power antenna, i killed it Options

[celicaST]

nothing exciting, just unplugged my power antenna the other day. got sick of driving with it up when i hardly ever listen to the radio, but actually i still get reception to the one station i listen to anyways lol. plus its nice not to hear that annoying thing go up and down. so if anybody else wants a quick fix to keep it down, just remove interior trim panel and kill it!

[celiracer]

i wish i could find a way to make mine go up just when the tuner is on. and go down when the cd's are playing

[94GT]

i wish i could find a way to make mine go up just when the tuner is on. and go down when the cd's are playing

It turns out that the stock power antenna is pretty complicated. If the stock stereo (at least the '94 premium sound one that I've got) is powered off and you let the antenna go down, and then just press the cd button to power it back up, the antenna will stay down. However, if you are listening to the radio, then insert a cd or press the cd button with a cd in the deck already it will remain up while you are listening to the cd until the deck is powered off or the car is turned off.

Mine now does what you are talking about because I had to replace my antenna with a generic one. The generic one only needs a +12v line to power the unit (thicker heavier gauge wire), a negative (you can just ground it to the chasis for this one since that's where you're negative battery cable is grounded), and a signal wire. The signal wire is thinner because it isn't designed to carry the juice to operate the antenna but it is also +12v. Also, the thicker +12 supply line is always hot so that the antenna can still go down after you've pulled the key out of the ignition. You need a multimeter and a buddy so that you can start probing the wires on the stock harness that is connected to your old power antenna so you can figure out which signal wire you want to use. There are roughly five of them and they all tell the stock power antenna unit something different.

1. Ignition is on
2. There is power to the stereo
3. The tape deck is on
4. The cd player is on
5. The AM-FM tuner is on

When any of these things happen, the respective signal wire gives out +12 v on the multimeter. I then cut wire number 5 and wired it up to my new antenna. That way the antenna will only go up if and only if the radio is playing. The second I press the cd button, tape button, or turn the radio off or the car off, wire number 5 loses it's 12 v and as a result the antenna uses the juice off of the 12 v supply wire to lower itself.

I know the wheels are probably turning on how to do this with your stock power unit, but I caution you. The easy way would be to cut wires 1-4, but if you do that it might not work right (when you start taking apart the stock antenna you realize it's got it's own little brain (the brown box) that interprets the signals and figures out whether to put the antenna up or down). I'm not saying don't try it, but don't do anything that can't be undone.

The generic power antenna unit cost me 45 dollars at Advance Auto Parts part number ATPW22
I also googled it and found it online listed as: METRA 44-PW22 UNIVERSAL POWER ANTENNA at various online shops (all priced around 40-45. Circuit City wanted 99)