GT 4 ( 1977 ) radio antenna

The radio cassette circa mid 80 ,s retro fit did not work ,or the ariel when I bought the car at auction in the summer .
It was a Kenwood and the wire plug is different to the replacement.

I have the time to fiddle around with it now .
The replacement is a service able Mercedes audio 10 ,
I managed to re splice the std rear two plugs on the audio 10 , top plug is speakers lower plug had 5 wires .
Gnd ,
Positive
Blue + ve when rad on supposed to be for an automatic Ariel
An illuminating wire
An remote wire .

The exsisting antenna red / white wires were disconnected as was the grey positive from the console switch .
Ie the switch was just sat there connected to nothing .

The kenwood,s blue wire was connected to one red / white and the other red / white was spliced to what appeared the grey positive .

Having had to cut it all back as much as poss to standard to connect / splice the Merc audio 10 I have used the Gnd , grey + ve ( with fuse ) to power the thing up . Connected the coaxial up .
Speakers in the doors were easily = it works fine .

But the antenna does not move .

So I checked the continuity of the two red / white wires in the console and they connect to the red and green on the Aeriel in the trunk .
It’s a 3 wire Ariel there’s also black Gnd on the motor which connects to the body via the retaining nut

So I removed the console switch to find it has 4 spades ? Hmm
Having read on here the previous threads about 308 antenna- how confusing ?

So I check the continuity of the spring switch ,put the positive blue from the radio ( it’s positive when the rad is on ) on the middle spade and connected the two red / whites wires that run to the trunk to two other spades middle is off , Fwds sends 12 v down one red / white wire , back sends 12 v down the other .

Now the switch seems to work sending 12 either one way or the other down the red / white wires ,but not both at once .

The antenna was stiff so I lubed it ans pulled it up .
The switch activated the motor ( when the rad is on remember it’s getting power from the blue wire ) and the antenna retracted ,but would not go up just clicked when the switch was Fwds .

So I took the antenna out and stripped it down to clean n lub it .
Not too fiddly .When i disassembled the motor I replaced its cover 180 degrees the other way .
Now it goes up with the switch in Fwds stops if I let go , switch springs back ( 3 way ) but now won,t retract .
Just clicks .
So it seems to me the motor only turns one way .

The up or down is depending on which way round it’s fixed to the gear mechanism.

Currently I have going up as it’s easy to hand push back when parked up etc .

So the Q,s are this ——-

Having read the other threads I,am a bit confused

There seems to be ( happy to stand corrected) two types of electric antenna
1- auto for today’s modern radio that go up with the live blue wire on all the time and retract when the rad is switched off as now zero volts are in the blue wire - all automatically.
For older 70 ,s stuff - - -
2. Two way double ones that go up if 12 v goes on way and down ( via the 3 way console switch ) if 12 v is sent the other way using the OEM red / white wires ,so the motor turns both ways depending on which red / white running to the trunk or green / red on the motor is hot / live .

So I assume my motor only works in one direction because it’s faulty ?

If so do they still make old fashioned 3 wire antenna ?

Any ideas on how to get a fix please

 

Thx
I just found this which explains why it only moves one way .


The wires are red n green + Gnd
So red I guess is permantly live ?
The green needs conecting to the radio blue out to get 12 v when on
Gnd is as normal earth .

I thought one was up other was down incorrectly.
It seems these “ automatic “ antenna have in built relays

That’s why the console switch was disconnected, the antenna is an auto wired different.

I,ll rewire it as per the vid above tomorrow and report back .

How ever I do fancy re activating the OEM switch , but I guess I need a different antenna none auto .

 

Autovox SA86 arrived today .Package came with a simple 3 spade black switch .
Plan to fit tomorrow.

 

Switch has 4 spades two rear to pass 12 v either way to the Autovox , a live - you find 12 v and of corse a Gnd .
Once connected up the OEM spring switch sends 12 v one way for up and another way for down .

Another thing to consider is the removed aftermarket fully auto aerial left a bigger foot print hole compared to the Autovox .
So I had to cannibalise some fittings from this to keep the hole covered .

There’s was a separate earth lead roles up redundant with the none OEM , so as well as the teeth gripping the under body metal I reconnected the exsistimg earth lead with a bolt to the fixing bracket .


I guess I could have reconfigured the wiring using the modern blue wire for auto function .
But I like the OEM stuff part of the appeal , no central locking , no electric mirrors , no central locking , no auto ckoke etc etc
All rarther sweet in a way I can,t explain why .