Electric Radio Aerial

I need my radio when driving, and currently my antenna solution is just a line horizontally under the dash which doesn't give the greatest reception.

Time for something a little more functional & after considering the options I think an electric aerial from the drivers side boot corner is the best option. It can raise lower as needed & even though these things are meant to be unreliable they are cheap enough now to replace if required:

Drivers side rear corner, it is under the hood, but that will have a grommet installed in due course to let the aerial pass through:

Using the space under the boot floor, this would have been easier before that panel was in situe. Masked up to give me an obvious 'do not cross' line to the edge of the fuel tank. Then plumb line down from the hole and a paper template employed to work out the opening required.

Orientation is to leave as much of the panel in place as possible, it braces the boot side and holds it square.

I suspect the easiest way to secure the unit will either be a cable tie or jubilee clip around the tab of metal left from the cutout. The entire assembly will be hidden behind carpet eventually.

I picked a horizontal area of the boot rim so the normal 'igloo/hemisphere' type mounting would not be required and all  all that protrudes is a minimal nut/bezel. On the right is the grommet which will get installed in the boot lid to allow the aerial to pass through:

Wiring will come later - this along with the new DRLs will have some changes to fusebox & aux panel wiring & heater. The aux panel isn't coming out while the weather is good, I don't want any driving down time.

Update - Using the top nut direct on the chassis is shorting the aerial line to the chassis too - It needs an appropriate tape/plastic washer to ensure it is isolated.

Update - The aerial unit was a £14.99 job from ebay, while functional it benefited from being dismantled, greased/oiled & generally adjusted. Some of the internal gears were so tightly fixed they hardly moved.