Newer factory shark fin antenna on MKIV Jetta

I took a shark fin off a 2008 or 2010 Passat. It has two wires. One is black and I believe is the radio antenna. The other is gray and I think it is navigation. Mine has a single black wire. I don't have navigation or OnStar. I assume I need to connect the black wire to my black wire but the connectors are different. If this was a single wire it would be easy, but I appears to be a small diameter coaxial cable. Would a newer car without navigation have the same connector as mine or is there some sort of adaptor I can get?

ZiggyoftheNorth said:

I took a shark fin off a 2008 or 2010 Passat. It has two wires. One is black and I believe is the radio antenna. The other is gray and I think it is navigation. Mine has a single black wire. I don't have navigation or OnStar. I assume I need to connect the black wire to my black wire but the connectors are different. If this was a single wire it would be easy, but I appears to be a small diameter coaxial cable. Would a newer car without navigation have the same connector as mine or is there some sort of adaptor I can get?

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It may not have a radio antenna. Not sure on the Passats, but lots of VWs with shark fins have the radio antenna in the rear glass. Shark fin antennas include navi, satellite radio and cell for OnStar. This chart may help determine what you have.

bobbiemartin said:

It may not have a radio antenna. Not sure on the Passats, but lots of VWs with shark fins have the radio antenna in the rear glass. Shark fin antennas include navi, satellite radio and cell for OnStar. This chart may help determine what you have.

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Thanks. I'll have to compare the key part when I get home. It has Black which is radio's color. It also looks like they sell various adaptors too and if not too costly that may be the way to go.

bobbiemartin said:

It may not have a radio antenna. Not sure on the Passats, but lots of VWs with shark fins have the radio antenna in the rear glass. Shark fin antennas include navi, satellite radio and cell for OnStar. This chart may help determine what you have.

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Does a third party make one of these with all of these features plus work for HD/Radio that fits a MK4?

Sent from my LGMP260 using Tapatalk

I found a VW/Audi radio antenna to Fakra adapter on Amazon. Couldn't tell much from the photos but the description sounded right and it was cheap so I ordered it. I'll post the results.

ZiggyoftheNorth said:

I found a VW/Audi radio antenna to Fakra adapter on Amazon. Couldn't tell much from the photos but the description sounded right and it was cheap so I ordered it. I'll post the results.

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Any news? I'll eventually replace the stock single din factory radio with an aftermarket two din radio.

dubrs.com

This is what I ordered. I got it today but haven't had a chance to se if it fits. It looks like it is Fakra to standard coax like on an American car. I may need another adaptor.

https://www.amazon.com/KYLIN-ANTENN...=1-14&m=A34KJY2L3PSG09&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65

Our cars don't like shark fin, I've tried a few, including OEM MK5/6, made my own adapters, reception isn't the greatest. Let me know how that booster works out.

So far, it looks like my adapter needs an adaptor. The Fakra ends are both male. Thinking of hunting down connectors and making my own.

One of the only (later model cars) shark fin roof antennas to have AM/FM radio is the Tiguan. Most of the rest have AM/FM in the side and/or rear glass. And Tiguan was available with Nav and CarNet, so possible to get AM/FM, GPS, Cell, and Sirius.

Jason

ZiggyoftheNorth said:

This is what I ordered. I got it today but haven't had a chance to se if it fits. It looks like it is Fakra to standard coax like on an American car. I may need another adaptor.

https://www.amazon.com/KYLIN-ANTENN...=1-14&m=A34KJY2L3PSG09&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65

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That is to install aftermarket radio into car with diversity antenna system with multiple antennas (W8 Passat or later MkV, MkVI)

Jason

SilverGhost said:

One of the only (later model cars) shark fin roof antennas to have AM/FM radio is the Tiguan. Most of the rest have AM/FM in the side and/or rear glass. And Tiguan was available with Nav and CarNet, so possible to get AM/FM, GPS, Cell, and Sirius.

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My 2012 Tiguan had a dummy (empty) shark fin antenna. The AM/FM antenna is in the back glass. I installed a factory satellite/navi radio, so I changed the shark fin to an antenna for those but kept the glass antenna for the radio signals.

I grabbed the antenna from a MK5. Mine is a MK4 and as far as I know there is no option for an antenna in the glass on mine. The seller of the adaptor has some explanation of the shark fin switching between channels to maintain a constant signal. I'm not sure if a MK5 is set up that way or has an antenna in the glass.

