[BC] The Future / Signal

[Kevin Tekel]

Mark Humphrey wrote:
> Many European-made cars have their antennas mounted on the roof and
> angled back at 45 degrees; not only does this appear "stylish", but I
> assume it improves the reception of horizontally-polarized FM signals

In the '60s and early '70s when the first FM Stereo receivers were
being installed in German cars, the FM antenna consisted of a horizontal
dipole mounted on the hat shelf behind the rear seat.  A vertical whip
mounted outside on the fender was also provided for AM, Longwave, and
Shortwave.  The radios also had three FM sensitivity settings: "City",
"Suburb", and "Country".

Of course, the Germans were famous for over-engineering.  High-end
Mercedes of that era also had two sets of horns: disc horns for "city"
use, and "fanfare horns" for "country" use, selected by a switch on the
dashboard.  For Italian export models, I bet the two settings were
labelled "Loud" and "Even Louder". :-)




 
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