(STEREO) Yet another power antenna
07-18-11, 10:28 AM
#1
(STEREO) Yet another power antenna
I noticed this ebay ad for a power antenna that looks a lot like the old radio shack power antenna that was popular a few years ago. I still have one of the radio shack units in my 85 GSL but I need another for a new project and it would be nice to have a backup.
Does anybody have any experience with these? At $27.90 and free shipping they are reasonably priced:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT
Does anybody have any experience with these? At $27.90 and free shipping they are reasonably priced:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT
07-20-11, 11:50 AM
#3
Will do Mr. Jeff. In fact I just won the ebay bid for $26:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT
When I get it in I'll open it up and put it along side the radio shack one and take some pics.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...K%3AMEWAX%3AIT
When I get it in I'll open it up and put it along side the radio shack one and take some pics.
07-30-11, 01:28 PM
#4
Hey Mark, yes it came in a few days ago and today I had a chance to dig up an original OEM antenna and an old radio shack antenna for comparison.
I haven't installed it yet, but all indications are that it's a perfect clone of the Radio Shack unit and should work the same way, hooked up according to Jim Rothe's tutorial on the subject:
http://www.jimrothe.com/mazda/antenna/index.html
MOD EDIT: In case the site goes down, here is the text from the wiring section:
Here's the pictures
All three lined up front, stock on left, new ebay antenna in middle, radio shack unit on right
Other side
Close up of the ebay unit (left) and the RS unit (right) which still has the modified mounting bracket attached
Close up of the ebay unit (left) and the RS unit (right) with the mounting bracket removed
Other side
It looks like the same group of well employed Chinese workers have been cranking out the same unit for the last 20 years. The only differences I can see are the yellow wire is now green and the cable attachment is located a bit further down on the mast, which probably makes it more "universal".
The unit came with a bunch of rubber adapter grommets to fit it to the body, I don't remember those in the RS unit and I'm not sure why there are so many unless this same unit is meant to fit virtually all cars manufactured in the last 50 years (probably).
My only complaint was it was mailed in the product box without an outside packaging, so the box was pretty beat up by the time it got here. I don't think the unit itself is damaged, it looks fine, but one of the bags with some little screws and washers was broken open and most like a few of those ended up in a post office somewhere. Not a problem however, these are easy to find/replace mounting hardware.
All in all, for $26 I think this is a great solution if you need to have a power antenna, which I definitely require to make my Clarion system complete
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCA3sfi7UA0
I probably won't get around to installing this thing for many weeks so I'll leave it to someone else to report on it's performance, but I'd be very surprised if it doesn't work just like the RS unit, since I think it probably IS the RS unit under another name.
I haven't installed it yet, but all indications are that it's a perfect clone of the Radio Shack unit and should work the same way, hooked up according to Jim Rothe's tutorial on the subject:
http://www.jimrothe.com/mazda/antenna/index.html
MOD EDIT: In case the site goes down, here is the text from the wiring section:
Wiring it up
Like most aftermarket antennas, the RS unit has three leads -- "accessory on" (the orange lead, usually powered directly by a signal from a tuner), unswitched power (red) and ground (black). These are different from the three Mazda leads, and you cannot merely plug them into the wiring harness for the Mazda antenna. The black wire should be easy enough to wire up -- it's just a chassis ground, and I hooked mine up to one of the OEM-turned-Radio-Shack mounting bracket nuts. The red lead must have full time power regardless of whether or not the ignition key is in the accessory or on position. I found a great source nearby the antenna: the hatchback interior light has a full time power lead going into it. If you remove the rear hatch panel, you'll see two wires connecting into the back of the light. The blue/yellow wire (on the light, not on the OEM antenna harness!) is unswitched power -- the switch is a plunger mechanism on the driver's left side of the hatch latching mechanism. Finally, the "antenna up" signal for the orange wire can be used from the blue wire on the original Mazda antenna wiring harness.
As an aside, that blue wire was the most "interesting" part of this whole project. Mazda's OEM antenna is controlled by a relay under the dash. The relay is activated by a fairly common +12v signal from the tuner, but Mazda chose to send a completely different signal back to the antenna, via this convoluted relay. The three wires on the original Mazda antenna wiring harness play a three way shell game between battery positive and battery negative. When the antenna is going up, the blue wire gets battery positive, and the red wire gets battery negative. When the antenna is going down, the red wire gets battery positive, and the blue/yellow wire gets battery negative. So the red lead alternates between positive and negative, the blue wire only sees positive when the stock antenna is supposed to be up, and the blue/yellow wire only sees negative when the stock antenna is supposed to be down. Got that?