I realize it is for radio installation, but expected it to plug in at the shark fin the same as it would under the dash. I hoped the coax would match VW, but didn't

I can try grabbing the wiring from the antenna to the dash. I think adaptors may be easier though.

bobbiemartin said:

My 2012 Tiguan had a dummy (empty) shark fin antenna. The AM/FM antenna is in the back glass. I installed a factory satellite/navi radio, so I changed the shark fin to an antenna for those but kept the glass antenna for the radio signals.

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I have a 2009 Tiguan with the whip antenna and no antenna in the glass. It does seem to vary by year, but also by equipment. I have seen a very few base models with a MkIV whip antenna. And I have seen loaded cars that have antennas like yours.

Jason

ZiggyoftheNorth said:

I grabbed the antenna from a MK5. Mine is a MK4 and as far as I know there is no option for an antenna in the glass on mine. The seller of the adaptor has some explanation of the shark fin switching between channels to maintain a constant signal. I'm not sure if a MK5 is set up that way or has an antenna in the glass.

I realize it is for radio installation, but expected it to plug in at the shark fin the same as it would under the dash. I hoped the coax would match VW, but didn't

I can try grabbing the wiring from the antenna to the dash. I think adaptors may be easier though.

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Sorry, I should have been more clear. That adapter goes under the dash to hook up an aftermarket radio to stock antenna, and power up the stock signal amplifier in the antenna.

Main difference on the FARKA connectors is index tabs. Colors indicate function. Tan or white is AM/FM, green is SDARS (SiriusXM), blue is GPS, and I think purple is GSM (cellular). I think the repair connector is grey and has no index tabs.

The diversity antenna does basically what the seller says, but not the shark fin. Generally the system works with multiple antennas. Either in back side windows (one on each side) or rear window (antenna connection on both sides meaning two antenna grids). The only thing the shark fin or whip antenna could do is filter out signal reflections (like off tall buildings).

Kufatec does antanna adaptors.

Jason

Is there an aftermarket sharkfin antenna that will do HD/Radio, GPS, and etc;, on an aftermarket antenna? I don't care if I have to run new wiring. I understand that for Satellite Radio, the extra module you purchase probably comes with an antenna of it's own.

dubrs.com

Our cars don't like shark fin, I've tried a few, including OEM MK5/6, made my own adapters, reception isn't the greatest. Let me know how that booster works out.-I respectfully disagree. I bought an aftermarket shark fin for my MK4 wagon and it works fine. Though FM is ALL TALK/commercials now days, I mostly use Pandora.

VincenzaV said:

Our cars don't like shark fin, I've tried a few, including OEM MK5/6, made my own adapters, reception isn't the greatest. Let me know how that booster works out.-I respectfully disagree. I bought an aftermarket shark fin for my MK4 wagon and it works fine. Though FM is ALL TALK/commercials now days, I mostly use Pandora.

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Well, my factory antenna is garbage. I can barely get a signal on stations that I get fine 100 miles away in other cars that I have owned.

dubrs.com

I went with an OEM for my wagon. This thread covers the various VW antennae

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=357992&highlight=FAKRA

JettaTDIBlack said:

Well, my factory antenna is garbage. I can barely get a signal on stations that I get fine 100 miles away in other cars that I have owned.

dubrs.com

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it's probably got the typical corrosion that happens to it. I replaced my with a new one and radio reception went back to perfect.

ToxicDoc said:

it's probably got the typical corrosion that happens to it. I replaced my with a new one and radio reception went back to perfect.

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If I am going to replace it, I'd rather do it with a low profile one. Not the factory one that looks like it was made for an older cell phone setup. [emoji14]

dubrs.com

Complain about crap reception, then express desire to install smaller antenna for aesthetics. No cheating physics - antenna needs to be a minimum length to catch the wave length of the radio signal, reliably enough for good audio.

Jason

SilverGhost said:

Complain about crap reception, then express desire to install smaller antenna for aesthetics. No cheating physics - antenna needs to be a minimum length to catch the wave length of the radio signal, reliably enough for good audio.

Jason

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That is why I just put a vinyl cap on the mast stud since I don't listen to AM/FM radio anymore. However, I do carry masts in the back "just in case".

SilverGhost said:

Complain about crap reception, then express desire to install smaller antenna for aesthetics. No cheating physics - antenna needs to be a minimum length to catch the wave length of the radio signal, reliably enough for good audio.

