Before anyone gets on my case yes i know you get what you pay for but i'm on a budget.

I recently bought a sharkfin aerial from ebay which fits my mk1, what the ad doesnt explain is that there is what looks like an amp in the base of the standard aerial which is not included with this bargain basement piece of equipment.

My old aerial and base are degraded and therefor not a refit option.

The question is - if i wire the amp into the new fin can anyone think of any problems which might occur.

The pcb is a bit tarnished but should clean up ok and there is plenty of room in the new fin.

For anyone who was thinking of buying a sub £10 sharkfin - be prepared for a lot of soldering.

Cheers

Robb

:this thread requires pictures:

Where are you sourcing your amp PCB from? When I looked at cheapo sharkfin aerials when I was having problems with my aerial base/amp it appeared that most just stuck onto the roof, covering the existing base....

Edited 9 August, 201213 yr by mbames

Before anyone gets on my case yes i know you get what you pay for but i'm on a budget.

I recently bought a sharkfin aerial from ebay which fits my mk1, what the ad doesnt explain is that there is what looks like an amp in the base of the standard aerial which is not included with this bargain basement piece of equipment.

My old aerial and base are degraded and therefor not a refit option.

The question is - if i wire the amp into the new fin can anyone think of any problems which might occur.

The pcb is a bit tarnished but should clean up ok and there is plenty of room in the new fin.

For anyone who was thinking of buying a sub £10 sharkfin - be prepared for a lot of soldering.

Cheers

Robb

I went cheap approach too, realised no amp was in it so fitted a inline amp(got from halfrauds) to the cable you remove from std ariel (did this at the front end to head unit) but for whatever reason reception was poor so gave up , removed shark fin and back to std. In fact my reception has never been brilliant anyway but with sharkfin much worse.

:this thread requires pictures:

Where are you sourcing your amp PCB from? When I looked at cheapo sharkfin aerials when I was having problems with my aerial base/amp it appeared that most just stuck onto the roof, covering the existing base....

The pcb is from the oem aerial which has a terminal which touches the aerial "whip" and another which is soldered to the lead.

the fin i have has an internal aerial (about 4 inches of thick gauge cable) which connects to the lead. if i place the pcb inline with this it should be ok because all i am effectively doing is changing the whip for a stubby aerial. What do you think.

Worst case scenario i'll have to buy a second hand oem base and whip.

I think it's been documented before that stubby aerials don't work well with the octy for some reason, wish you luck tho lol

Before anyone gets on my case yes i know you get what you pay for but i'm on a budget.

I recently bought a sharkfin aerial from ebay which fits my mk1, what the ad doesnt explain is that there is what looks like an amp in the base of the standard aerial which is not included with this bargain basement piece of equipment.

My old aerial and base are degraded and therefor not a refit option.

The question is - if i wire the amp into the new fin can anyone think of any problems which might occur.

The pcb is a bit tarnished but should clean up ok and there is plenty of room in the new fin.

For anyone who was thinking of buying a sub £10 sharkfin - be prepared for a lot of soldering.

Cheers

Robb

I have bought an amplified sharkfin from halfords to go on mine.

Hopefully this will work.

Done it.

Wired the oem amp into the cheap sharkfin and crossed my fingers. Turned the ignition and t'daaahh crystal clear reception.

thanks for all the advice though guys.

Robb

Done it.

Wired the oem amp into the cheap sharkfin and crossed my fingers. Turned the ignition and t'daaahh crystal clear reception.

thanks for all the advice though guys.

Robb

Well done there...

Done it.

Wired the oem amp into the cheap sharkfin and crossed my fingers. Turned the ignition and t'daaahh crystal clear reception.

Nice one - I fancied doing this as it means I can easily load my roof rack and not catch the aerial....

Lets see a picture of it :thumbsup:

Nice one - I fancied doing this as it means I can easily load my roof rack and not catch the aerial....

Lets see a picture of it :thumbsup:

Will do, may try to write a bit of a guide cos i guess there are loads of people who would like to do it cheaply

Will do, may try to write a bit of a guide cos i guess there are loads of people who would like to do it cheaply

Yep....think the sharkfin looks better but now willing to sacrifice the reception.... A how to would be very helpful!

Yep....think the sharkfin looks better but now willing to sacrifice the reception.... A how to would be very helpful!

this is my problem - I like to listen to the Dorset travel news when I am in Wiltshire, so that I can best plot my return drive from work. Poor reception would give me less chance of being able to find an alternative route home...

I have my old shark fin so if you post any Pics of the wiring set up would be appreciated buddy. Getting the old ariel off is a pain as done that loads what with those stupid metal clips on the linning plastic panel.

Have posted write up in the project journals.

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/246669-shark-fin-mod/

Edited 11 August, 201213 yr by FreakyRobb