Adding a second antenna, Ultrastart?

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peterubers

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Joined: December 29, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: January 18, 2007 at 6:37 PM / IP Logged

I installed an Ultrastart 1270TL (love it) .. the range is hit or miss -- sometimes I can be a city block away and success, other times, i can be 100 feet away and for whatever reason (RF interference, etc) it won't start until I'm a little closer.

Proposition:

Can I purchase a SECOND antenna from the manufacterer and a second connector wire (4 pin connector) and splice the new cable to the existing one, and then run the new cable and antenna to the rear window and mount it on the rear glass?

I figure this is probably ludicrous, and would cause chaos/confusion for the brain, but was just wondering.

Thanks!

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KarTuneMan

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Joined: December 14, 2004

Location: Isle Of Man

Posted: January 18, 2007 at 8:22 PM / IP Logged

I wouldn't do it.....cause then you might have NO antenna at all. (although you do have 2 of them to mess up) play with the location of the 1 you alreadt have.

Out of curiousity ( I cannot spell that darn word....I think) where is the antenna currently mounted?

peterubers

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Joined: December 29, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: January 18, 2007 at 9:24 PM / IP Logged

Currently the antenna is mounted in the "most ideal location" .. center of the front windshield, antenna vertical and below the blue OEM tint.

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KarTuneMan

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Joined: December 14, 2004

Location: Isle Of Man

Posted: January 18, 2007 at 9:43 PM / IP Logged

Yes, that is the "best spot" .....have you contacted the powers that be, and asked about this issue. Have you tried JUST the 2nd antenna yet. ??? Maybe you got a bad one?

xtremej

Gold - Posts: 1,440

Joined: February 24, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: January 19, 2007 at 8:17 AM / IP Logged

Bad range 1270tl, make sure you have a good ground. Make sure your remote has a new battery had a few ultra's that had batteries that were nearly doa. Then swap out the antenna and as far as trying to run 2 antenna's I have not tried that.

peterubers

Silver - Posts: 706

Joined: December 29, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: January 19, 2007 at 3:20 PM / IP Logged

I guess the thing is .. that it's not that the ultrastart is NOT giving me great range .. it does -- it's just that when I'm approaching the vehicle from behind, it's a less "great" range .. however, when approaching the car from the front (walking towards car .. engine is facing me) . the range is spectacular.

All the ground connections are excellent -- used a chassis ground connection -- sanded the metal down first, used a heavy duty O-ring/crimp style connector to a 14 gauge wire.

Batteries seem to be functioning appropriately considering I have great range under certain circumstances.

Am I down to ruling out RF interference?

thanks for the replies.

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splaudio

Copper - Posts: 237

Joined: January 22, 2006

Posted: January 19, 2007 at 6:46 PM / IP Logged

dont try the 2nd antenna i could only see bad things happening. only thing that could be causing bad range from behind is if u have really good tint on the rear window that has metal in it, alot of tint dose. i have installed tons of these units and that is one of the best features, range 1200'. trust me change ur battery u can find them at radioshack or walmart. i have seen the batteries weak right out of the box because sometimes they can get pressed while shipping...

customak47

Copper - Posts: 164

Joined: October 25, 2005

Location: Vanuatu

Posted: January 20, 2007 at 12:19 PM / IP Logged

do you have window tint on the vehicle in the back? some metalized window tint will diminish reception for radio, gps and rf. I would recommend trying lowering the antenna under the factory tint if possible (w/o looking like crap). also the old 3255 and 4255 have a longer antenna that you can plug right in the harness. good luck, hope this helps

My rifle is my friend...

peterubers

Silver - Posts: 706

Joined: December 29, 2006

Location: United States

Posted: January 20, 2007 at 3:00 PM / IP Logged

Thank you guys again for all the interest/feedback:

1) I do not have any aftermarket tint (or OEM) tint in the rear window of the vehicle.

2) Would the battery being "low" in power cause the aforementioned symptoms? i.e. allow me to have excellent range when approaching the car from the front, but less range when approaching the car from the rear?

3) Where can I find an old 3255/4255 antenna -- do you think ultrastarters company might still have some?

Thank you again for your feedback, this is truly helpful.

Also -- i'm gunna try a new battery.

The search function is your friend.

customak47

Copper - Posts: 164

Joined: October 25, 2005

Location: Vanuatu

Posted: January 20, 2007 at 6:25 PM / IP Logged

Battery never hurts... by lowering antenna below factory tint I mean the blue tint in the windshield, get the antenna a little lower on the glass w/o looking bad. its a longshot but that probably wouldn't hurt either. I use Ultra all the time and have never had an issue like this, so let me know what it was down the road... good luck, young skywalker... ps i'll look to see if I have a 3255 antenna in the backstock...

My rifle is my friend...

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