Antenna again

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by Domino

When I tested a conventional antenna I tried various grounds to the base of it and it helped a little but not much. It may not be just the fact that it is grounded... but the surface area of the ground or something.

I'm definitely not an expert on antennas, but my understanding is that a typical car antenna needs a "ground plane". The body of the car acts as a large surface with the antenna sticking up out of it - something about the way it shapes the radio waves of something (as an example from back in the old CB radio days - if you mounted the antenna in the middle of the roof of your car, you got much, much more range than if if attached it to the back fender). Just grounding the antenna might help (did for my Elan) but it's also the shape of the ground plane relative to the antenna position.

[Tyger]

Any horizontal antenna is going to have relatively poor reception because radio broadcasts are vertically polarized... you need a vertical antenna to get the best reception. A perpendicular (to the antenna) ground plane (e.g. an ordinary car's metal body) which reflects the signal into the antenna also helps a lot.
With a vertically-challenged, fiberglass car like the Elise, getting good radio reception was always going to be a challenge.