Mysterious (to me) Antenna in the passenger rear cargo window???

[wemslie97]

So....I just happened to notice what looks to be an antenna built into the passenger rear cargo window. Never noticed it before. Anyone know what it's for??

 

[Dezert4Runner]

Diversity antenna

 

[Dezert4Runner]

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/102753-whats-diversity-antenna.html

 

[wemslie97]

Can't believe I never noticed it before. Looks like an antenna. The telescopic part of my power antenna is broken so I have a standard antenna rod shoved in the hole. It works great but if I pull the rod out, the FM reception is Nil. Is that one AM only? Says of uses whichever is getting better signal... I'll try it tomorrow.

 

[Dezert4Runner]

Not sure about the fm thing, but the broken antenna can be replaced with a solid whip antenna. Search "taco whip mod" and you'll get plenty of info off Google. There's a few threads floating around for fixing the power antenna, if you're so inclined.

 

[BN-2B]

Aha!

Diversity antenna! That's smart.
Here I was thinking the PO had replaced the drivers' side glass without defrost.
Yea. Ok. Got it.
Thanks!

 

[diverscale]

Diversity antenna! That's smart.
Here I was thinking the PO had replaced the drivers' side glass without defrost.
Yea. Ok. Got it.
Thanks!

When I bought the truck and tested everything, I was going crazy trying to troubleshoot why my passenger rear window defrost would not work...

Anyway, it's an antenna already, because on my aftermarket head unit, I plugged both the front and rear antenna using a Y connector. Whenever I can, I listen to the radio using only the rear antenna while leaving my front antenna retracted, and when needed, I raise the front antenna to get maximal reception. Most of the time the rear antenna does the job when in the city for the main radio stations.

You also got 2 different plugs on the rear of your stock head unit, a big and a small antenna plug, one of which is the rear antenna (the small one IIRC). My hypothesis for the reason it exists is probably only so the 4runner, which is an offroad vehicle, could listen to radio stations farther out in the wood or in trails by extending the range with dual antennas, but hey, I am nowhere an expert in radio-communication.

both 2 wires are shown here (with thick grey foam sheathing):

And the switch, lower left, to raise the front antenna only when needed:

 

[JohnMc]

I have an aftermarket head unit, and initially had just the main retractable antenna connected. Then I got a splitter and a small antenna adapter and hooked both of them into the single antenna socket. I also added a switch to turn the retractable antenna 'off'.

Results: With the main antenna retracted - I seem to get roughly 90 - 95% of the range with the rear window acting as the antenna. In town, I never raise the main antenna at all, it stays down for months at a time. On road trips, by the time a station starts to fade noticeably, if you flip the switch and raise the mast - it really only helps for a very short amount of time.

It's nice to not have the mast going up and down every time the car is turned on and off, not to mention they all seem to wear out and get funky after a while anyhow.

 

[mckennar]

Not sure about the fm thing, but the broken antenna can be replaced with a solid whip antenna. Search "taco whip mod" and you'll get plenty of info off Google.

This is literally the first thing I do when I buy a 3rd Gen. Blown engine? It'll have to wait. Need the Taco Whip.

 

[SpidermanGeek]

I have an aftermarket head unit, and initially had just the main retractable antenna connected. Then I got a splitter and a small antenna adapter and hooked both of them into the single antenna socket. I also added a switch to turn the retractable antenna 'off'.

Results: With the main antenna retracted - I seem to get roughly 90 - 95% of the range with the rear window acting as the antenna. In town, I never raise the main antenna at all, it stays down for months at a time. On road trips, by the time a station starts to fade noticeably, if you flip the switch and raise the mast - it really only helps for a very short amount of time.

It's nice to not have the mast going up and down every time the car is turned on and off, not to mention they all seem to wear out and get funky after a while anyhow.

I still gotta get around to doing this to mine. I typically just leave the radio off right now because I don't want to use the power antenna, lol. I still have the OEM head unit and the CD player no longer works. So most of the time all I listen to is the humming of my BFG KMs on the pavement. lol.