The cool thing is that you don't have to, because most aftermarket antennas have the relay mounted on the antenna, making the wiring logic a helluva lot easier to follow for you and I.
Another little tip: I used tap-in squeeze connectors (Radio Shack part number 64-3053) to connect to these wires without any cutting or soldering. A little electrical tape around the OEM antenna wiring harness would also be a smart idea to keep the hot leads from ever accidentally contacting the chassis. These tips should allow you to retain the stock wiring harness, just in case you or some future owner decides he/she wants to restore the car to totally stock parts.
Like most aftermarket antennas, the RS unit has three leads -- "accessory on" (the orange lead, usually powered directly by a signal from a tuner), unswitched power (red) and ground (black). These are different from the three Mazda leads, and you cannot merely plug them into the wiring harness for the Mazda antenna. The black wire should be easy enough to wire up -- it's just a chassis ground, and I hooked mine up to one of the OEM-turned-Radio-Shack mounting bracket nuts. The red lead must have full time power regardless of whether or not the ignition key is in the accessory or on position. I found a great source nearby the antenna: the hatchback interior light has a full time power lead going into it. If you remove the rear hatch panel, you'll see two wires connecting into the back of the light. The blue/yellow wire (on the light, not on the OEM antenna harness!) is unswitched power -- the switch is a plunger mechanism on the driver's left side of the hatch latching mechanism. Finally, the "antenna up" signal for the orange wire can be used from the blue wire on the original Mazda antenna wiring harness.
As an aside, that blue wire was the most "interesting" part of this whole project. Mazda's OEM antenna is controlled by a relay under the dash. The relay is activated by a fairly common +12v signal from the tuner, but Mazda chose to send a completely different signal back to the antenna, via this convoluted relay. The three wires on the original Mazda antenna wiring harness play a three way shell game between battery positive and battery negative. When the antenna is going up, the blue wire gets battery positive, and the red wire gets battery negative. When the antenna is going down, the red wire gets battery positive, and the blue/yellow wire gets battery negative. So the red lead alternates between positive and negative, the blue wire only sees positive when the stock antenna is supposed to be up, and the blue/yellow wire only sees negative when the stock antenna is supposed to be down. Got that?
The cool thing is that you don't have to, because most aftermarket antennas have the relay mounted on the antenna, making the wiring logic a helluva lot easier to follow for you and I.Another little tip: I used tap-in squeeze connectors (Radio Shack part number 64-3053) to connect to these wires without any cutting or soldering. A little electrical tape around the OEM antenna wiring harness would also be a smart idea to keep the hot leads from ever accidentally contacting the chassis. These tips should allow you to retain the stock wiring harness, just in case you or some future owner decides he/she wants to restore the car to totally stock parts.
All three lined up front, stock on left, new ebay antenna in middle, radio shack unit on right
Other side
Close up of the ebay unit (left) and the RS unit (right) which still has the modified mounting bracket attached
Close up of the ebay unit (left) and the RS unit (right) with the mounting bracket removed
Other side
It looks like the same group of well employed Chinese workers have been cranking out the same unit for the last 20 years. The only differences I can see are the yellow wire is now green and the cable attachment is located a bit further down on the mast, which probably makes it more "universal".
The unit came with a bunch of rubber adapter grommets to fit it to the body, I don't remember those in the RS unit and I'm not sure why there are so many unless this same unit is meant to fit virtually all cars manufactured in the last 50 years (probably).
My only complaint was it was mailed in the product box without an outside packaging, so the box was pretty beat up by the time it got here. I don't think the unit itself is damaged, it looks fine, but one of the bags with some little screws and washers was broken open and most like a few of those ended up in a post office somewhere. Not a problem however, these are easy to find/replace mounting hardware.
All in all, for $26 I think this is a great solution if you need to have a power antenna, which I definitely require to make my Clarion system complete
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCA3sfi7UA0
I probably won't get around to installing this thing for many weeks so I'll leave it to someone else to report on it's performance, but I'd be very surprised if it doesn't work just like the RS unit, since I think it probably IS the RS unit under another name.
