pathfinder123 Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Although I mainly listen to mp3's in the car, occasionally it makes a change to see what the radio has to offer. However, since changing over to a stubby aerial it has been a bit hit and miss whether I could hear the station I wanted without a lot of background noise and fading. One of my hobbies is amateur (ham) radio so messing about with antennas (sorry aerials) is something I am pretty familiar with. So I decided to compare the original bee-sting aerial with the stubby using some radio test equipment I have. Sorry if this gets a bit technical... Because the bee-sting is over twice the length of the stubby it captures more signal, but the biggest difference is in the bandwidth each covers. Briefly the FM band is from 88MHz to 108MHz, and the bee-sting has two peaks in it's performance, one at the lower frequency end (88MHz) and one at the top of the frequency band (108MHz). The overlap in these peaks mean that it covers the FM band well. However, because of it's much shorter length the stubby is sharply tuned only to the top of the frequency band (around 98MHz), which means stations on other frequencies are received very much weaker. Although the stubby looks better on the car I find that it performs about as well as a "Chocolate Fireguard". So the bee-sting is back. I guess you pay's your money, and takes your choice. Cheers S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmac Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Checking radio 2 is a great test for these aerials for this very reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Husky Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 great info! Prob best to just get a good quality window antenna and use the stubby for show personally i dont mind my flagpole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Mine works perfectly, but its a different kind of stubby. It looks almost exactly the same as the standard aerial, but is somewhat shorter. Ive tried for ages to find out what vehicle it is made for as I originally got it for the golf way back in 2002. I thought it was a honda S2000 aerial, but looking at pictures thats almost certainly wrong. Could have been a Fabia. Ill try and have another look around. Has anyone tried a lexus is200 aerial or maybe a new toyota IQ aerial - quite a bit shorter, and I guess they must work fine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmac Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Mine is half the size of the Honda stubby and works fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chesterfield Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Yep - looks like it could be this one - anyone that has seen the aerial on mine will know what I mean about it being the same as the standard aerial but a bit shorter - still has that "twisted" look to it. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Replacement-Aer ... 807&sr=1-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunGodRA Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Mine is half the size of the Honda stubby and works fine. Really Martin!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 if it tunes strongest towards 98Mhz then its perfect for radio 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tez162003 Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 what do you class as a stubby and a bee sting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M13KYF Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 what do you class as a stubby and a bee sting? bee sting is the standard OEM aerial. Stubby is the one of the honda civic, crv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmac Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Mine is half the size of the Honda stubby and works fine. Really Martin!! I also miss Terry Wogan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rtbiscuit Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 you may find that the stubby you have is a copy, the original ones from honda (the S2000 ones) are about 40 quid from honda and are very good, but the copies out there aren't they look identical but there is a transmission difference apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pathfinder123 Posted June 14, 2010 Author Share Posted June 14, 2010 you may find that the stubby you have is a copy, the original ones from honda (the S2000 ones) are about 40 quid from honda and are very good, but the copies out there aren't they look identical but there is a transmission difference apparently. Ah, if someone would like to loan me their Honda one, I will test it. I "promise" to send them the original one back S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmac Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 I have on on my Honda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choptop Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Kept to the original one which came with the car for this very reason. ..................... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demolition49 Posted June 14, 2010 Share Posted June 14, 2010 Function over form or Form over function, you cant have both Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madmarky Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 If you want slightly smaller but still get good signal get a new shape corsa one, the have a coiled aerial which is great boost for the reception. Sorry this is the best pic i have of it as most of my photos are of the other side. Its a great flush fitting tho and works very well, probably better than the standard but be interested in you doing some tests Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmac Posted June 15, 2010 Share Posted June 15, 2010 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMR Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Yeah I have a shorter aerial on mine it seems and radio 2 reception is pretty poor.. alot quieter than the other channels. Although only listen to radio until the bose has warmed up and stopped skipping Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dblock Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 Why do you listen to radio2 its pants. Better music on radio 1. Plus moyles, mills and westwood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BulletMagnet Posted June 17, 2010 Share Posted June 17, 2010 you may find that the stubby you have is a copy, the original ones from honda (the S2000 ones) are about 40 quid from honda and are very good, but the copies out there aren't they look identical but there is a transmission difference apparently. Last time I asked Sean at John banks Honda, he told me the S2000 one is £27 and the Civic one was £22, and even tho the part numbers were different, the part was actually the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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