I can now receive Radio with mast antenna down

[stevenlee]

I have a Kenwood head unit that has only one antenna input which I connected to the mast antenna.
Like many other people, I'd like to keep the mast down and receive radio reception.
Previously I installed a switch to allow or disable the mast from activating.
With the mast down, radio reception is bad to non-existent.

While I had the center console out this weekend, I decided to make a Y connector to enable me to plug into the mast antenna and the window antenna.

I simply soldered the center wires together, insulated them, and then soldered the braided wire shields together, and finished it off with heat shrink insulation.

My initial testing shows great results!
Now I get FM reception with my mast down. Raising the mast did not appear to improve the reception.

I haven't done much testing but with the car in my garage, the FM reception went from no reception to very good reception with the mast down. (I raised and lowered the mast with my switch to compare.)
I'll do further testing when I get my other electrical work done and drive my car again.

This might be just the easy fix that people have been looking for (and inexpensive too).

 

[Hapa88]

Wait, I'm confused. If you don't want to use the Mast antenna, can't you just connect the window antenna into your Kenwood deck? Then just unplug your mast antenna's power so it doesn't go up.

 

[stevenlee]

Wait, I'm confused. If you don't want to use the Mast antenna, can't you just connect the window antenna into your Kenwood deck? Then just unplug your mast antenna's power so it doesn't go up.

Yes that can be done.
I read on Prime that many people get mediocre reception with the window antenna so I wanted to be able to use the mast antenna in places where the reception is poor. I live on an island and there are many remote areas that have bad reception due to the mountains.
My test in my garage gave me surprisingly good results with only the window glass antenna.... but I live in "civilization".

 

[Edresh]

I have a 91, are you saying there is a wire antenna built into the back hatch window, I can only see orange wires which I believe is a window defogger.

Educate me, where is the plug located for the window antenna?

 

[stevenlee]

I have a 91, are you saying there is a wire antenna built into the back hatch window, I can only see orange wires which I believe is a window defogger.

Educate me, where is the plug located for the window antenna?

The lines in the rear window glass are two separate circuits. One for defogger and one for the antenna. The antenna connects to the top (right?) of the glass.

The OEM head unit has two antenna connections. Most aftermarket head units only have one antenna connection.

 

[kookoo4nsx]

How does this work with AM radio? My reception is terrible!
FM not that good either. I have an aftermarket Alpine and amp. I bet
the window antenna is not hooked up.

 

[stevenlee]

How does this work with AM radio? My reception is terrible!
FM not that good either. I have an aftermarket Alpine and amp. I bet
the window antenna is not hooked up.

I live away from the city and only get a few AM stations in my garage. I just got home and did a test and the few stations were still received but had a little more static with the mast antenna down.
I don't normally listen to AM stations.

 

[Edresh]

Alright looked in the manual and saw that the OEM radio has two inputs, one that appears to accept a male plug for the mast antenna and another that is a female plug for the window glass antenna, like the the addapter pictured.

Before I pull the radio out, I what to know if there are two oem antenna cable
Running to the back of the radio and are they both pluged in, or just one cable, It would make sence that there are two cables?

 

[stevenlee]

Alright looked in the manual and saw that the OEM radio has two inputs, one that appears to accept a male plug for the mast antenna and another that is a female plug for the window glass antenna, like the the addapter pictured.

Before I pull the radio out, I what to know if there are two oem antenna cable
Running to the back of the radio and are they both pluged in, or just one cable, It would make sence that there are two cables?

The two antenna cables plug directly into the radio's two inputs separately.

 

[Nero Tenebre]

Wow, it's amazing what you can discover on this site. Someone please post pics of what the plug that goes into the window antenna at the back of the head unit looks like. And also, pictures of what the connection at the rear window hatch looks like. I disconnected and deleted my antenna mast/motor long ago and have had woeful reception since, even though I replaced it with a motorcycle style hidden antenna. This could be the solution to my reception problem!

