I don't know about the shark fin antennae but for deleting the fender antenna, a number of people have taken it off the fender mount and placed it inside the fender, over top of the wheel well. That way there's no visible antenna.
EDIT:Looks like Formula88 and I posted at the same time, it just took me longer to type it out I guess! LOL
I do not know much about reception on the shark fin antenna's -vs- standard. I do know I have seen people simply hide the whip antennae. Take the fender off, and simply slide the antennae up the A pillar, and done! No further modifications other than filling the antennae hole. I have seen quite a few Fieros done like this, and everyone says the reception is the same.
Again, not much help with the posted question, but I do offer options
[This message has been edited by JohnWPB (edited 10-20-2013).]
How does that plug into a radio? I will need to know I guess lol I think it will look good on the roof having the shark fin. I wonder if there is dual use fins that have gps provisions too I just had a idea, John have you seen the aftermarket onstar setups from gm? that may be the way to go!
If I were to do it again, I would hide it in the A pillar. Someone here has done that in a chop top - F355Spyder's old silver chop top - and it seems like a better idea than hiding it in the fender since it's still kind of up in the air so to speak.
I have done the antenna delete on both of my daily drivers. Just cut off the triangle base of the antenna and shove it straight up the a-pillar. Fill the hole in the fender and viola done.
TXOPIE, how well does that shark fin work for regular radio reception? Reason I ask is that it's been my understanding that GM cars use the shark fin for OnStar and/or GPS, but not radio. I know from experience that the G6 models (except for the convertibles) used a wire on the rear window for radio antenna. It looked like the rear window defogger, but was at the top of the window above the defogger.
TXOPIE, how well does that shark fin work for regular radio reception? Reason I ask is that it's been my understanding that GM cars use the shark fin for OnStar and/or GPS, but not radio. I know from experience that the G6 models (except for the convertibles) used a wire on the rear window for radio antenna. It looked like the rear window defogger, but was at the top of the window above the defogger.
It doesn't work well for AM/FM radio, because the GPS and Cellular that those antennas are for, are on wildly different frequencies from AM/FM radio. The shark-fin isn't tuned for the frequencies. You need the mast antenna for AM/FM. Or you need a shark-fin style off a different car, like the Mini Cooper, which had the shark fin a s a plastic cover, and a short mast antenna that screwed into the top of it.
There are also some aftermarket shark fin style antennas that can be used for FM, but mostly they are not built for it.
The "Shark Fin" is for XM on most Pre-05 cars. if you want to delete your antenna mast you can lay it down under the fender, or as bad as it sounds hooking the antenna up to the rear window defoger will work better for AM/FM than the "Shark Fin" (disconnect the defroster 1st)
Most cars that only have a "shark fin" on the roof, you'll notice that they have AM/FM antennas built into a window very similar to a defoger