Last edited by Sgt Fox; 08-29-11 at 04:13 PM.
08-01-11, 08:45 PM
#6
Absolute Power is Awesome
So, that's just a universal power antenna, like you can buy from any auto parts store. They're widely sold by a company called Metra. They've been around forever. The best ones have a black mast
08-02-11, 02:25 AM
#7
The original eBay link, followed to the seller's store doesn't seem to be selling them.
Found this though http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Power...Q5fAccessories
Cheaper usually isn't a good sign!
Found this though http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Power...Q5fAccessories
Cheaper usually isn't a good sign!
Trending Topics
08-02-11, 06:34 AM
#8
Thanks Jamie, it's always fun to share the love.
When I got mine from that egay store "Zeus group" a couple weeks ago they said they had "more than 10" available, but you're right, they've sold out now.
But like purple says, similar antennas under the name "metra" or others are out there in the parts stores and on ebay. Here's what I could find for ebay links, although these all run in the $40-50 range or more, a bit more than the $26 I paid for mine delivered:
http://cgi.ebay.com/METRA-44-PW22-UN...item1c1cfb4e6b
http://cgi.ebay.com/Metra-44-PW22-AU...item33624c3f3a
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-44-PW22-Full...item25622911b8
http://cgi.ebay.com/Buick-Power-Ante...item519a4e4874
http://cgi.ebay.com/harada-power-ant...item2c5e1d45f2
http://cgi.ebay.com/Universal-Fully-...item483fcf38d2
http://cgi.ebay.com/METRA-44-PW22-UN...item20bb03c886
You can also find the unit Twilight linked above for less money from several vendors, but it isn't the same unit and being generally less expensive I'd worry that it's of lesser quality, if it works at all for the FB
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Power...d=252159075337
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Power...d=252159075337
http://cgi.ebay.com/fully-automatic-...item4aad48aeee
http://cgi.ebay.com/METRA-AW-PW12-Po...item5d2f4f4f03
Somebody needs to buy one of these to see if it works.
Jaime the weight isn't specified but it's about the same as the stock unit, about half a pound or so.
If anybody else finds an inexpensive source for these units or gets one in and tries it out, please post the information up here for the rest of us rotor heads.
When I got mine from that egay store "Zeus group" a couple weeks ago they said they had "more than 10" available, but you're right, they've sold out now.
But like purple says, similar antennas under the name "metra" or others are out there in the parts stores and on ebay. Here's what I could find for ebay links, although these all run in the $40-50 range or more, a bit more than the $26 I paid for mine delivered:
http://cgi.ebay.com/METRA-44-PW22-UN...item1c1cfb4e6b
http://cgi.ebay.com/Metra-44-PW22-AU...item33624c3f3a
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-44-PW22-Full...item25622911b8
http://cgi.ebay.com/Buick-Power-Ante...item519a4e4874
http://cgi.ebay.com/harada-power-ant...item2c5e1d45f2
http://cgi.ebay.com/Universal-Fully-...item483fcf38d2
http://cgi.ebay.com/METRA-44-PW22-UN...item20bb03c886
You can also find the unit Twilight linked above for less money from several vendors, but it isn't the same unit and being generally less expensive I'd worry that it's of lesser quality, if it works at all for the FB
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Power...d=252159075337
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Power...d=252159075337
http://cgi.ebay.com/fully-automatic-...item4aad48aeee
http://cgi.ebay.com/METRA-AW-PW12-Po...item5d2f4f4f03
Somebody needs to buy one of these to see if it works.
Jaime the weight isn't specified but it's about the same as the stock unit, about half a pound or so.
If anybody else finds an inexpensive source for these units or gets one in and tries it out, please post the information up here for the rest of us rotor heads.
08-05-11, 08:55 AM
#9
Ray, I have a question for you: have you considered any other antenna options, just to switch things up a bit? I am normally one to keep things original, but lately been changing in my old age (I qualify for the "Old Guy with 13 B" club).
After reading Sgt Fox's thread with the black mast antenna repalcement (no longer available, unfortunately), I really liked its look, especially on a dark car. i just wonder if there are some other options available to us. A Shark antenna? Something else fixed that may be cool?
After reading Sgt Fox's thread with the black mast antenna repalcement (no longer available, unfortunately), I really liked its look, especially on a dark car. i just wonder if there are some other options available to us. A Shark antenna? Something else fixed that may be cool?
