Hmm, how would you feel about a 4" antenna then?

 

I have this http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Bille...Q5fAccessories

and my service is bad and i live in Los Angeles......... REALLY ANNOYING... I need something STRONGER!

 

ahh man, i was gonna get one. i hate that annoying boingg when i hit a branch too. its a shame you cant get one thats like 6-8 inches shorter than stock.

OP: invest in sirius satellite radio. i love mine

 

That sucks!! I haven't noticed any difference in reception with mine in the 6 months I've had it. To be fair, I use my XM more than anything but it still runs off a preset FM station on my head unit. Not sure if that makes a difference or not. Glad you got your money back at least.

 

Went through the exact same thing on my Harley 2 years ago.....got sick of the long whip antennae and installed a billet stubby.....reception wasn't bad in town but in the country, it was really bad......ended up with a powered fairing antennae instead and I've seen these used in vehicles also....with the only issue being the installation of them....

 

+2 on sirius..... dont even turn on stock anymore~.. plus i only get sound out of one side...i blew a channel in my EQ.... so its strickly sirius or nothing~

 

I would think it should be easy enough to just take a cut-off wheel and shorten the factory antenna a few inches (say even with cab height) and be done with it. That being said, I don't ever listen to terrestrial radio much, so I just assume do without one entirely. A better solution would be to but a powered antenna that mounts on the inside of the windshield (above the rear-view mirror) and it'd probably be as effective as the non-powered factory antenna. My .02

 

Anyone know how to get the **** off of the end of the factory antenna to shorten it? I bought a 17" antenna Friday night and it lasted one trip through the car wash to blast the salt off of the truck.

It could stand to be about a 21" or so antenna. I just can't get the little ball off of the end of my factory one to put it back on the cut end.

 

If you can't get it off the factory antenna, then you can always buy the ball-end online.

 

That may be the best bet. I pretty well mangled mine yesterday with a pair of vicegrips trying to pull it off.

You wouldn't happen to have a link as to where to find one of those, would you?

One thing that I noticed yesterday.. you can only cut off a few inches because of the wire wrap that is on them and the taper of the antenna.

 

I'm sure you could jbweld the wire/solder it before painting to cut it where you want it. A little grinding will make the taper whatever size you want!

I don't honestly know a site off-hand, but I know I have seen them before. Heck, maybe you could just punch/drill out a hole in a piece of lead or steel shot. I think they recommend putting masking tape on the vise-grips to keep from mangling the cap.

 

I just got the same one in from JCW last weekend! The couple of country stations I listen to in Orlando come in just fine, whenever I don't have my MP player and CD blastin.

 

After some searching around on here, I found the instructions on how to get the ball off.

Take a pair of wire stippers that will fit over your antenna and whack the ball with them. It pops right off. Then you can take a hack saw to the antenna and make it whatever length you want. File a small chamfer on the end, stick the ball back on it and drop onto rag covered concrete on the ball about 3 times. Give it a shot of black spray paint if needed and you are back in business. Took about 5 minutes from beginning to end. I now have the factory look, just a lot shorter.. and it is still flexible so it won't get ripped off in a car wash.

For future info.. that is not a wire wrapped around the antenna. It is formed into the antenna itself so you don't have to worry about what you will do with a loose wire end.