Getting the aerial working on aftermarket radio

JustAnotherSaver

So I had a guy with his own car audio shop install this (Alpine CDE-178BT) head unit in my wife's car that we have since taken back out for a couple reasons.

Today I went to replace my CDE-126BT with this unit to check if everything worked and noticed a problem regards the aerial/radio - I can't get it to work properly.

Now originally I couldn't install it in my wife's car as I couldn't figure out the connections. I did the 126-BT in my own car but the 178-BT was a little different and I'm not just talking about switching the red and yellows which I'd come across before anyway. I'm an electrical idiot so I ended up paying someone which ended up being more than just a few quid.

For the install in to her car I ended up having to pay for whatever that large metal tube is on the left

which has a blue connector on the end that i'm holding. The thin blue wire with the red connectors comes out of this metal tube and ends up connecting in to the fused loom over on the right hand side.

As you can see, the thing i'm holding must be something to do with the aerial as that's the only spot it connects.

So I plug it in to my car and various things work - iPod works, bluetooth calls work etc but the radio is a problem.

I tried getting radio 1 (don't particularly listen to it but as I've no DAB then if i'm listening to the radio then that'll be it) but couldn't get it. Strange - as i can get the radio stations perfectly fine out of the 126BT.

Then the weird thing is it actually did pick up a radio station - Radio [name] with name being the county i'm in. No Radio 1 though, no local stations

Just wondering if anyone can actually pinpoint where i'm going wrong. It doesn't have a 'normal' radio lead/cable running from the head unit itself that connects to the cars aerial (like the 126-BT does and the 103-BT I had before that).

AdrianC

That metal tube thing is a cheap aerial booster.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154137781061

The blue feed to it, should be a radio-on +12v, probably from the electric aerial feed out of the head unit.

Just unplug that +12v, and unplug the booster from the back of the head unit. Then plug the car's aerial into the hole in the back of the head unit... It's bottom left of the back of the HU in your pic, where the thicker black cable plugs in.

Don't forget there's two different car radio antenna connection standards - there's the DIN in the back of your HU, and that looks like an ISO in the blue block. Adaptors are available cheaply either way.

JustAnotherSaver

So what you're saying then is that i need to buy myself one of these things and insert that in to the bottom left labelled RADIO & then just plug the aerial lead from the car in to it?

I say buy one of these because the radio didn't actually come with one.

While i'm on with it, the one in the link should be fine enough yeah? I can't see why not. It looks like the one in your pic but best to check before a reply comes in.

molerat

As long as your car aerial looks like the black one in the picture then yes, that is what you need. Are you sure there is not one stuck in the back of your old Alpine - there should be as all Alpines are the same although I believe the 126 has the aerial socket on a fly lead.

The blue plug is a Fakra connector used on modern cars, the lump is to send 12v back up the centre core to power the car's inbuilt aerial amplifier.

JustAnotherSaver

molerat said:

1) As long as your car aerial looks like the black one in the picture then yes, that is what you need. Are you sure there is not one stuck in the back of your old Alpine - there should be as all Alpines are the same although I believe the 126 has the aerial socket on a fly lead.

2) The blue plug is a Fakra connector used on modern cars, the lump is to send 12v back up the centre core to power the car's inbuilt aerial amplifier.

1) The aerial socket in my old Alpine is on the end of an attached black cable. You can't unplug this cable from the rear of the 126-BT. Well, maybe you could but it looks pretty set to me. Helpful too as it gives it a bit of length.

2) Don't know if it makes sense any but the guy I paid to install it was in to an Astra H (04-10). This will be going in to an 06 Mondeo.

molerat

1) Yes it is on a cable but it has a socket on the end and one of those adaptors will likely be stuck in it.