[slippyr4]

Morning all.

Was trying to fix my R33's power aerial last night... it doesn't go down that last section.

You'll have noticed that there is an aerial built in to the rear window as well. Having dismantled the power aerial i started looking around the car a bit more. Looked behind the head unit, and the aerial wire that comes out of the depths of the car is actually two wires, connected together. It terminates in a plug with an outer conection (grounded screen), and two same-sized pins.

Getting the test meter out suggested that the pins were little to do with each other, which initially puzzled me.

The socket (attached to the radio) that this plug goes into has two holes, for the pins. It looked like one of the simly wasn't connected.

So I tried connecting the plug at 180 degrees from normal... and the radio worked perfectly! (remember that the power aerial is in my garage at this time.) so it seems that the power aerial is totally not necessary.

I think i'm going to use the window aerial, and close the power aerial hole with a painted rubber bung.

Does anyone know the history or reasoning behind this dual aerial thing???

Jon

 

[Ian SuttoN1]

Interesting!

I too think the aerial looks a bit pants and the fact that it still stays up when the CD's playing is a bit strange!

If the rear screen has a powerful enough aerial built in I too would be interested in going down that route. Although I would not go down the rubber bung route i'd just disable the power to the lecy aerial motor. (is that possible?)

Keep me posted

...Ian.

 

[Scott]

In Japan for some reason they do have two aerials.
Maybe Alan could throw some light on it.

My reason for replying is just to say that my R32 has a front screen mounted aerial and its crap.

I can only pickup 4 or 5 stations , but being that I'm not a big radio listener it will do.
Besides I don't fancey taking a drill to my car to add a conventional one.

 

[slippyr4]

Yeah, my aerial stayed up when the power was on too. The funny aerial height switch (which did precisely nothing on my car) got rewired a bit so that the head unit's aerial control wire ran through it; thus giving me an aerial off/aerial auto control for it. I hardly listen to the radio cos they play the same old cack all the time.

Ian: I'll take some pics later of what i'm on about, so that you can repeat the work on your car.


Jon

 

[SteveC]

My aerial only comes up when I select the radio function on my stereo.

sounds to me like the antenna wire on your head unit isn't connected correctly or the switch is faulty..

have fun

/Steve

 

[MattPayne]

I only have the window aerial in my R32, but havent been able to use it because i havent had a chance to get an adapter for it... anyone know where they can be bought from??
managed to get 2 radio stations from the original nissan radio without band expander though.. so the window aerials cant be that bad....

 

[Durzel]

My aerial only comes up when I select the radio function on my stereo.

sounds to me like the antenna wire on your head unit isn't connected correctly or the switch is faulty..

have fun

/Steve

The stock factory Alpine head unit will cause the aerial to come up only when the radio is used, and go down when the CD is used. Any aftermarket one will cause the aerial to be up all the time the headunit is on.

 

[davewilkins]

Converter

Got mine from Halfords.

 

[MattPayne]

Cheers Dave, ill have me a look down there after work...

 

[davewilkins]

They had to order it. Just describe what the old connection looks like.

 

[SteveC]

Hi Durzel,

I have a Sony aftermarket headunit....

??

/Steve

 

[Simonh]

depends on the HU really

I fitted my old Kenwood Mask unit into the Skyline. (KDC9050r 4 years old but a blinding unit - comp spec)

it has an accessory out which provides a signal for electiric ariel to switch on or off. When listening to a CD if you have the Traffic Information (TI) on then the ariel stays up to recieve those signals. if the TI is off then the ariel goes down.

I would have though that most decent aftermarket HU's do the same - I have another Kenwood HU in my 405 which does exactly that and I also know the Alpine unit in my Audi will do that if I didn't have a screen mounted Ariel!

Check the HU if you have RDS and TI is switched on I would expect the ariel to remain up.

Simon

 

[Simon]

Yup, that's it.

I have a Sony head unit and the aerial stays up when playing the CD until you switch TA off.

 

[Durzel]

Aha! Thanks for that info, I never knew that! I'll have to remember to switch it off when I leave work tonight.

 

[Simonh]

The only thing to watch out for is when you have external amps. Some HUs have a combined accessory output which is used to signal both the electric ariel and also as the remote switch on for amps.

then you switch over to CD and have TI off and your amps switch off too.

better HU's have two outputs one for remote switching of amps (usually blue) and one for Ariels (usually orange) if wired up incorrectly - ie Arial connected to the blue (or amp) output then it will stay up whenever the HU is powered on wether TI is on or off.

Simon