Quote:
Originally Posted by Radioactive
Wouldn't you need to have the external antenna and the phone antenna really close to have "capacitance coupling"? If this is the case, would the cradle have an internal wire wrapped in the cradle casing, which connected to the external antenna?
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Radioactive, the answer is yes, but not as close as you might think at these frequencies. If there were a metal band embedded in the cradle's left guide bar (which I highly doubt!), that is, the guide next to the iPhone antenna and the metal plate in the base of the cradle a tuned circuit would be conceivable. Remember, I said I was speculating, and replying to the understandable notion that there has to be a physical connection. I have no idea what BMW had in mind when they designed a cradle for the iPhone4. In my first post, I mentioned that I had no success with an iPhone 3GS and its appropriate cradle as well.
Now here is the interesting part: My dealer originally said that BMW had redesigned the cradle for the iPhone4 specifically for reception improvement, along with a slightly different part number, and there were about 50 of them in Germany. When it never arrived here, I was then told that this part, too, was having "technical difficulties" related to the newer design.
If they can't or won't provide a cradle for the iPhone4 with external antenna functionality, I wish they would just say so so I don't have to be in limbo.
Other than this one issue, the X3 is a great vehicle. We love it.