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MG MGA - Radios

I am looking to fit an am/fm radio in my positive ground A. Problem seems to be finding a suitable unit. I am also thinking of fitting an 'invisible' aerial under the dash. Has anyone done this and does it pick up the signal ok. I do not want to change to negative ground. Any thoughts appreciated.
Brian Paddon

Brian,
If you install an invisible aerial under the dash the top of the shroud and the dash will create a metallic screen and you will get virtually no signal at all. I have run my aerial under the passengers side carpet it is ok if you do not have electronic ignition.
D M SPEAK

I had a radio in my previous two MGAs, they were Coupes and I could hear them at lower speeds or if I turned the volume well up at high speed.

My present Roadster though is much noisier and I dont think that I would be able to hear a radio unless I stopped the car.

So although I do have a suitable radio, Im in no really hurry to fit it to the car. :-)

Colyn
Colyn Firth

Positive earth won't be a problem with a period radio. Most had jumpers/plugs/switches that converted them from + to -. I put the mid-60s BMC radio out of my MGB into my MGA. But I've never bothered to install the speaker box. :-) Barney Gaylord's web site has a copy of the factory sheet that shows where to install the antenna to make it look "official".

http://mgaguru.com/mgtech/accessories/radio/aerial_mt.jpg
David Breneman

I took this one out of my '62 Mk II for the same reason as Colyn. I don't even like background music in stores and restaurants. This radio does have a selector for + and - earth systems. Jud


J. K. Chapin

My aerial hole was already in the wing in Barney's location when I got the car as a wreck in 1996. I kept the location and have never given it a thought since, and this is the same person who would never dream of drilling the wing nor door for a wing mirror. In other words I find the aerial and its position totally unobtrusive.

As for the radio, I'm a bit like the others above. The electronic ignition affects my FM channels but not AM which I find unusual. When driving I therefore only listen to Radio 5 Live. Only other use for the radio is a rattle noise suppressant. I generally dislike music.

Steve
Steve Gyles

I have two more modern solutions

1. Is an old radio mounted in the dashboard, but modified to accept an external input, as we don't get very good FM reception in many places. This is now just for show and has no speakers attached.

2. Mounted under the dash and underneath the radio, I have an MP3 player. This used an SD card to store music. Cost was about 60 USD on eBay. The speakers cam from the local junk shop and are the small speakers used in a surround sound system. This means they are also small enough to be hidden under the dash, but have a housing designed for optimal audio performance ( the housing is actually very important to how a small speaker sounds). Cost of these was 5 USD! I just copied my MUsic library onto the card and it cycles through without any adverts or intervention from me. The system is loud enough to be heard at speed too.
dominic clancy

This thread was discussed between 25/04/2016 and 26/04/2016

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