antenna on prius

The AM/FM antenna is "in-glass"...the satellite antenna is a short, stubby job that can be unscrewed to take off during a car wash.

 

I think that you are both wrong. The AM/FM antenna is a stubby that can that be screwed on / unscrewed for car washes, and it attached to the rear of the roof, in the center like it was on the Gen II Prius. Additionally, in the base of the antenna unit is the XM Antenna built into it.


You can see it in this picture I found online (as my car and camera are not with me at the moment. I also attached a picture of it.

http://carbonnation.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/2010-prius-credit-toyota.jpg

 

WRONG !!!

Keith

 

a bit off topic, but does replacing the antenna with a shark fin, reduce the clarity of the signal at all?

 

From a technical perspective, at standard AM & FM radio frequencies, the larger physical antenna, the greater the antenna gain. There has been a lot of discussion on this topic here on PriusChat the last couple of years. The general opinion seems to be that in an urban environment the shark fin antenna usually functions Ok. However in a more rural environment, the standard whip antenna works a bit better.

Keith

 

Okay, so sorry. I guess I shouldn't get my info from what I read on here. Anyway...that's what I read on this site.

But I DO know you can unscrew the antenna...THAT I read in the manual.

Back to only responding if I'm SURE I'm right...

 

Correct !!!

Keith

 

There's a lot of "partial" correctness here on PC. My understanding is that "part" of the FM antenna may indeed be in the glass. But for sure like you said, the stubby screw in antenna is for the FM/AM.

The reason I know is my car was delivered without one. I got my XM signal OK (built into the base). I got stronger FM signals without the stubby, but other stations did not come in at all, making me beieve that I might have some FM antenna but needed the mast for better range.

 

Hi dmvp,

A couple years ago, I rented a Prius for a week. Although it had an AM/FM radio, I had zero reception because the external whip antenna was missing. I made an 18" whip antenna and screwed it into the roof-mounted antenna base. The radio worked fine after that.

I also understand that one has to be very careful about anything posted on the Internet. Some information is good. A lot is opinion presented as fact, and some is just plain incorrect.

Keith

 

The antenna can easily be unscrewed by hand. However, I have a question as well. My dealer told me it was not necessary to remove the antenna when going through a car wash. I would like to know the experience of the Priuschat group in this regard. Thanks in advance.

 

Many cars now have a "diversity antenna", meaning it samples the signal from 2 sources and chooses the best--whip antenna versus glass embedded antenna for airwaves, but the satellite antenna is just the base of the whip antenna. My salesman said to remove the whip antenna for best protection in a car wash but I'll bet it's fine if you don't. I never go to car washes, however, always by hand.

 

I would describe the antenna as a whip antenna, not a stubby antenna. Stubby antennas are really stubby.

Both a stubby and a sharkfin antenna will have noticeably weaker reception. You won't notice their weaker nature if you're within the strong signal range of a radio station's transmitting antenna. But you will notice it if you go outside that range.

I live in New York City and receive a lot of strong signal radio stations transmitting from the Empire State Building. But weaker signals that I used to get satisfactorily with the factory whip antenna (e.g., some New Jersey stations that I listen to), I now receive unsatisfactorily with the sharkfin antenna.

 

This must be the case with our 2010 II as we have the short roof antenna and, I assume, an embedded antenna; or at least that's what I think the crisscross pattern around the rear view mirror is. So it samples between the two?? If so, wow what cool technology!

 

Could the stronger stations have been received by the wiring from the antenna to the radio (or even by the XM antenna)? I mean a strong signal can get into wiring, right?

EDIT: Another thing to mention is that the antenna has a wire that coils around the vertical mast/antenna, which I assume is used to make a longer antenna. Not sure if the coiled thing is the antenna and it's wrapped around a non-antenna support, or if it's some kind of wind-resistance non-antenna wrapped around the antenna, or whether it's two antennas on one.

 

I believe that area with the small black dots is so you don't get blinded by the sun, since the sun visors don't reach there. If you look closely, the dots aren't connected, so I don't think it can be an antenna.

 

Hi All,

I have not read that the Prius has diversity antennas anywhere. Nor am I up on deployed diversity reception systems in cars.

But I have some knowledge on radio technology.

There are several kinds of diversity. The two most common are "spacial" and "polarization". FM broadcasts are sent in a 45 degree eliptical polarisation so they have the best posible simultaneous vertical (for car antennas) and horizontal (for building antennas) polarisation reception. The whip antenna on a car is vertically polarized, and omni-directional. A glass embedded antenna could be either vertical or horizontal, but the one's I have seen are horizontally polarized, and due to antenna physics have front-to-back directivity.

So, one could hook both of those to seperate receiver front-end circuits, and at the IF or post-detector the signals are combined/selected for the best S/N signal. This would be polarisation diversity.

Spacial diversity is like you see on some WIFI routers - two antennas, spaced apart horizontally, typically 1/2 of more wavelength. Again the antenna signals are passed through two receiver front ends, and the best S/N is a result of the combination or selection of the two signals in the radio's IF or post detector. Of course the Prius does not have two whip antennas. But, this is how it would be implemented if it did have spacial diversity. The advantage of spacial diversity is apparent when your listening to a distant station in a line of cars at a stop light. As you creep forward the signal will fade up and down. With spacial diversity when the signal fades at one antenna, it will increase at other most of the time. And this means that the two whip antennas will have one on the forward part of the car, and one on the rear part of the car.

 

Thanks for the informative post on radio technology. I read on the forum that the 2010 does have the diversity antenna, and on prior years it was commonly listed in specs. Here's the post about the 2010, from a moderator who consistently has good information IMHO:

 

And in addition to other antenna's is the nav which is built into top of dashboard and the radar adaptive cruise in the front Toyota emblem, and then there's the receiver for the keyless fobs somewhere and the bluetooth...any more?