[Marblehead]

I'm at the point of stereo install before I reinstall the interior on the 86 restore. I'm installing a headunit and two amps. I've installed a couple stereo systems in the past but neither have been on a car with a retractable antenna, only a solid mast. So onto the predicament.

I have the Metra wiring harness and all is fine. I do, however, have one rather untechnical tech question. The stereo, a Pioneer, has the blue wire to connect to either the amp remote ON lead or too the power antenna lead. In this case that blue wire will be connected to both the amp and antenna. Connecting the wire in this configuration means that the antenna will ALWAYS extend whenever the stereo has power, even if it's just playing a CD.

Has anyone found a way to work around this and wire the antenna to only extend when the stereo is set to the radio (FM/AM) setting? I'm no electrical guru but it appears that in order to keep the antenna retracted and only extend when desired upon using the radio, one would have to install a switch of some sort. A toggle switch that would be flipped to manually extend and retract the antenna. Am I correct in this assumption or am I just really ignorant and missing something so easily apparent?

If needing to wire in a switch, which wire/wires (color) control the antenna? I've looked at the TSRM but got lost with their color codes. Some wires are a solid color, some are solid with the stripe, some are solid color with dots and still others have the solid color, stripe and dots. I can't decifer all the codes in the TSRM to what is actually in the car. Most wires I've identified but some are still a mystery.

Of all the things I've lost, I miss my beer the most.
Scott

 

[Andrew]

DOesn't the antenna raise when you turn the power on to the deck? Does your deck have a standard antenna plugin?

 

[Marblehead]

DOesn't the antenna raise when you turn the power on to the deck? Does your deck have a standard antenna plugin?

Yes, the antenna will raise when the stereo is powered on. The same wire from the back of the stereo which will control the extension of the antenna is also used to send a 12v signal to the amps for them to power up. Essentially the antenna will raise everytime the stereo is turned on. BUT, if I'm only listening to a CD, and not the radio, I don't need the antenna extended.....wanna keep those clean, visual lines of the exterior.

I'm looking for a trick that will keep the antenna retracted until it is needed only when listening to the radio (FM/AM). However, I think the only way to do this would be to install a secondary switch which would in turn control the antenna.

Latest survey shows that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the world's population.
Scott

 

[Racefiend]

Unfortunately the only way this works is if the stereo you bought is set up to work that way. They will usually have one wire for the amps and one for the antenna. There is no way to work around this since there are no external signals coming from the stereo thatl you could use when switching from fm to cd to power a relay or something. If you REALLY wanted to, you could always open up the stereo, get the schematics, and find some point on the board that you could reference a signal from, but I doubt you'd really want to do that

Running a switch could be an alternative, but you'd have to remember to hit it every time you swithced from CD to radio, and that sure would be a pain IMO. If you do go this way, look at the Metra harness. It should point out which wire is the antenna wire (the metra wires are easy to read). Look at which pin it goes to on the Supra harness and there is your antenna wire.

Christian

 

[dohc82]

Just get a window from an 82....we have the antenna in the glass :wink:

-Wil

 

[ZZT231]

Marblehead,

I have the same problem with my Supra and Celica since they both have Pioneer head units and Amps.

The way we went is to put all though the blue wire and get the trigger for the antenna on a switch so we can put the antenna up or down as we wished and if we switched off the radio the antenna goes down as well.

Cheers.

 

[Henge]

my pioneer has one for the power antena and one for the amp...but I never actually noticed if the antena goes down when I'm playing a cd. :|
I'll look into it when I get the starter hooked back up...I put a universial antena...not power...onto my other. If someone can help my question with the starter...it's in the general tech section named starter. 8)

 

[Speed Racer]

On my Sony Mobile ES deck, the antenna goes down when the CD is in, and goes UP when the radio is on.

That should be what yours does also.

 

[ZZT231]

SupraRacer007 Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2003 5:22 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On my Sony Mobile ES deck, the antenna goes down when the CD is in, and goes UP when the radio is on.

That should be what yours does also.

No really. I have installed a few Pioneers and that they don't have individual Antenna wire and Amp wire. As for the Sony (which i have installed as well) does have the facility.

I think the more you pay for a Pioneer it may be avaliable. but the ones that i have installed the Antenna and Amp are connected to the same wire.

Oh well.

Cheers.

 

[supramad77]

I don't know if you are still looking for an answer for this as it is an old post, but I have fitted a power antenna today and stright away I am thinking that I would like to be able to turn of the power to the antenna so that when lisen to cd's I dont have the antenna up.
The wire that controls the power to the antenna is a small BLACK wire with BROWN TRACERS on it. I am sure this could wired into seperate switch so that you could put in on when you like.

Regards
Pat

 

[Marblehead]

Yeah, I already got this to work. I split the "remote on" wire from the back of the Pioneer into two outputs. One runs directly to the amp for power whenever the radio is on. The other runs to the antenna. I spliced a small 12v switch into this antenna wire in order to have manual control of the power antenna. Works like a champ!

Eat well, stay fit, die anyway.
Scott

 

[Henge]

Can you tell me the color codes for the wires on the power antena?

 

[supramad77]

The live 12v wire is a small black wire with a brown tracer. This connects to your power on signal from the radio. The only other wire I had to splice into was a large white wire with a blue stripe and a brown tracer. The ground was connected through a bracket . Make sure you get a good metal to metal contact.
Regards
Pat

 

[Marblehead]

The live 12v wire is a small black wire with a brown tracer. This connects to your power on signal from the radio. The only other wire I had to splice into was a large white wire with a blue stripe and a brown tracer. The ground was connected through a bracket . Make sure you get a good metal to metal contact.
Regards
Pat

Pat,
On a side note, what is this "tracer"? I'm no electrician so it may be a simple answer. I've done a fair amount of electrical work, installing stereo's and alarms, hunting little lighting gremlins, but nothing major. Some of the Toyota wire markings always have me scratching my head. There are the solid colored wires, solid color wires with a stripe and then there are solid color wires with dots and solid color wires with a stripe and dots. Are these dots what you're refering to as "tracers"?

Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.
Scott

 

[supramad77]

Scott, yes you got it the tracers are the little dots. That is how they were discribed to me in the instructions.
There were a bunch of cables for the antenna but I only needed two of them.
Regards
Pat

 

[bobtheartist]

amp remote switch idea

I had a cool idea for a switch for the remote line on my amp.
I ran my remote wire down the middle of my car (under the center console). I had a blank in the third switch hole behind the rear wiper switch. All i did was get an extra two-way switch from a junker and connected my remote wire to it.
I can turn on/off my amp a the touch of a button, and It looks completely stock!

 

[4SFED]

Hello,
I have a Kenwood head unit and had no problems getting the antenna and power amps wired in correctly but I am wondering about how to wire into the dimmer with the rest of the dash lights.

 

[bobtheartist]

dimmer

I have a stock light that is somewhere behind the lighter/ac button area that dims with the rest of the lights. Maybe you can find that and tap off of it.

 

[AJ]

Check out the wiring diagram at my supra page for wiring schematic

http://members.aol.com/aj9o4/Supra/

 

[AJ]

And I have a Pioneer KEH-P2000 single din AM/FM/CD with Pioneer CDS-P5000 single din CD Player. IIRC with the power off I then can just use the CD player (either one) and the ant stays down.