It never worked for me either... I tried and tried to get it off and i couldnt get it. I know some people who have found other little plastic things to put on the end so you dont have to get that little cap thing off... but I guess it was a little ghetto lookin.
I have heard somewhere that depending on the year it will or wont work... but then why someone else with a 2000 got it to work, and you and I cant get it with a 4 year difference in cars.... i dont know.
I wish i could get it to work. I love the look but lord knows the shorty i have on my car now doesnt pick up much of anything for radio
____________________ Its all fun and games until someone gets poked in the eye with a dick
the trick was once i heat it up, grab below the rubber part with pliers and slide it off. grabing the acctual rubber part was squeezing it onto the rod so that was working against me. so i didn't grab the rubber part at all, i used the pliers to "push" it off the end. getting it on the shorter rod was a little tough cause it's wider, but i kept applying heat and wigleing it on bit by bit.
before i had this antenna that was about an inch long, and it didn't pick up anything. this seems to do quite well, it's a little less than half the size of the stock antenna. i don't really use the radio but it's nice to have the option.
here's a question, is there a way to tune to specific stations with the stock radio/cd player? cause as far as i can see the only option i have is to seek. this often skips over stations that i think should be able to come in. (it did this with the full size antenna also, i'm sure i'm not the only one.)
____________________ 04 ZY ZX3/2.3L PZEV/K&N Typhoon CAI/FS race exaust/SVT suspension/black 18" L8 rims/FS front stress bar/steeda STS/black projector LED headlights (HID)/black alteza taillights/smoked side markers/euro upper front grille/euro LED 3rd brake lights/
I'm not sure which HU you have, but I'm fairly confident all the radios have a preset option, 6 of them I believe.
All you do is tune to the station you want, using manual or auto tune (every station- 98.1, 98.3, 98.5... or only the ones with strong signal), then press and HOLD one of the numbers until it blinks or something, it'll be obvious that it's set.
Then if you're in radio mode (instead of CD) and you hit like "1" then the radio will jump to the station you programmed by holding down 1, whether it's got a signal at the time (music) or not (static). Then you don't rely on seek all the time, when you know a station has reception and the radio skips it anyway (annoying)?
I may try the DIY shorty this afternoon, if I feel like uncovering enough of the Focus to grab it... I don't have pliers in the apartment though, I might attempt to coax the tip off with a flathead screwdriver, or if it's bad enough maybe I'll break down and run to Ace to buy a needle-nose. Does the tip require a dab of Krazy Glue, or does it stay on just fine without?
Last edited on Tue Aug 30th, 2005 05:58 pm by lil duratec
about the manual tune, i'm dumb, but that's the part i couldn't figure out, but i just got it.. (push the menu button,,, ass....) anyways i figured hat out and came on to let you know i did.... and you'd already ansered me so... anyways, i'm dumb.
as for the antenna, you can probly get it off with almost anything, the only reason you can't do it with your fingers is that it's quite hot. (boiling water hot, acctually) as far as getting it back on, since the rod is wider at the base, it's a little tighter than it was to begin with, when it cools it'll be very very tight. no glue needed.
____________________ 04 ZY ZX3/2.3L PZEV/K&N Typhoon CAI/FS race exaust/SVT suspension/black 18" L8 rims/FS front stress bar/steeda STS/black projector LED headlights (HID)/black alteza taillights/smoked side markers/euro upper front grille/euro LED 3rd brake lights/
Makes sense, water's on the stove as we speak! I like how I have nothing better to do on my afternoon off than boil car parts in saucepans! Oh if my mother could see me now...
Glad you figured the radio out, the manual tune thing isn't real intuitive, I think I just found it by mistake, randomly pushing buttons!
Finished! Gardening pruners work well to cut the antenna cleanly, and a flat head will coax the rubber tip off the end! Of course it went pinging across the room when it came off and I thought I lost it, but it got stuck next to the microwave, crisis averted. Went for a short drive and reception seems the same
Last edited on Wed Aug 31st, 2005 04:36 am by lil duratec
Oh if my mother could see me now...