[alexGS]

My electric aerial didn't move, although a relay made a click sound.

I figured out how to remove it from the car (it has a ball-shaped nut screwed on to the aluminium outer aerial mast - pop it upward out of the grommet and then use suitable grips to unscrew, hopefully without too much damage).

Opening the casing, I removed the motor and tested it - worked, and the aerial mast and toothed 'rope' all seemed serviceable. The spacer/pressed-on clip had broken off the top of the clutch assembly - this turned out not to matter.

Once I removed the indexing switch, the problem became clear as you see in the picture below.

 

[alexGS]

After cleaning the switch with wire wool, I managed to coax it into life, but only in one direction.

It became clear that one of the contacts was completely missing.

I found that SuperCheapAuto will have an automatic aerial on special tomorrow, $38 (£17?) but I wasn't sure of the quality, particularly the fitting at the top which looked like the usual slotted black grommet/shiny nut affair. They have a second type "with ball and socket" and a variety of rubber grommets similar to the GTV's, which looked more promising, but it is $140.

I found a brass spade terminal, cut the wire connector bit off, found a centre punch and created a 'pip' at one end. I then sanded down the remains of the contact, tinned it with solder, and manipulated it so as to create a suitable tension and position for the terminal to contact the rotating disc. The tang of the terminal, which normally holds it in a plug, turned out to be ideal for holding it onto the remains of the original contact, allowing it to be soldered. I know this isn't particularly pretty, but it was a half-hour repair

Speaking of which, I stripped back the burnt-looking copper tracks and applied some solder, which looks a bit awful but will serve to strengthen them and prevent further corrosion of the copper.

Applying 12v to the red wire caused the motor to run in the downward direction, unlike before. Then it was just a case of manipulating the nylon toothed 'rope' back into place, making sure to get it between the gear and a small idler pulley. With it started, I was able to reassemble the aerial and power it up, and it pulled the mast completely in before stopping.

Applying 12v to the red and the yellow wires ran the aerial up to its full height, and removing power from the yellow wire brought it all the way down. So now I can spend my Boxing Day time and money on something else!

Merry Christmas everybody :biglaugh:

 

[Mr_Caine]

Nice fix, I fixed mine a while ago, it was in much better condition internally, the issue I had was the motor was seized and the thermal fuse was blown, after I unseized the motor and replaced the fuse it worked but initially didn't fully extend in one section which was a bit tight but after a few weeks of use it now does so.

 

[MASB]

Genuinely fine fettling. I was looking at a new one around a year ago (pigeon hit the mast at speed - watched it whip, watched it nae nae), but fitted a DAB unit with Bluetooth etc and windscreen aerial instead. I've disconnected the original one. The whole project cost less than a replacement oe aerial.

 

[alexGS]

Windscreen aerial IS a much better idea - I didn't realise how noisy the aerial is, once it's refitted to the car sounds like the end of the world when the CD is ejected (the original Kenwood unit only puts the aerial up when the radio is active, not when listening to a CD).

I'll find out today whether my new Alpine head unit will do the same. If the aerial is 'always up', then I'll add a switch somewhere to disable it. The silver blank behind the mirror controls seems ripe for the picking.

We don't have DAB here in NZ and most radios/stations don't even have RDS, but they are getting there... One station uses it to display the name of what's playing

-Alex

 

[Mr_Caine]

We don't have DAB here in NZ and most radios/stations don't even have RDS, but they are getting there... One station uses it to display the name of what's playing

Learn something new everyday would love to visit NZ one day. We've had rds in uk for atleast 20 years now I reckon, even dab seems old hat not that dab actually provides better audio than fm, in many cases worse. Apart from some major stations like BBC R1 and R2 most run very low bitrates.

 

[alexGS]

Yes! I remember being amazed by RDS in a rental Mondeo, in 1994, though my Dad nearly jumped out of his skin when 14-year-old me had set the traffic announcement volume quite high and there was suddenly some local radio update near Cirencester, shattering the peace.

I'd hate to give the impression that NZ is some technological backwater Most technology is adopted quickly in NZ - 15 years ago EFTPOS was more widespread than in the UK - PayWave is everywhere now, etc., many of us have fibre Internet, 4G mobile over much of the country, and TV switched over to HD digital UHF several years ago (we were a year or two behind the UK on that one, but we got the benefit of a later system).

For some reason though, radio has passed us by maybe we're supposed to stream digitally from the other side of the world instead.

-Alex