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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Radio Ariel

Normally I would not bother fitting a radio to the Sprite but I have been given a really nice, period looking one. It is a FM model but has push buttons, a rotating volume control and a sliding finger showing the frequency. However no way am I going to drill a ariel hole in the heritage body / very expensive paint job. I was wondering if it would be possible to insulate the rod that the mirror slides on and use this as an ariel?

Jan T
J Targosz

An FM radio in a 1964 UK car!

Being serious, I hope the following ramble helps.

First a suggestion, rig up the radio without fitting it to the car to remind yourself of the quality of reception, sound quality and volume.

I've had two period NOS 1970s AM radios still in boxes and wrappings. One in a Rover P6 saloon and other in a noisy Triumph GT6 with NOS uprated 2.5w pod speaker and IIRC NOS (or period style) manually extendable aerial.

The Rover being the quieter vehicle I could actually hear the radio, Gold station of course, but I'd forgot how you have to feather the tuning knob as you get drift from travelling too far, and the background whistling and the total lost under bridges.

With the Rover I did think about getting a period really small cube amplifier (not much bigger than the volume knob on it, fitted to the front speaker grille) that also adds a second mono speaker filling the rear elliptical speaker hole.

GT6 was a total waste of time above 30mph.

I don't know about the windscreen rod but you could use a FM ribbon aerial, same with the rod I'm not sure of its reception abilities though and interference. Copper HT leads would be noticeable.

I had a 1980s Skoda with an aerial built into the rear windows, IIRC there was only one other very expensive UK car with the same at the time, it worked great until I turned the heated rear window on.

The other 1980s Skoda UK models had a glass sunroof with the aerial built into that, they worked very well by being on the roof of the car, I can't remember the British cars of that time being so advanced, 5-gears and a heated rear window (awaits the jokes).
Nigel Atkins

Jan, no idea if they are any good but you can buy one that sticks on the windscreen.

Trev
T Mason

There was an article in MASCOT about 1 or 2 years ago where a midget owner had used plastic insulation to isolate the boot lid from the body and used this as an aerial. The article said it worked really well. I can't remember what issue it was in though.
Rob
MG Moneypit

Not sure about the aerial, but I am pretty certain that the rod that the mirror is mounted on is actually a structural part of the windscreen and prevents the windscreen glass from popping out of the frame?
J Smith

Nigel

ISTR that the 1980s Ford Orion had the aerial in the rear ‘screen.
Dave O'Neill 2

i have one of the flat aerials under the carpet on the back seat area and it works fine with roof down even with my dab radio
mark heyworth

Deal with topic first, Mark's idea sounds good to me the aerials are little more than bits of wire - but FM stereo might be messy without a good aerial in a good location but if the radio it has FM mono button you could go to that.


Dave,
perhaps the article I read at that time was wrong, jurnos have been known to make errors or perhaps it was a later addition to the Orions than 1985. I only remember Escorts then. New cars were expensive then as they still had IIRC something like purchase tax and VAT on top of that tax.

I bought a two-month old Skoda UK company car with 6,000 miles and 22-months warranty left for the same price as a three-year old Metro (12-months warrant?) and I knew people with Metros and all the problems they had from new let alone 3 years old. Plus the rear engine, rear wheel drive was great fun to drive.

Nigel Atkins

Depending on signal strength of your chosen station(s) where you mainly drive it may be worth trying a length of wire. You'll need HT suppression of course.
Bill Bretherton

Rather than insulating the boot lid, I guess my boot rack, that sits on rubber pads and has plastic protection over the clamps would make a good aerial.....
J Smith

Nigel, I seem to remember one of the many jokes was about the heated rear window in the Skoda. Apparently it was there to keep your hands warm when pushing it.

