There must be quite a few of you running shorter ariels on your Furbys, which ones fit best and keep good reception please?

I had a Vauxhall VX ariel on my Golf which looked like an OE VAG one but shorter, but this for some reason doesn't have enough thread to make decent contact on the Fabia ariel's base ie. the male and female bits don't reach one another!

There is an Enfig ariel group buy on uk-mkivs at the moment for a Honda S2000 style ariel but this also has the same thread length as the VX one, so no good for my vRS. :confused:

I don't want to spend much money on one, the only reason I want to change it is that the ariel catches on my up-and-over garage door and makes a horrible clanging noise and scratches the ariel to hell.

....................................only reason I want to change it is that the ariel catches on my up-and-over garage door and makes a horrible clanging noise and scratches the ariel to hell.

Have you tried laying it flatter to the roof, not sure but I think angle to roofline might be adjustable?

fill the female end with some tin foil and screw the aerial on this should complete the contact, maybe... worth a try me thinks. ?

Lexus RX-300 Roof Antennas fit (you have to shave some of the rubber off the bottom of it to make it fit, but it's a 5 minute job.

Reception is excellent.

I have a basic alloy beesting aerial. No change to the signal. It is boosted though so maybe that's the factor? I can get signal in many areas without any aerial fitted at all. Even the mount has some receptive qualities.

There must be quite a few of you running shorter ariels on your Furbys' date=' which ones fit best and keep good reception please?

I had a Vauxhall VX ariel on my Golf which looked like an OE VAG one but shorter, but this for some reason doesn't have enough thread to make decent contact on the Fabia ariel's base ie. the male and female bits don't reach one another!

There is an Enfig ariel group buy on uk-mkivs at the moment for a Honda S2000 style ariel but this also has the same thread length as the VX one, so no good for my vRS. :confused:

I don't want to spend much money on one, the only reason I want to change it is that the ariel catches on my up-and-over garage door and makes a horrible clanging noise and scratches the ariel to hell.[/quote']

Yeah. 6 foot C.B aerials have a great reception.

Have you tried laying it flatter to the roof, not sure but I think angle to roofline might be adjustable?

Yes you can actually lay it a bit flatter, but it doesn't look at all right!

I usually get out of car, unscrew ariel and lay it flat, open the door then reverse in the garage - but then again I don't always remember the unscrew bit 'CLANG! CLANG! JUDDER! SCRAPE!':mad: 'D'oh!'

Doesnt it catch on the tailgate when you raise it.? Surely an aluminium one will scratch it??!!!

Doesnt it catch on the tailgate when you raise it.? Surely an aluminium one will scratch it??!!!

Thats why there is a cut out in the spoiler:D

Just to update anyone in the slightest bit interested - I have now done as Josh sort of suggested and circumcised the rubber lip a little so it sits flush to the male screw in part's base and fits just dandy (sorry for poor description, just finished a twelve hour night shift).

So now we have another cheap OE look modification - a trimmed base Vauxhall VX sportscar thingy ariel that's a good 4 inches shorter than a standard Fabia one and only costs about a tenner or so.

Got any part numbers handy for that please, if the reception isn't changed then I'd definitely be tempted Thanks

Sorry, don't have a part number. There are no markings on the mast at all. I would give your local Vauxhall dealer a ring and ask them, it's probably not just the ickle sports car that uses the same ariel.

I bought mine off uk-mkivs some time ago as it's a popular mod for Golfs, looks OE and actually works properly.

Thanks - will drop by one when I'm back from NL

I bought mine off uk-mkivs some time ago as it's a popular mod for Golfs' date=' looks OE and actually works properly.[/quote']

Beezer' have you got any pics of this??????

Duplicate post - sorry

Nope, I'll try and get some done for you.

Just looks like a standard one but shorter, close one eye and squint a bit at yours and you'll get the idea!!!

viola......

Just a thought, wouldnt it be easier to shorten the standard aerial?

Can't be that hard surely? My car can get a reception without the aerial on most occassions anyway (might be because of the aftermarket H/U).

I kinda went for that - took off the rubber bit at the top, cut it down, put the rubber thingy back on.

Did seem to impact on reception a little though :(

I kinda went for that - took off the rubber bit at the top' date=' cut it down, put the rubber thingy back on. [/font']

Did seem to impact on reception a little though :(

well it would. aerials are designed to be a specific length based on the wavelength of the signals they recieve. for example the ideal length for a 6 foot wavelength is 6 foot, but quite often they have a coil to make the actual wire in the aerial that length. or are a accurate division of the wavelength. eg 1/2 or 1/4 of the wavelength.

so the shorter aerials will normally have more coiled wire around it to make it act like a longer aerial.

I kinda went for that - took off the rubber bit at the top' date=' cut it down, put the rubber thingy back on.

Did seem to impact on reception a little though :([/quote']

Are you using the standard symphony H/U? The only reason I ask it because mine still works ok'ish even without an aerial and I wonder if it's because the aftermarket H/U I have (Pioneer DEHP-77MP) can work better with weaker signals in which case shortening the aerial on mine by 10-15cm or so probably won't make that much difference.

It still kinda works, but 'crunch' is absolutely right, the length of the antenna is important, I should have measured it and chopped in half exactly but just went for a chop :P

I've got the standard HU and I won't be changing it, it does the job

I've got the standard HU and I won't be changing it' date=' it does the job [/quote']

Most standard vRS's "do the job" But as you well know changing things is all part of the fun, I must admit the standard H/U is good, but the H/U I have now is in a different league, and costs about £20 once you've sold your standard H/U for £150 on EBay

Anyway back on topic, Thanks for the info mate. I'm definately going to have to shorten my OEM aerial, I might do a quick "How To" as it seems quite easy, however I think my results may differ because as stated previously, my H/U isn't standard.