edgewoodrx
Sep 30th, 07, 11:31 AM
I made the mistake of buying a used Alpha brand radio without the installation plug. It was no problem getting one from the manufacturer for a mere $37.00 (yes 37 bucks for a stupid plug with shipping). After I paid 50 for the radio, I now have $87.00 in a radio that I could have bought new, with a warranty for $99.00.
Oh well, so much for the first half of the sob story. It gets better. I get it all hooked up and after much hair pulling figure this out:
The radio works pretty good as long as only the center probe of the coax antennae cable touches inside the radio lead. As soon as the shielded (outer part) is of the antennae cable is pushed in to allow the two shielded parts to make connection, the reception goes away like it has no antennae. I figure it has a bad antennae cable so I get another (used cable) and tried it and the same thing happened. I tried all this both with and without the main (windshield) plug connected. The antennae wire itself provided adequate reception and allowed me to rule out any problems with my w/s antennae.
Never one to leave things alone, I even went so far as to cut the radio side antennae female plug thinking it may be bad and stripped it back to isolate the shield from the center (copper) wire. I held those against the antennae wire plug and it did no better. I had planned to solder a new plug to the radio lead if it all worked.
I tried runing the radio with just the center antennae wire hooked up but the reception stinks. I'm about to do what I should have done to begin with and go buy a 99 dollar radio unless you guys have any ides. Thanks for hearing me whine like a little girl. Any ideas?
Mike
Oh well, so much for the first half of the sob story. It gets better. I get it all hooked up and after much hair pulling figure this out:
The radio works pretty good as long as only the center probe of the coax antennae cable touches inside the radio lead. As soon as the shielded (outer part) is of the antennae cable is pushed in to allow the two shielded parts to make connection, the reception goes away like it has no antennae. I figure it has a bad antennae cable so I get another (used cable) and tried it and the same thing happened. I tried all this both with and without the main (windshield) plug connected. The antennae wire itself provided adequate reception and allowed me to rule out any problems with my w/s antennae.
Never one to leave things alone, I even went so far as to cut the radio side antennae female plug thinking it may be bad and stripped it back to isolate the shield from the center (copper) wire. I held those against the antennae wire plug and it did no better. I had planned to solder a new plug to the radio lead if it all worked.
I tried runing the radio with just the center antennae wire hooked up but the reception stinks. I'm about to do what I should have done to begin with and go buy a 99 dollar radio unless you guys have any ides. Thanks for hearing me whine like a little girl. Any ideas?
Mike