Glass-Mounted/ Signal Loss

[tglendye]

I have used glass mounted antennas on vehicles in the past, with pretty decent results. However, I put one on my wife's mini-van a while back and the signal is greatly reduced. The scanner receives all bands better w/ the stock antenna, inside the vehicle. I have switched out cables, w/ no improvements. I figure it's gotta be in the base and I removed the antenna.

My question is, does window tint increase signal loss in the glass mounted antennas? I don't know if I should try another antenna or give up if the tint is the culprit.

Thanks,
Todd

 

[SCPD]

I have used glass mounted antennas on vehicles in the past, with pretty decent results. However, I put one on my wife's mini-van a while back and the signal is greatly reduced. The scanner receives all bands better w/ the stock antenna, inside the vehicle. I have switched out cables, w/ no improvements. I figure it's gotta be in the base and I removed the antenna.

My question is, does window tint increase signal loss in the glass mounted antennas? I don't know if I should try another antenna or give up if the tint is the culprit.

Thanks,
Todd

Yes, tint will impact that glass mount antenna. I believe manuals clearly state this as well.

 

[GKolo]

I had window tint on a Blazer with a thru glass mounted antenna and the signal sucked !
The radio worked fine with a magnet mount antenna.
Seems like the darker the tint the worse the reception, Same antenna and same radio mounted on my Ford Ranger back window with half the tint that the Blazer had and it works better but because the window has tint its not great.

Hope this helps

 

[tglendye]

Thanks guys for the info.

 

[newsphotog]

Also, if it's a rear window, those defrost wire lines will greatly reduce reception as well.

 

[kb0nly]

We had a Pontiac Montana with factory tint, the really really dark factory tint included in the SE package along with the upgraded seating and stuff like that. Using a handheld radio, scanner, or even a cellphone in that van could really suck sometimes unless you had a really strong signal.

Did some investigating and found a knowledgeable autoglass shop and asked them. They said the tint in some factory glass is metallic in nature, they add different formulations of tin and copper to the molten glass. So it basically makes the windows more metallic if that makes sense.

I also know a guy with a car that has all aftermarket tint, if your not sitting in the front seat with the cell tower in a forward direction, line of sight through the windshield, your cell signal sucks. Its like sitting in a faraday cage.

Anyway... In the case of tint and thru glass antennas this makes a big difference. Not just the composition of the tint but that extra layer of plastic. I found that even just on plain clear glass even the best made glass mount antenna usually needs some tuning to make it effective. Either trimming the whip or some of them have a tuning capacitor in them also.