Almost finished my install...

[imported_DeadEye]

MB Quart Reference 5.5" componants in the front, Alpine 6.5" coax in the rear, Rockford Fosgate Power P3 500W RMS Sub, 600W RMS Monoblock Rockford Fosgate POWER Amp for the sub and a 4x200W RMS Rockford Fosgate POWER Amp for the front and rear. (I have some piccies of the install).

Oh and an Alpin CDA9835R Head unit.

All well and good, amps hidden in the rear quarters etc etc.

Just wanted to give a big cheers to AndyMAC for his input!!

I do have a question though. On the way home from the Car Stereo shop, I yanked the old concert out and plugged the Alpine in just to see it turned on (couldn't wait to get home) I was really impressed with how quickly it found radio stations and how good the quality of the reception was.

Anyway rambling now, the point of this question is I can't get any signal on the radio :-( - in fact when I plug the car antenna in the radio goes quiet. If i stick a screwdriver in the headunit antenna plug I get great reception - as soon as i touch the middle pin of the car antenna onto the screw driver it kills the reception.

I am confused to say the least any ideas? The blue wire for powering an antenna isn't wired in my Audi loom so I assume it doesn't need power?

Also there is a little, what looks like mobile phone antenna wire, wrapped with the main antenna - whats that for?

Help! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/noidea.gif

 

[AndyMac]

Have you got the external antenna amp fitted (which does need power)?

 

[imported_DeadEye]

How do i know if I have that and how do I supply power?

 

[AndyMac]

You should have an additional device connected between the antenna lead and the HU, with a flying lead connected to the power antenna or remote on lead from the HU.
Should look like this: Areial amp

 

[imported_DeadEye]

So what does it do? is it just providing +5v to one of the pins?

So are all S3/A3 Antenna's powered? This doesn't explain why it worked on the way home - but not since.

 

[AndyMac]

All Audi HU's have a built in antenna amp, they used to have this inside the beesting aerial, but this was difficult to replace when it went wrong.
As the name suggests it's amplifying the aerial signal, however you should still get FM regardless albeit a bit weak. If you're not getting anything then it must be a faulty connection.

 

[imported_DeadEye]

Hmm.

As I said, if I use me and a screw driver as an antenna then i get a good signal. If I touch the middle pin of the car antenna onto the screwdriver (which is touch the middle female part of the head unit antenna plug), the signal dies completely.

Even if I ground the screw driver to earth i still get some signal.

Something is happening to the antenna which is causing it to kill the signal completely?

i can't be the only one here who has had this problem?

 

[AndyMac]

Even if you have one of the earliest cars with the amp in the beesting aerial, you should still get FM. To kill the signal completely it would have to be shorting to earth somewhere along the cable. Can you use a multimeter to test the resistance between the aerial lead pin and the surrounding shield? Should be completely open circuit.

 

[imported_DeadEye]

[ QUOTE ]
Even if you have one of the earliest cars with the amp in the beesting aerial, you should still get FM. To kill the signal completely it would have to be shorting to earth somewhere along the cable. Can you use a multimeter to test the resistance between the aerial lead pin and the surrounding shield? Should be completely open circuit.

[/ QUOTE ]

As I said, shorting the screwdriver to ground didn't have the same effect as touching the middle pin.

It appears that the answer is that they all still have the Amp in the bee sting. The MAY-E118 connecter as linked above simply allows the head unit to supply 12v to the antenna cable - powering the Amp in the beesting without allowing 12v to go back down into the head unit.

Why Audi couldn't just connect the antenna power lead in the ISO plug is beyond me.

It also appears that the reason it worked on the way home was that Oxford is a particularly strong area for radio reception!?!?!

As soon as the chaps at Oxford Car Radio plugged the E118 in, hey presto!