matt69olds

Probably 30 years ago, I installed a power antenna in the front fender of my 69. This required filling the factory antenna hole, and drilling a new hole about 2 inches forward of the original. This was needed because the antenna motor and shaft needed the space for the firewall. Moving the antenna forward a couple inches provided the room for everything to fit.

I had been using a older Alpine in dash CD player with IPOD controls. Everything worked great for probably 10-15 years, until like so many things in todays digital world the IPOD became outdated and not supported.

I replaced the alpine stereo with a pioneer, which I HATE!! I despise the tiny buttons, and the feather light touch needed to push them. God forbid hitting a bump in the road while attempting to adjust the volume, the slightest push of the volume control puts the radio is the “settings” mode, which requires scrolling thru multiple menu screens to get back to the volume mode.

I decided to replace the terrible design pioneer with another alpine. Model UTE-73BT. I really liked the “notchy” feel of the volume ****, it actually felt like it was connected to something.

Now, the point of all this. One of the things l liked with the older Alpine stereo was the separate wires to trigger a amplifier (which I don’t have) and a wire to trigger the power antenna ONLY with the radio on. Turn on the Bluetooth or auxiliary input, the antenna went down. The pioneer didn’t have that feature, anytime the radio is on, regardless of function, the antenna is up.

I specifically wanted the UTE-73BT because it has separate amp/antenna trigger wires. Unfortunately, they are technically the same wire.

I called alpine to verify that there was no way to separate the functions in the menu, it took a bit to get thru to the tech guy what I was asking. He assumed me that’s the way it’s suppose to be. I guess I fail to understand why have 2 wires that do the same thing???

Now, the point of my thread:,this antenna is old, it’s getting kind cranky. I rarely listen to the radio, it’s usually Bluetooth. I really don’t want to constantly run the antenna up and down every time I drive the car.

Does anyone in readerland know of a single DIN stereo with SEPERATE amp/antenna trigger wires? I don’t need satellite radio, CD, etc

My other idea, I thought about installing a factory antenna switch for this car to manually control the antenna. However, I’m pretty sure the factory switch is a momentary switch, which I guess isn’t a big deal. I looked in both the factory service manual and the body manual, I don’t see a wiring diagram in either the electrical or accessory section. Maybe I’m not looking in the right place? Anyone know how the factory setup worked, or have a diagram ?

thanks.

no1oldsfan

Matt I was an installer for many years. Alpine included. I have never seen a deck with what you are looking for. I would install a separate switch somewhere even if it is hidden somewhere. Very simple to do.

PS: Wasn't a factory power antenna on a 69 on the rear quarter?

matt69olds

I know for a fact the older Alpine head unit had a seperate trigger wires for the amp and antenna. I still have the head unit, if your curious I’ll get the part number. I bought it used from a friend of a friend. Supposedly, that particular head unit was the top of the line single DIN unit for a couple years. I looked thru all the installation instructions for radios I would be interested in, a couple of the JVC units also had separate wires.


Yes, the power antenna is suppose to be in the quarter panel on these cars. I wanted a powered antenna (and still do) filling the hole in the fender and drilling a new one was well within my skill level, as opposed to drilling holes in my quarter panel.

I talked to tech advisors at both Crutchfield (where I bought the stereo) and alpine. The crutchfeild tech guy suggested I ask alpine about a firmware update, he said they are always getting tech bulletins for updates for radios, unfortunately, that’s a update that firmware won’t fix. The guy at alpine told me at one time some of their products did have separate turn on functions (hence the 2 different wires) but stopped supporting that option a few years ago. I’m guessing since there hasn’t been a car made with a power antenna In probably 20 years played no small part in that decision.

I’ll probably go with a switch to control the antenna. That leaves anther question, is the factory antenna switch a momentary design? And how is the factory antenna wired?

Thanks v

matt69olds

Amazing what can happen when you let your mind wander.

I decided if I was going to add a switch to control the power antenna, I might as well install a switch that looks like it belongs there. I called my buddy Scott Winn (aka oldspackrat) and got a factory power antenna switch. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize the switch on these cars were momentary, meaning the only way to keep the antenna up requires holding the switch in the up position. Not gonna happen!!