Jason

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I've had low profile antennae in other cars that caught signals 100+ miles away. The factory antenna cannot even catch a signal that is 25 to 30 miles away.

dubrs.com

JettaTDIBlack said:

I've had low profile antennae in other cars that caught signals 100+ miles away. The factory antenna cannot even catch a signal that is 25 to 30 miles away.

dubrs.com

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It depends on where an RF amplifier is located. VW seems to have placed it in an antenna base with a short mast where it is subject to corrosion; other systems use an amplifier circuit in the radio receiver itself and just rely on a plain 1/4th wavelength mast antenna. BTW, when the amp is in the antenna base, it needs to be powered; if the power supplied by the receiver is interrupted, no amplification.


Edit. The old standard whip car antenna was about 2.5 feet or 30 inches long. This is roughly the length for the middle of the US FM band (98 MHz) which has a wavelength of 10 feet (120 inches). Dividing the former into the latter tells us the whip mast is 1/4 of the FM band center wavelength. In metric terms they are 76cm and 300cm lengths respectively. The kicker is for the AM band the center wavelength is approximately 100 times longer! Thus the whip is only about 1/368 wavelength for the AM band.

My understanding is VW also uses an antenna whip with a resistor pellet and tuned wire loop wrapped around the whip.

Jason

I have a Jetta MK5 antenna base (5N0035501B) on my Jetta MK4 and it works great for everything my head unit supports: AM/FM, SiriusXM and GPS. I don't use the 4th "GSM" wire. With that said, I don't have a stock head unit. I have an Alpine CarPlay head unit and I ran individual wires from it to the antenna base for SiriusXM and GPS. I got the individual long antenna wires from ECS and they were plug and play with my Alpine, no adapters necessary. And, my AM/FM reception is good even with a stubby Sharan-style billet antenna from cravenspeed.com made locally in Portland, Oregon Our TV and radio towers here in town are way up high in the west hills, so that may help as well with reception. However, I didn't notice any difference when I was using the OEM antenna either.

benmarks said:

I have a Jetta MK5 antenna base (5N0035501B) on my Jetta MK4 and it works great for everything my head unit supports: AM/FM, SiriusXM and GPS. I don't use the 4th "GSM" wire. With that said, I don't have a stock head unit. I have an Alpine CarPlay head unit and I ran individual wires from it to the antenna base for SiriusXM and GPS. I got the individual long antenna wires from ECS and they were plug and play with my Alpine, no adapters necessary. And, my AM/FM reception is good even with a stubby Sharan-style billet antenna from cravenspeed.com made locally in Portland, Oregon Our TV and radio towers here in town are way up high in the west hills, so that may help as well with reception. However, I didn't notice any difference when I was using the OEM antenna either.

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Do you have a link to the ECS wiring?

dubrs.com

benmarks said:

I have a Jetta MK5 antenna base (5N0035501B) on my Jetta MK4 and it works great for everything my head unit supports: AM/FM, SiriusXM and GPS. I don't use the 4th "GSM" wire. With that said, I don't have a stock head unit. I have an Alpine CarPlay head unit and I ran individual wires from it to the antenna base for SiriusXM and GPS. I got the individual long antenna wires from ECS and they were plug and play with my Alpine, no adapters necessary. And, my AM/FM reception is good even with a stubby Sharan-style billet antenna from cravenspeed.com made locally in Portland, Oregon Our TV and radio towers here in town are way up high in the west hills, so that may help as well with reception. However, I didn't notice any difference when I was using the OEM antenna either.

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Looks like the antenna I used several years ago except it is AM/FM/Sat radio. The original P/N 1K0 035 501 C is discontinued, replaced by 5N0 035 501 A.


Your Jetta is a sedan, correct? Then you don't have the problem of the rear hatch of the wagon hitting the mast as I did.

JettaTDIBlack said:

Do you have a link to the ECS wiring?

dubrs.com

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If that doesn't pan out, here is a list of VW part numbers for various lengths of FAKRA to FAKRA cables and adapters. For my Jetta Wagon, I ordered the 700 cm FAKRA/FAKRA cable and the FAKRA (M) to SMB cable.


http://www.passatplus.de/umbauteile/kabel/antennen.htm (in German)


And translated into English: https://tinyurl.com/y2c7bbf7