Need help to rewire antenna for 308/328

What the antenna is looking for is +12 all the time on the power lead, and +12 on the "radio" lead when the radio is on.

If you haven't disconnected any of the factory wires, then pushing the switch to the "up" position will put +12 volts (from fuse 4) on the white-red wire through the switch (and ground on the other white-red wire).
(Pressing the console switch to "down" will reverse the connections -- ground on one and voltage on the other.)
(The console switch won't put voltage or ground on either white-red wire when the switch is not pressed.)
So if you have the "up" wire plugged into the "radio" position of the antenna, it will raise when you push the console switch to "up" -- whether the radio is on or not. The power provided by the switch will make the antenna think the radio is on.

You have to disconnect the white-red wire from the console switch so it's not putting power on the wire. Then use the wire from the radio to put power on that wire only when the radio is on.

If you've tapped the white-red wire at the console switch, and it doens't raise when the radio comes on, then you might not have a good connection from the radio to the wire.

Or the console switch might have put ground on that wire when the radio was trying to put power on it, and you might have blown a fuse inside the radio.

It doesn't really matter which wire you use from the console to the antenna.

But you'll need to disconnect it from the switch so you're not putting power (or ground) on that wire from the switch, itself.


You should probably disconnect the radio wire you tapped onto the switch, then verify with a meter or test light that your wire from the radio gets voltage at the console when the radio is on. If not, you won't be able to operate the antenna automatically.

If that wire does get power when the radio is on, then you'll want to disconnect one of the white-red wires from the console switch, and just use that wire to extend your radio wire back to the antenna.