A new low-cost active rod antenna for automotive reception of all terrestrial audio broadcast services

For the existing terrestrial broadcast services AM, FM and DAB (VHF and L-Band), a active rod antenna with a new low-cost design and a height of only 14 cm is presented. A special high-impedance amplifier with low hardware effort based on only one HEMT for FM- and DAB services enables high performance of the ultra-short antenna structure which consists of a capacitive coupled helical structure. In combination with this amplifier, different helical structures are investigated. Measured results show the high performance of the active antenna, which yields a signal pick up and noise behavior fulfilling typical automotive requirements.