 

[stevenlee]

Wow, it's amazing what you can discover on this site. Someone please post pics of what the plug that goes into the window antenna at the back of the head unit looks like. And also, pictures of what the connection at the rear window hatch looks like. I disconnected and deleted my antenna mast/motor long ago and have had woeful reception since, even though I replaced it with a motorcycle style hidden antenna. This could be the solution to my reception problem!

It's been 6 months since I made and installed the "Y" connector and I don't have any photos of the OEM antenna connectors, but one is a male and the other is a female. They are the counterparts to the connections on the "y" connector in the photo of my original post.

 

[ysoslow]

i bought my y connector from amazon for 3.99 work great. i get great signals.

nero- next time we meet, remind me to give it to you. i have an extra one.

 

[CDX_NSX]

i bought my y connector from amazon for 3.99 work great. i get great signals.

Would you be able to link us to it, or let us know what the item is listed as? Haven't had much luck in my search. Was going to make one, but would rather just pick one up since I would need to source the connectors anyway. Thanks.

 

[ysoslow]

http://www.amazon.com/METRA-40-UV44-Motorola-Antenna-Y-adapter/dp/B0002EXF1A/ref=pd_cp_e_0

it's about a foot long, but you can just hide it behind the radio.

 

[surferX]

http://www.amazon.com/METRA-40-UV44-Motorola-Antenna-Y-adapter/dp/B0002EXF1A/ref=pd_cp_e_0

it's about a foot long, but you can just hide it behind the radio.

That looks like it bridges two males into one female. Maybe that doesn't matter. Have you used this in your car?

 

[ANYTIME]

That looks like it bridges two males into one female. Maybe that doesn't matter. Have you used this in your car?

This looks like the correct one (two female into one male)
LINK

 

[comtec]

Wow, it's amazing what you can discover on this site. Someone please post pics of what the plug that goes into the window antenna at the back of the head unit looks like. And also, pictures of what the connection at the rear window hatch looks like. I disconnected and deleted my antenna mast/motor long ago and have had woeful reception since, even though I replaced it with a motorcycle style hidden antenna. This could be the solution to my reception problem!

Mike

 

[Nero Tenebre]

Perfect! Thanks

 

[sugoi]

I made mine this past weekend and my aftermarket deck's FM works great with the mast antenna down.

 

[blue_myriddn]

Interesting, so with the OEM radio you can just switch the plugs and the AM will pull its signal from the mast antenna and the FM will pull from the window? That would be coolio!

 

[ysoslow]

That looks like it bridges two males into one female. Maybe that doesn't matter. Have you used this in your car?

it's in my car right now. Been using it since march. i saw the picture that the OP posted and went searching for it. from the OP picture, it's 2 male and one female. for 3.99, i was willing to test it out. Radio reception got much better.

 

[TURBO2GO]

I think the better fm is being pulled from the glass antenna and not the mast. Have you guys tried just swapping plugs instead of joining the antennas?

 

[I_M_Legend]

Mike

Is one of the antennas for AM and the other for FM or are they both shared?

 

[warrenw]

The Willman's upgrade does essentially the same thing.
connecting the antenna cables together in parallel like you did will work, but you are changing the impedance from 75 ohms to 38 ohms. Not perfect. The head unit is tuned to a 75 ohm antenna and you will lose some signal to the tuner due to reflections.
Today's 100% digital head units do not need as much of a signal to turn reception into great sound output.
Overall, reception, mostly because tuners do not need as much of a signal, will be better.

I have the Willman's upgrade. It is a Kenwood digital receiver. Using the two antennas connected in parallel like this seems to work great. Even with the mast in the down position. (I added a mast switch to control the mast)

 

[Old Guy]

Is one of the antennas for AM and the other for FM or are they both shared?

I don't think so. The world is full of conventional analog automobile radios that receive AM and FM just fine on a conventional mast antenna. No need for a separate glass mounted antenna. Both AM and FM originate from the source with a vertical polarization of the electric field which works ideally with the vertical mounted mast for receiving. I think the Euro and Japanese spec cars (or maybe just the R versions) came with antenna switches to retract the mast with the radio in operation so perhaps Honda wanted to provide a back-up when the mast was down. The North American cars never received the antenna switch so why Honda included the glass mounted antenna on North American cars is a puzzle.