John Payne

If you want the authentic 'period' look I think you need one of these:


Jonathan Severn

Seriously, the radio will look lovely but you may struggle to hear it if you are travelling at any speed with the roof down. I haven't looked, but I think someone, somewhere puts modern electronics inside genuine period radios (or maybe just adds an aux input? Can't remember...). Not cheap, but you will have a better chance of hearing the audio while on the move.
Jonathan Severn

Hood frame?
Greybeard

John,
that the one I teed up (whatever that means) but it followed with "whilst you pushed it over a cliff to ..." that one I forget at the moment.


Johnathan,
good find, those predated the BSS squarerials.

I think you can get both of those sorts of units plus new modern but period looking units but they're not cheap.

A mate has a cheap hidden unit that works off bluetooth from a phone, it sounds terrible, and I know it's not the speakers as his 1993 (ninety-three) radio unit sounded good.
Nigel Atkins

I have ordered a ribbon aeriel and will try sticking it to the body, just under the hood/rear screen. Hopefully the radio waves will be able to pass through these. I have been checking on line and radio consoles were an extra when the car was new. They fit under the dash just forward of the gear leaver and have room for the speaker but are very expensive. I could fabricate one but the radio I have been given is fittted into a very neat, shallow box that matches the dash perfectly. Assuming I can sort out an aeriel, where is the best place for the speaker? If I fix it in the back panel, behind the seats will the folded hood not muffle the sound. Is it possible to fit two small speakers in the quarter panels, just below the hood frame brackets? What about in the doors?

Jan T
J Targosz

"speakers in the quarter panels, just below the hood frame brackets"
That's where mine are. It puts them close to the headrest and one's ears.
I still don't hear them ! 🤣
GuyW

"An FM radio in a 1964 UK car!"

Earlier than that.

"1952: First Radio With FM.
AM was the undisputed king of the airwaves in 1952, but that didn’t stop Blaupunkt from introducing the first in-car FM radio."

For an aerial, why not try this? I used to use one, as I too didn't want to drill the body. It workrd very well. I've still got it somewhere.


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221468299121





anamnesis

25 years ago when I purchased my Midget, as it had a retractable aerial on the rear wing, I sourced a period metal centre console that took the standard size radio and a good size 8 inch ? speaker. It then took me several months to source a suitable push button Motorola radio that was the standard fit or optional extra for many BMC cars in the 1960s. Fortunately, before I undertook the fiddly installation, I did a "loose fit" to ensure everything worked and would fit. That was a good decision as, even at high volume, the radio was inaudible at anything above walking space so the project was abandoned. Eventually, I managed to sell the radio and the centre console is still on a shelf somewhere in my garage. Lesson learned - don't assume that all optional extras are useful!

That's a topic for another thread!!!
Ray Rowsell

I never had any trouble hearing mine.

Sirry, I can't rotate the pics on my phone. Well I probably can, but Idon't know how.








anamnesis

Plenty of power with this amp/eq/fader.

80mph with the roof down, and I could still hear whatever I was blasting out. Often Led Zep.

But these days, why not use bluetooth 'buds' ?


anamnesis

Early FM radios (early 60s) went from 88 to 104 Mhz. I think the reason was police radios were on 106Mhz or maybe Taxis were there. It was a long time ago!!. Later, when the police/taxis went to a far higher frequency, FM expanded to 108Mhz.
Blue tooth sound cancelling ear buds would be better, or for a genuine 60s look how about over ear headphones with wire connection.
Rob
MG Moneypit

If you Google MG Midget Radio Console you will see plenty of pics of radios fitted to Midgets. This is why I think they were an original extra

The max size of speaker that can be fitted above the radio is 4" and there may be insufficient horizontal room for modern radio/CD players. I was given a new unit and the face was quite close to the gear leaver.

I am pondering fitting two 4" speakers into the sides of the console. The old, manually tuned radio I have is stereo so two speakers would give me a better spread of sound. I would certainly leave a dummy front grille since nothing looks worse than a slab of black vinyl in front of your face.

Cheers

Jan T
J Targosz

This thread was discussed between 13/08/2021 and 12/10/2021

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