After a little brainstorming, I figured out how to accomplish this for practically nothing. I used 3 of the cheap relays that are included with miscellaneous electrical gadgets, and a 50cent diode. One relay is triggered in the “up” position, the middle relay is wired to “latched”, keeping the antenna powered, the 3rd relay is triggered in the “down position which removes ground. Removing the ground from middle relay, or removing power (I.e turn off the stereo) opens the latch, shutting off power to the antenna.

I tried to make a diagram to better explain how I did this, but after multiple attempts and non of it turning up very legible. I found this diagram when I googled latching relay.

the positive pulse is the “up” position on the switch. The ignition trigger is the antenna power from the radio.


What isn’t shown is the 3rd relay. It’s wire to provide ground “thru pin 30 and 87a) once triggered by the down button, the ground is removed.

matt69olds

Here is a short video of it in operation.

cfair

That is clever use of electronics. Well done.My ‘66’s have the factory power antennas in the right rear quarters powered by the factory dash switch. But having to hold is one of life’s little annoyances. Great to see that there is a solution!

I like the Alpine gear, my head unit is a CDE-HD149BT which powers separate amps in the trunk for 4 channels & a sub. Like you say, mostly these days it’s Bluetooth, and Apple just discontinued their last iPod. I think it was 5th generation. I leave one in each car, just so I have a wired source when Bluetooth gets flaky. Those last iPods are 250gb, I think, which gets me to about 9,000 songs or so at Apple Lossless Resolution.

If you like I have a couple of tips about the Alpine head units.
1) If yours has the MX (Media Expander) feature, its helps the sound from compressed files. Play with it. My favorite is setting “Level 2”

2) If yours has the time correction (TCR) feature, use it. You measure the rough speaker distance from your ears to the speaker location, then enter it and the unit will time correct the soundstage. I wasn’t a believer until I tried it. But it probably improved sound quality by a good 20 or 30%.

3) The thing is the spatial setting. I recommend “Front Wide”, but play with it.

Documentation on these features is buried deep in a dull downloadable PDF manual, I found them valuable enough that I made myself a note to remember to reset them everytime I disconnect the battery.

I’ve been watching Alpine for a touchscreen to replace the HD149BT, but they’ve been crappy resolution until recently. I haven’t figured out if I can fit their newest XX509 unit in my glove box. I’m hoping as covid recedes they’ll make some more high resolution touchscreen units, but they’re not there just yet. Watch CES next January to see if they have some new stuff in 2023.

Enjoy the tunes!

Chris

matt69olds

Well crap, I just noticed my test video didn’t show up. I deliberately kept it short, just long enough to cycle the switch in each direction. Anyway, I’m glad someone appreciated my solution.

The alpine stereo I had before had all kinds of fancy features like the time correction thing you described. Way beyond my needs!! Supposedly that particular head unit was the top of the line the year it was made.

I don’t have a sub or amplifiers, I just wanted a basic stereo with Bluetooth capabilities. Seems like simple is a dying breed! I don’t need much to enjoy the car show/classic rock music I enjoy.

cfair

This site is not optimized for video delivery. There’s a thread around here with some more details on why, but partly it’s a size limit (~10mb) and partly most of the common video formats are not supported Internet Brands.

Having said that I was successful, once, with a short video on how to restore the fairly unusual ‘66 big car kickdown/switch pitch switch, but I didn’t write down the details of what I did so I’d have relearn from scratch. What I remember is that it was low resolution, highly compressed, but it did work in some format or other that I probably found in Handbrake for the Mac.

Chris

danktx

If your using a modern style power antenna that only has 2 wires, the constant power wire and the sense wire from the radio you can control the antenna with just the factory switch and a diode.

matt69olds

The antenna I’m using has a constant power, a trigger wire (sense wire) and a ground.

The factory switch is a SPDT momentarily switch, push the switch to the “UP” and it made the antenna go up and stop wherever you left off the switch. Same thing with the down feature. I wanted to be able to put the antenna up only when I want it. This was the best solution I could come up with to use a momentary switch to control something that needed a constant signal, and have the antenna go down by itself with the ignition turned off.

Maybe I went about this in a Rube Goldberg way. If so, I’d be interested in learning your method.