NigelM
Recovering Member
AM/FM and Satellite are in the back (see Flasher's post up-thread). Cellphone could be one antenna, still curious as to what the other might be.
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Antennas in exterior mirrors
- Thread starter DonD
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- defog Model S User Interface
AM/FM and Satellite are in the back (see Flasher's post up-thread). Cellphone could be one antenna, still curious as to what the other might be.
Raffy.Roma
Rome (Italy)
Then what are the antennae in the mirrors useful for? I think somebody should ask a Tesla engineer.
TESLIVE FTW! (For The Win!) as I think we'll find out there plus a whole lot more!
Correct, more or less. They're on the inside of the dash end-panels. Would post a photo, but on iPad at the moment.
I guess there's no chance either of these antennas are blind spot sensors?? Would be cool. Unlikely though, and they seem kind of haphazardly placed.
Raffy.Roma
Rome (Italy)
I don't think so. It would mean that blind spot detection is already available for Model S. But this would be an option to be implemented as soon as possible on Model S.
Here is a photo of the key fob antenna, located in the driver's side end-panel of the dash.
According to speculation on teslatap.com http://teslatap.com/undocumented/ the antennas in the mirrors are Data/3G and FM radio (maybe AM also).
Then that means you would route the antenna cable all the way to the liftgate to plug into the amplifiers, then all the way back forward to the mirrors. Seems rather wasteful. (I've seen the connectors, they go to the glass on the liftgate for AM/FM/XM.)
a vote for keyforb antenna
I guess forb uses 2 frec, one for long distance (manual remote 3 buttons) and 1 for proximity sensor.
if Tesla at some point provide a feature (software update) witch can messure where the forb is located, they will need more than 1 antenna - placing one in each side mirror makes it posible to meassure where the forb is (inside/outside/left/right) - best would be a antenna more somewhere near the trunk to measure if the forb is in front, in the car or back the car.
it could also be one for keyforb and one for cell phone
I guess forb uses 2 frec, one for long distance (manual remote 3 buttons) and 1 for proximity sensor.
if Tesla at some point provide a feature (software update) witch can messure where the forb is located, they will need more than 1 antenna - placing one in each side mirror makes it posible to meassure where the forb is (inside/outside/left/right) - best would be a antenna more somewhere near the trunk to measure if the forb is in front, in the car or back the car.
it could also be one for keyforb and one for cell phone
vcor
Tech Specialist
My understanding is there are FM antennas in each side mirror, and one on the back glass. A diversity design, common on cars today, looks for the best signal from multiple antennas and selects one antenna with the best signal. It can switch antennas very quickly to keep the best signal. This technique was started when car makers got rid of the whip antenna (the best, but ugly), for ones built into various parts like the front or rear glass, that are not as good and/or are affected by the cars rotational position relative to the signal.
I also believe the passenger side mirror holds the AM antenna. I'm not sure there is one in the back glass or not.
AM radio is a longer wavelength than FM, so the larger antenna is likely the AM radio, but both are really only a partial wavelength antennas so they could have favored better FM with the larger antenna with a bit poorer AM on the small one.
The FOB antennas are in the side dash panels (see FlasherZ's pictures a few posts earlier). There is also a FOB antenna below the center rear bumper, and one or two in the front (not quite sure where), but not behind the black nose cone.
I also believe the passenger side mirror holds the AM antenna. I'm not sure there is one in the back glass or not.
AM radio is a longer wavelength than FM, so the larger antenna is likely the AM radio, but both are really only a partial wavelength antennas so they could have favored better FM with the larger antenna with a bit poorer AM on the small one.
The FOB antennas are in the side dash panels (see FlasherZ's pictures a few posts earlier). There is also a FOB antenna below the center rear bumper, and one or two in the front (not quite sure where), but not behind the black nose cone.
vcor
Tech Specialist
DonD - do you know what was connected to the white connector (black cable). It's normally not connected. There has been speculation that it's a USB diagnostic port for Tesla Techs, but the white connector is very non-standard (for USB) connection. Did it go to a laptop or something else?
NigelM
Recovering Member
That is one of the diagnostic ports. I've seen a Ranger with his laptop plugged in there.
I don't doubt that this could be the case, but it would then seem silly to locate the antenna amplifiers at the rear glass. In addition, the antenna amplifiers do not seem to have extra connectors that would run back through the harness to the mirrors. I suppose it could be a diversity system that used non-amplified antennas in the mirrors and amplified antennas in the rear, but that just seems like a bad design...
When I complained about my radio reception, the ranger brought with him two parts - an "AM/FM amplifier" and an "FM2/XM amplifier". Both are located in the rear.
vcor
Tech Specialist
Thanks for the additional details. Do you know if they replaced the amplifiers or added the amplifiers that didn't exist before?
The amplifier does make sense for the rear antenna to make up for the far longer cable. It's also possible the rear antenna is not as effective as the mirror antennas, and can benefit from amplification more than the mirrors. It may also be that adding one amplifier (rather than 3) is enough to solve the problem, where now it mostly uses the rear amplified antenna over the two mirror ones. This is all a bit of conjecture on my part.
EarlyAdopter
Active Member
DonD,
Sorry to hear that. Hopefully not too expensive to replace. Do let us know what it costs as I'm sure others are curious. I know I am with my 3" of clearance on either side of the mirrors getting into and out of my garage!
What do the barcode stickers say? Any lettering on the antenna boards?
Sorry to hear that. Hopefully not too expensive to replace. Do let us know what it costs as I'm sure others are curious. I know I am with my 3" of clearance on either side of the mirrors getting into and out of my garage!
What do the barcode stickers say? Any lettering on the antenna boards?
They existed already. The belief was that my poor reception could be due to a bad antenna amplifier; alas, they were not.
As to the conjecture, it's been a long time since I did antenna studies. You certainly could be correct, but given that antenna size in the mirrors, I would expect an antenna amplifier there too.
Mark Z
Active Member
Good to find an old thread to update information on Model S.
Using an EMF meter will show that the side mirror contains the cellular antenna. Tesla may have switched sides over the years, so use a meter to determine the location for your vehicle.
The FM (and I assume maybe the AM) antenna is located in the top 5 metallic lines of the rear hatch window glass. Only the elements below those top five will heat up. Don't worry, you can't see the top 5 unheated lines from the driver's seat through the interior rear view mirror. Take a good look at the rear hatch glass. Notice how the antenna lines are thicker. Check out the shorter lines on the passenger side. There is also a break in the vertical lines under the 5th horizontal line. It is normal that none of the top 5 lines will heat up when the rear window defog feature is activated.
Using an EMF meter will show that the side mirror contains the cellular antenna. Tesla may have switched sides over the years, so use a meter to determine the location for your vehicle.
The FM (and I assume maybe the AM) antenna is located in the top 5 metallic lines of the rear hatch window glass. Only the elements below those top five will heat up. Don't worry, you can't see the top 5 unheated lines from the driver's seat through the interior rear view mirror. Take a good look at the rear hatch glass. Notice how the antenna lines are thicker. Check out the shorter lines on the passenger side. There is also a break in the vertical lines under the 5th horizontal line. It is normal that none of the top 5 lines will heat up when the rear window defog feature is activated.
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