Automatic Antenna

[Skyeye]

My 95 NA came with a Pioneer bluetooth do all radio but whoever installed it either didn't hook up the automatic electric antenna feature or the radio don't have this function in it. when you turn the radio on the antenna does nothing.

Can you manually raise the electric antenna or is there some other way to get it to raise electronically without attaching it to the radio?

I have looked at the wiring harness that goes to the antenna and don't know enough to start messing around with that .

[— Agent☣Orange —]

All modern aftermarket radios have a signal wire that is powered when the radio is turned on. It's usually solid blue and used to signal an amplifier to turn on but it can be used to signal the antenna to power up too.

No need to rig a separate switch. Sounds like whomever installed the Pioneer didn't connect the wire for the antenna is my guess or the antenna could be bad. You need to know which wire is the antenna wire on the harness and it wouldn't hurt to have a test light to see if you're getting power to the antenna.

[—tsingson—]

Agreed. There is always a power antenna wire in the harness kits. You can also use the remote wire like yellow said. Just be sure to make sure the antenna motor still works.

[Skyeye]

The radio has a 275 watt amp connected to it that is mounted behind the passenger seat. There are numerous wires going into the side of the amp which has a buss board mounted on it. Some are probably speaker wires but I would imagine that the signal wire goes to one of those buss board screws to turn on the amp as there is no need to use the provided manual switch mounted on the other side of the amp. It's just left in the "on" position and the amp turns on when you put the ignition switch to accessory or just start the engine. If this is so and I can find the signal wire on the amp buss board, could I just run a wire from there under the carpet to the trunk and after finding which is the power wire for the antenna motor, and attach the jumper there to also power the antenna up?

[—atank—]

Heres a wiring diagram if it will help:
http://www.madracki.com/miata/images/wiring/95sys.pdf

[Skyeye]

Sorry, my computer will not let me open that PDF.

[— Agent☣Orange —]

Have you installed Acrobat Reader? It's free. I rely on pdf's for all my service manuals and wiring diagrams.

As for your amp. Look at those "buss board screws" and there are two that are really big. Those are for big power and ground wires. There's usually another screw terminal right next to the big power wire terminal. That would be for your +12v signal wire from the head unit when it powers on.

Typically, you should see some RCA connectors on one side of the amp and three screw terminals on the other: power, ground and signal. Although some amps put everything in one side, the principle is the same.

The only "wires" should be for +,- and signal aling with at least one fuse. Everything else should be an audio cable unless it's a half baked install that uses high-level speaker inputs.

Yes, you could run another wire from there to the antenna but really, you really should wire your amp (and antenna) to power on only when the head unit is on, not when the ignition is on. You should really get a test light and see if you're getting power at the antenna. Maybe they wired the stereo correctly but the antenna is bad. Don't know without testing.

[Skyeye]

Thanks guys for all the input! My youngest son is good at electronics and is going to come look at the wiring and test the antenna motor. If it's dead, I will just remove it and install a short stubby rubber duck one.