straycat21

My power antenna won't go up and down. I finally found the power antenna relay on my 91 convertible. I originally thought my harness to the radio had been cut, but today I discovered the other black plug to my original radio harness tucked way in back of the radio housing. So I still have my harness I think. I believe switched power to the antenna is pink, but it looks like what's coming from the relay is a double pink wire which I'm guessing goes to the blue wire on my radio......Now that I have both of my connectors, does anyone know which pin hole in either connector I hook the blue wire to. I think I see a pink wire, but I don't think it's a double wire. I'm not finding anything on this on the forum on this specific problem. I really need advice from someone who has hooked their power antenna up to their aftermarket radio.

straycat21

This is the oddest thing. My power antenna wouldn't work at all with the radio I had in it. It wasn't hooked up to the blue wire on my Alpine. I changed out the radio today to a different Alpine I had. I left the blue wire disconnected, because I couldn't figure out which wire to connect it to. Now, when I turn on the radio, the antenna retracts, but it won't extend when I turn it off. I read an old post about reverse polarity. I don't think this is the case here, but it may be. I tried to manually extend it with the radio on and it retracted all the way. Could this be a relay problem?

straycat21

Whoever put in the radio in my car really butchered the wiring. I found a pink w/ black strip wire, an orange wire and a black wire, all cut and running together, under the center console. Could these be my power antenna wires? The antenna must be hooked to battery and ground somewhere, because it retracts but does not extend. I just need to know about this pink/black wire.

I finally found a post about 2 pink wires, one going to the power antenna relay and one going to the power amp relay. My wire is definitely pink but has the black strip. Need some help.

Hot Rod Roy

You are right! This is the oddest thing! I'd say a very large percentage of the 'vette owners on this forum have aftermarket radio's, (including me) and you're the only one with an antenna that retracts when you turn on the radio! I doubt this is a relay problem.

Is there a pink wire connected to your antenna relay? If YES, you need to find the pink wire at your radio. If NO, is there a pink/blk wire AT THE RELAY?

This pink or pink/blk wire at the relay should get 12v. to it when the radio is turned ON. If your antenna is retracting when you turn the radio ON, is this wire getting 12v. with the radio OFF? I'm presuming you have a volt meter.

Lets take this one step at a time, so we don't get confused. Answer this, then we'll continue.

straycat21

Thank goodness someone is out there. When I didn't get an answer, I put the radio back together and gave up. There is what appears to be a dual pink wire like an electrical wire, only all pink at the relay. I forget the colors of the other two wires. They are dual too. These would be coming from the radio side. On the antenna side of the relay, there is the gray, green and white leads(single wires) to the antenna. I have a new problem now. The white lead wire contact crumbled(corrosion) on my wire to the relay, so now, I don't think I have power to the antenna at all(no down). I have to get a new connector somewhere.
There is one pink/black wire under the center console, along with, I think a red or orange and a black wire running with it, all cut. Anyway, I described these wires above in my last post. I didn't detect any voltage from these wires with my voltage meter. So these may be coming from the antenna, not the fuse box unless they were disconnected(entirely possible).
Behind the radio, I found what, I think, is one pink wire(faded colors) from, if I remember correctly, is a 16 or 18 pin connector, which, I think is original to the harness. There is no second pink wire. I tried to connect this wire to the blue wire from my radio without success. There is also a 7 pin connector and a very large yellow connector also behind the radio. I don't know what this yellow connector is. I thought it may have gone to the tuner, but I looked at some tuners on ebay, and it doesn't look like this is the case. I would really like to know what this yellow plug is. It doesn't seem to hurt anything being disconnected.
I've been going at this a week, having it apart and together several times. I don't think I'll tackle this again until next week. I need to get my antenna out from the retracted position, so I can use it manually. I can't do it myself. My mechanic got it out once. I've got an appointment to take it in Tuesday for this purpose. I have taken out the antenna relay, so it won't retract on me again.
I think I'm going to take the panel off under the glove compartment, so maybe I can see what is connected to the fuse box if I can get to the fuse box from there and also see if my old radio tuner is still there.
According to the old owner, the radio antenna worked up and down a week before he transported it to me. When I got it, the antenna did not work up or down.
Thanks for answering my post.

Hot Rod Roy

All this verbiage only shows how confused you are. I asked one question, but you did not answer it:

I'm having trouble understanding how your antenna could be working backwards! With the relay removed, you should be able to make the antenna go up by applying +12v. to the green wire, and ground on the grey wire at the relay connector.

straycat21

Thank you for the reply. I don't feel confused, but I appreciate your helping me. I was trying to convey all that I had done.

I think I answered your question about the pink wire at the relay. It appears to be a flat double wire going into the relay on the radio side of the relay. By double, I mean it looks like an electrical cord or speaker wire but all pink. I did not tap into this. There is only one single pink wire behind the radio. I did try to tap into this wire without success. At the console is a pink/black wire. It did not have current.

I'm not taking my radio out anymore this week. I don't have time. I've spent all week on this. Next week, I'll do it.

I don't think the antenna was working backwards. I turned off the new radio I installed, and, to my surprise, the antenna retracted. Would not extend when I turned it back on.

So green is the up wire and gray is the ground. White is down. Correct? I think the service manual confused me.

Thanks again for following this. I think I'll take pictures and try to post them next time I take my radio out.

straycat21

I guess I did say originally that when I turned the radio on, the antenna retracted. My error.

Hot Rod Roy

For UP, the green wire is +12v. and the grey wire is ground.

For DOWN, the white wire is +12v. and the green wire is ground.

The relay must be removed for these tests, if you want to apply voltage or grounds to the wires, or you will destroy the relay.

Good bye. Good luck.

straycat21

Sorry to lose you. You've been a big help.

straycat21

Using Hot Rod Roy's instruction, I tested the antenna, and it goes up and down with jumped power but not through the radio. It will go down with the radio off, but not up with the radio on. The radio side of the relay cables have an orange and black wire going to one of the outside contacts. The middle relay contact have dual pink wires and the other outside contact have dual black wires. With accessory power off, I have 12 volt power through the orange/black contact using the double black wired contact for ground. With accessory power on, I do not have power through the double pink wired contact using the double black wired contact as ground. I hope I've expressed myself well here.