna ball...

[68Timber]

Originally Posted by hatzie

I had 2 Pontiacs, an Olds and 4 of these squares with the windshield antenna.
There's a 2-3" snap on pigtail at the bottom center of the windshield that plugs into a coaxial pigtail cable under the dash pad. They work very well unless the pigtails are damaged or unplugged.

Windshield button pigtail
Behind dash cable

What he said.

[vegas80step]

My radio came in pretty bad.. When I was putting it back together I used new parts.. the part that plugs into the glass was a little beat up... radio comes in good now..
I got a new deck too.. so not 100% which fixed my problem..

[Hubscrub]

i have two 85 truck and 75 nova with it and love them just had to replace the lead going to the radio in my nova for better performance.

[Gregs71]

my '87 windshield antenna gets great reception.
My '89 fender mount gets horrible reception.

I am guessing its the radio.

[tucsonjwt]

My 83 C20 beater has good reception with the aftermarket windshield with integral antenna and a new antenna connector (from Classic Parts, IIRC).
I installed a $100 Alpine head unit from Crutchfield and it continues to sound great. I can get powerful Phoenix AM stations in Tuscon (~ 100-150 miles away)-not clear as Tucson stations but still very good reception.

So Keith, why did GM stop using the windshield antenna? This was one of the GM engineering competitive advantages. Were they trying to be more like the Japanese and other 2/3 of the big 3?

[BLE 'BURBAN]

I pulled the windshield out of my old crew cab before scrapping it and it now lives in my '90 suburban. I bought a "Y" adaptor for the antenna lead and I now have 2 antenna's hooked up to my stereo.

[tucsonjwt]

Originally Posted by BLE 'BURBAN

I pulled the windshield out of my old crew cab before scrapping it and it now lives in my '90 suburban. I bought a "Y" adaptor for the antenna lead and I now have 2 antenna's hooked up to my stereo.

Runnin dual antennas? Your truck must be both fast and loud

[Number21]

My '73 has a mast antenna and the windshield antenna...I don't know why. Somebody stole the stereo....

[xrcr]

Bought the 76 custom deluxe with a fender antenna. This was in 87 so it may have been" customized" before that.

[Jeepwm69]

Interesting. I too would like to know why GM stopped putting them in the WS. My 94 Honda Accord has the antenna in the back glass, and the 95-97 of the same body style went on the back fender.

I'll pull the head unit and see if I can clean up the connections. I have the stock AM/FM radio around here somewhere (dad never throws anything away) so I might even put that back in. I have an FM modulated Ipod hook up so I could still use an Ipod with the stock head unit.

[Keith Seymore]

I'm not sure we've actually "stopped" - as you mention, on some SUVs (Suburban/Tahoe/Cadillac) we put the antenna in the quarter glass today.

I think its a matter of "trends" or fashion - which come and go.

K