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Stock radio info help needed

A

Aussie Ford

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Sep 3, 2006
Messages
2,033
Location
Portland, Orygun
Ok so this is boring to most of you, but my wife likes her stock cass / radio as it is..... I just can't leave it quite alone though.... so I am trying to get this to power the antenna. I even got one from a car that had a power antenna on it and I get nothing from what is supposed to be the 12v output (blue / red wire) on the gray connector. One radio I saw had the two connectors and another light blue/red wire plugged in at the top between the two regular connectors (black & gray) I thought that might be the power but nothing..... what am I missing here?

I have tested four units now could they just all be bad, as all of the other functions seem to work.

What's your thoughts regarding this particular issue?

That was clarified since good cents would be to just install an aftermarket unit and be done with it ..... right..... well no one has ever accused me of having that, which is in part, is why I own two Tours:laugh:

Thanks,
AF
 
Aussie Ford said:
Ok so this is boring to most of you, but my wife likes her stock cass / radio as it is..... I just can't leave it quite alone though.... so I am trying to get this to power the antenna. I even got one from a car that had a power antenna on it and I get nothing from what is supposed to be the 12v output (blue / red wire) on the gray connector. One radio I saw had the two connectors and another light blue/red wire plugged in at the top between the two regular connectors (black & gray) I thought that might be the power but nothing..... what am I missing here?

I have tested four units now could they just all be bad, as all of the other functions seem to work.

What's your thoughts regarding this particular issue?

That was clarified since good cents would be to just install an aftermarket unit and be done with it ..... right..... well no one has ever accused me of having that, which is in part, is why I own two Tours:laugh:

Thanks,
AF
Click to expand...

If her car isn't wired for a power antenna then the aftermarket gray plug will still have the blue antenna wire, but if the stock side of the plug doesn't have a pinning for it then you won't have any power antenna up and down... Sometimes they wire the cars for power antenna even if the cars have a regular mast, but sometimes they don't, you'd have to check your wiring and see if there are. Check that your power antenna works 1st.... What have you done so far? Like have you installed the power antenna in her car already? or have you done some wiring for it? If you can get pictures it would help too... Also if you know the power antenna works and you're wiring is correct, try using an different power source to power up the power antenna, try the switched 12V+ for the radio turn on and see if you can get that to power up the antenna... also make sure you're power antenna uses a Positive trigger instead of a negative... I know some cars need you to ground the signal wire to get it to go up, instead of send it positive....
 
Good questions, all of them and I should had given a bit of info in that.
Antenna: From a Tour, I replaced the mast it works great.
Wiring: I removed the wiring from the harness of the donor car, made it a separate harness, and installed it in my wife's Tour. I opened the connectors and put in the pins that were needed, tested everything and it all works. The one exception was that blue/red wire I didn't run it completely in the connectors like the other wires since the one connector was behind the dash and is unreachable unless you pull the dash. Now I have removed several dashes, but I couldn't get myself to do that just for that wire, so I just routed it around to the area of the radio, I added the wire into the radio gray plug and currently it is just loose so I can test it.

The only missing piece now is getting a 12v trigger for the antenna. Which is why I've gotten most of the radios I've tested from cars that had power antenna options. I have not found one that had power on the proper pin. Most all of the Ford radio / cass that are not the Premium Sound from about 92 - 99, from what I've seen, use similar connections. These of course are all similar single din types that I am referring to. Even the older style connections where the speakers used only one ground had the same type of connectors and actually had separate grounds for all the speakers available.

I have done this same thing only using an after market radio to my 99 and it all worked fine.

That is how I come to the point, the issue is with the pin on the radios. Why no power on the antenna pin? What am I missing?

Thanks for the reply,
AF
 
Maybe they did some crazy thing where certain stock radios didn't come with the power antenna turn on??? In any case, if I couldn't get it to work. I'd just attach a wire from the switched 12V(+) for the radio turn on and use that to also turn on the power antenna.... Worst case, when you have the car on, and you shut the radio off... the antenna stays up....
 
Well that is what I am trying to avoid. That antenna up at some times can be a problem like at the car wash........ snap!!!! So if I don't get some other resolve perhaps a relay and some way of using the traction control button since I don't have that option could be put to use..... I do have the button :laugh: It seems like one could run it so that a push runs it up or down with the key on, and it would go down with the key off and reset.... don't you think?

But what I was hoping to hear was something like to get the antenna output pin to work you need power on pin #? (for example)
Oh well!...
 
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And the answer is........

And the answer is........

Ok so here I am a much smarter fellow tonight. Seems that one needs to test the power out with a meter not a light. There just isn't enough power to light a test light from the antenna control wire, but put a meter on it and you got power.

So next time this comes up, we'll know the answer...... I just wonder why it took me so long to figure it out! :troutslap:


Thanks for the help, your questions are really what got me rethinking my test proceedures.

Regards,
AF
 
In a word ABSOLUTELY!!!

Here is the kicker....... it doesn't come on instantly either it takes a couple of seconds. The same with turning it off there is a delay....

Anyway I'll install the power antenna in my wife's car tonight and see if she notices :laugh: she still hasn't figured out that I changed the whole rear end from a 95 to a 98 style But I do have a gold antenna base that will look real good with the pumice color of the car, LOL any bets?????

Regards,
AF
 
Project complete btw I got the antenna trim from a Gold Tour. Unfortunately that was the only thing worth salvaging from it the rest of the gold trims were damaged by some idiot(s)......:nonono:

My wife did notice this since I had the trunk apart when she came out... oh ya it helps to have the ground hooked up :troutslap: seems that things work better with a complete circuit :blackeye:

95 power antenna.jpg
95 power antenna 2.jpg
 
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