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shark fin

krv5516 said:
Thanks to everyone for the information. Is the factory roof antenna tied to Sirius/XM reception as well? If so does the antenna from Visual Garage receive that signal?
Click to expand...
Yes, it is in the base of the antenna. The Shark Fin works the same as the OEM one. If you are concerned about the GPS signal, that receiver is under the dash.

Peter
 



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I received a shark fin antenna for Christmas and I installed it last night. I LOVE it! As I understand, the order process was started through email and with ease. The entire ordering process, from first email until it arrived, took 12 days. The folks at Visual Garage are fantastic!
 






Same here. Recieved mine yesterday and it looks great. Will install tommorow and see how thé réception is here in or. Great product and finish.
 






The whip antenna always gets stuck and rebounds off my roof when backing into my garage (but not when backing out...) - so shark fin, here we come.

Sent my email order over this morning (Friday 12/27) and no response, but it's the holidays so I'm not expecting anything for a few days.
 






MIExplorer5 said:
The whip antenna always gets stuck and rebounds off my roof when backing into my garage (but not when backing out...) - so shark fin, here we come.

Sent my email order over this morning (Friday 12/27) and no response, but it's the holidays so I'm not expecting anything for a few days.
Click to expand...
Mine used to do that until I adjusted the garage door. The door now pulls back further and the problem is no more.

Peter
 






peterk9 said:
Mine used to do that until I adjusted the garage door. The door now pulls back further and the problem is no more.

Peter
Click to expand...

Tried adjusting my garage door - no dice. It already pulls back as far as possible. Not that I NEEDED that as a reason to order the antenna...I think it just looks better!

Heard back from VG. Production is on break until after the New Year. But they're still responding to email orders. Antenna will be on it's way shortly.
 






MIExplorer5 said:
Tried adjusting my garage door - no dice. It already pulls back as far as possible. Not that I NEEDED that as a reason to order the antenna...I think it just looks better!

Heard back from VG. Production is on break until after the New Year. But they're still responding to email orders. Antenna will be on it's way shortly.
Click to expand...
Totally agree on the 'looks'.:thumbsup: I don't know why Ford uses that type of OEM antenna. It looks like the only vehicle that has the 'fin' is the Taurus.

Peter
 






I was about to order a shark fin. My Explorer is set to arrive next Friday! :)

But before I order, I'm wondering one thing about the antenna setup: has anyone just tried removing the topside antenna altogether? I'd much rather have it completely flat up there. Does having it make that much of a difference?

If there's a terrible loss in signal strength, has anyone tried putting some sort of antenna booster on the rear window instead? My G35 was designed like this, but maybe the reception of that design has something to do with the angle of the rear window of a car. Thoughts?
 






LakersCentral said:
I was about to order a shark fin. My Explorer is set to arrive next Friday! :)

But before I order, I'm wondering one thing about the antenna setup: has anyone just tried removing the topside antenna altogether? I'd much rather have it completely flat up there. Does having it make that much of a difference?

If there's a terrible loss in signal strength, has anyone tried putting some sort of antenna booster on the rear window instead? My G35 was designed like this, but maybe the reception of that design has something to do with the angle of the rear window of a car. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
If you have it completely flat with the antenna removed, where do you intend to re install the antenna?
The base of the antenna is the receiver for the Sirius/XM radio.

Peter
 






I'm finally getting a chance to upload some pictures of my new shark fin antenna. Here it is:

BEFORE:
Explr1.png


AFTER:
Explr2.png


Explr3.png
 






looks good. how much taller would you guess it is compared to the standard (without the antenna screwed in)? noticed u have the roof rails. think you'll have any problems with boards or skis or racks up there w/ the shark fin?
 






JohnC12 said:
I'm finally getting a chance to upload some pictures of my new shark fin antenna. Here it is:
Click to expand...
Great job. Looks very good. I used to back in when going in the garage but the Ex is wider that the Highlander. I have a double garage but where I park is the short side due to the enclosure for the stairs to the lower level of the house. I just have too much 'stuff' accumulated on the other longer side to move it over.
Like you license plate.:thumbsup:

Peter
 






LakersCentral said:
looks good. how much taller would you guess it is compared to the standard (without the antenna screwed in)? noticed u have the roof rails. think you'll have any problems with boards or skis or racks up there w/ the shark fin?
Click to expand...

Thanks LakersCentral!

The shark fin is much larger than the original antenna base. My guess is that it's a universal fin which can be installed on many different cars?

As for the fin with the roof rails, I actually never took that into consideration. I went down to the garage to have a look, and as it turns out, the shark fin sits just below the plain of the rails. Whew! I took a few photos for you.

I took a level and extended is a far back as I could. As you can see, it'll clear the fin.
Explr4.png


From a different angle.
Explr5.png


From the front. (The fin is a bit blurred)
Explr6.png



peterk9 said:
Great job. Looks very good. I used to back in when going in the garage but the Ex is wider that the Highlander. I have a double garage but where I park is the short side due to the enclosure for the stairs to the lower level of the house. I just have too much 'stuff' accumulated on the other longer side to move it over.
Like you license plate.:thumbsup:

Peter
Click to expand...
Thanks Peter!

Yes, the Explorer is very wide! In fact, the very first day I brought my Ex home, I whacked the mirror pretty good when backing out. There's probably an inch on either between each mirror and the garage door opening. My next Ex will have folding mirrors! ;)

As for the license plate, that's good ole Photoshop. I figured that would look better than the blur.
 






thanks for the pics. very useful! i was hoping to find a way to put the antenna in the rear window, but after some research, it doesn't appear that they are very reliable. would have been nice to have it completely flat up there so i wouldnt have to worry about breaking off any antenna when puttin stuff on the roof (or taking it down).
 






So... I've recently bought a car cover and removed the antenna "pole" so it wouldn't bend/break off. When I removed the cover, I didn't put the pole back in, and I've been driving around like that for a few days now.

Sirius radio works fine. I haven't tested regular radio yet... but it seems possible that the antenna will work okay without the pole! If anyone else wants to try and experiment with this, I'd love to hear your results. The pole easily twists out by hand.
 






LakersCentral said:
So... I've recently bought a car cover and removed the antenna "pole" so it wouldn't bend/break off. When I removed the cover, I didn't put the pole back in, and I've been driving around like that for a few days now.

Sirius radio works fine. I haven't tested regular radio yet... but it seems possible that the antenna will work okay without the pole! If anyone else wants to try and experiment with this, I'd love to hear your results. The pole easily twists out by hand.
Click to expand...
The 'pole' is for AM/FM radio. The reason Sirius/XM works is because the antenna for that is the base that the pole screws into.

Peter
 






Nonetheless, I'm interested to see how much of a difference the 6" pole makes for AM/FM reception for other people. Here in LA, it may not matter much due to fairly strong signal strengths.
 






Shark Finn Antenna

Hey everyone
does the shark fin antenna really work?
just wondering need to learn a little more about them before buying one

if you have one did the paint match or did you repaint to match?
Mr. :us:Ruby Red 2015
 



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