 

[wemslie97]

Not sure about the fm thing, but the broken antenna can be replaced with a solid whip antenna. Search "taco whip mod" and you'll get plenty of info off Google. There's a few threads floating around for fixing the power antenna, if you're so inclined.

Yeah, just never bothered to fix it correctly. I would just need a new mast which is cheap, like $14.99, the motor and all are still working. but the power antennas are notorious for breaking. The taco whip is much more durable.

 

[wemslie97]

I still gotta get around to doing this to mine. I typically just leave the radio off right now because I don't want to use the power antenna, lol. I still have the OEM head unit and the CD player no longer works. So most of the time all I listen to is the humming of my BFG KMs on the pavement. lol.

I disabled my power antenna by pulling a connector behind the ashtray. Was able to reach it without removing anything. I believe there is a thread on it here somewhere..

 

[BN-2B]

Work in Progress

I still gotta get around to doing this to mine. I typically just leave the radio off right now because I don't want to use the power antenna, lol. I still have the OEM head unit and the CD player no longer works. So most of the time all I listen to is the humming of my BFG KMs on the pavement. lol.

...My sentiments exactly SpidermanGeek.

When I bought the truck and tested everything, I was going crazy trying to troubleshoot why my passenger rear window defrost would not work...

Anyway, it's an antenna already, because on my aftermarket head unit, I plugged both the front and rear antenna using a Y connector. Whenever I can, I listen to the radio using only the rear antenna while leaving my front antenna retracted, and when needed, I raise the front antenna to get maximal reception. Most of the time the rear antenna does the job when in the city for the main radio stations.

You also got 2 different plugs on the rear of your stock head unit, a big and a small antenna plug, one of which is the rear antenna (the small one IIRC). My hypothesis for the reason it exists is probably only so the 4runner, which is an offroad vehicle, could listen to radio stations farther out in the wood or in trails by extending the range with dual antennas, but hey, I am nowhere an expert in radio-communication.

I have an aftermarket head unit, and initially had just the main retractable antenna connected. Then I got a splitter and a small antenna adapter and hooked both of them into the single antenna socket. I also added a switch to turn the retractable antenna 'off'.

Results: With the main antenna retracted - I seem to get roughly 90 - 95% of the range with the rear window acting as the antenna. In town, I never raise the main antenna at all, it stays down for months at a time. On road trips, by the time a station starts to fade noticeably, if you flip the switch and raise the mast - it really only helps for a very short amount of time.

It's nice to not have the mast going up and down every time the car is turned on and off, not to mention they all seem to wear out and get funky after a while anyhow.

...The switch is the way. Great information.
No expert here either but from what I gather,
double antennae strengthens receptivity by allowing signal to flow better around obstacles.
Then again, till yesterday my gatherings assumed the window wire was a defrost so, yea.
Work in progress.
Thanks to the contributors on this Forum!


•••

 

[wemslie97]

It's a grey plug that plugs into a tan connector (relay I'm guessing) just to the drivers side of the ashtray behind and under the dash. It disables the power antenna motor but not the radio. At least on my 97.

 

[Dezert4Runner]

...The switch is the way. Great information.
No expert here either but from what I gather,
double antennae strengthens receptivity by allowing signal to flow better around obstacles.
Then again, till yesterday my gatherings assumed the window wire was a defrost so, yea.
Work in progress.
Thanks to the contributors on this Forum!


•••

I don't usually listen to the radio (mostly Pandora) so when I upgraded my stock radio I didn't even bother getting the Metra adapter that allows you to run the diversity antenna with the aftermarket radio. Since my Kenwood feeds power to the antenna when powered on (whether or not turned to radio setting), I also bypassed the antenna via a micro rocker switch. I didn't want to burn out the antenna motor, so this was the most logical cost effective solution. I think I paid less than $5 for the switch from Fry's Electronics.

 

[Robb235]

Using the Metra splitter (or combiner in this case) made my radio reception worse. It could be because I have a crappy aftermarket head unit.

My reception is best when I use the mast antenna only. If I combine both the mast and diversity antenna, reception is crap. If I use the diversity antenna only, reception is equally as bad. But if I use the mast only, it's ok.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk