From digest.v7.n371 Fri Oct 3 09:24:15 1997
From: "Ganess, Sean" <sg04537_at_imcnam.sbi.com>
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 09:56:31 -0400
Subject: [none]

>From what I understand, there is suppose to be a cell phone antenna
built into the car for the factory phones. When I installed my Nokia car kit, I was planning on tapping into this antenna for the phone but never quite figured out how. I figured I'll do some research on it but in the meantime, I picked up a Leapfrog(? I think that was the brand) concealed cell phone antenna that I planned to install in my Nissan Sentra when I installed a cell phone kit in that car. To make a long story short, I never got around to figuring out the BMW cell phone antenna (nor have I spent much time on it) and the Leapfrog antenna is still temporarily installed in my car (located on the top of the passenger footwell area, just hanging around but out of site). A conventional external antenna is out of the question for me. I don't want to ruin the beautiful lines on my car.

Anyway, the Leapfrog doodad is a piece of coaxial cable that goes into a black rectangle, smaller than a paperback book and about 1/4 inch thick at most. One side is covered with adhesive so you can secure it to any non-metallic surface like a window. How does it perform? Well enough. Granted, it seems more sensitive to signal loss when I go under an overpass or out in a rural area where cells are far apart but I don't have it mounted in the best location either. The Hirshmann antenna seems to be a MUCH better design. It's two pieces that mount on both the left and right sides of the car within the bumper. It's also located in a better position outside the car unlike my temporary location within the passenger compartment. Since it is designed for various model BMWs, you won't have to worry about cable length and I bet they include instructions for mounting and running the cable for your specific car. The length of cable on the Leapfrog antenna will never make it to the front bumper.

If anyone has info on how to tap into the cell phone antenna built into late model BMWs (in my case a 1997 ///M3 sedan), I and I'm sure many others would appreciate some info. Otherwise, I may consider the Hirshmann antenna as a permanent solution.

Sean
'97 ///M3

>Am planning to add an integrated BMW phone and wonder if anyone has
bought

>the Hirschmann Cellular concealed bumper antenna. This removes the
rear

>window location problem for 3's, 5's and 7's -- but do they work as
well?
> See page 27 of the October Roundel.

>Walt Peters