crystaljukebox_com
01-06-2004, 03:44 PM
Power the antenna wire to get good reception? which wire to power?
My installer said that there was just a coax cable to screw in.
So my question is what color wire do we add the power to?
Can we just splice it into the power wire that powers the radio?
Thanks in Advance
(Fm stations are very weak, and I'm getting no AM at all.)
its_ikon
01-06-2004, 07:29 PM
i didn't know there was something to do like that.
George
01-06-2004, 10:40 PM
i didn't know there was something to do like that.
The rumor is that the stock antenna on the xB has an RF amplifier that requires power from the head unit, which isn't supplied by aftermarket units. I haven't had things apart, though, but it sounds plausable. The power for RF amplifiers is often supplied directly through the coax that carries the signal from the antanna.
The kicker is that if the antenna requires power it might not be the 13V supplied by the car, but be some lower value from the radio. It might be a good idea to measure the voltage across the antenna terminals of a stock head unit. If there is voltage there, it has to be duplicated for the aftermarket unit to work.
George
Piston
01-14-2004, 08:43 AM
most of the time when you buy an aftermarket radio there should be 2 blue wires. 1 is blue with a white stripe, which is your remote turn-on wire, and teh there is a solid blue wire, this is the power antenna wire.
When replacing the factory unit, it is alway best to use a wiring harness kit that way you dont need to chop any wires. Now, on this kit, there will be a blue wire for power antenna. it should actually be writen on the wire, depending on what brand of kit you get.
Jason
o4_USDM_bB
02-05-2004, 05:53 AM
ive been an installer at best buy for a few months, but we havent actually worked on any scions yet. mine will probably be the first that we work on there. anyhow, i remember seeing something about an antenna amplifier for some german car, i think it might have been audi, i cant remember. one of my installers was telling me it works like a powered antenna, and without it, the audis get ___ for reception. i'll check it out and see if that'll work for us.