Remote antenna

Under what circumstances is the antenna supposed to be up? As far as
I can tell, it is up whenever the empeg display is on, although I'm pretty
sure I have the tuner flying lead connected to the same place the original
head unit used to control the antenna. I have tried turning off
all the radio-related functions I can see but the antenna stays up.

Is there a way to see what state the player has commanded?

Is there a sequence I can send to the tuner module to switch the output
off and on?

I am aware of the FAQ's suggested resistor-to-ground fix but haven't had
a chance to try it yet. I'm a bit doubtful this will be the solution
as my voltmeter shows a clear change of state from 0 to 12V and back
to 0 correlated with the display state, so it doesn't seem too likely
anything is floating, but I'll give it a try anyway.

On the tuner module's extension cable (optional in most cases) there should be a wire that is only connected on one end. That is the one you want to use to singnal your power antenna to operate. On some extansion cables, every wire is black. Otherwise, it should be blue.

Yes, I used the blue tuner flying lead.

I just noticed you are in the UK, TA is something us US folk generally don't use. From the 2.00 release notes:

Mk.2 & Mk.2A owners note: the powered antenna line will always be active
while TA is switched on, so that the tuner can scan for the appropriate
RDS information.

Yes, I used the blue tuner flying lead.

Are you sure you didn't use the blue amp remote line? That's a different wire.

Your description of the symptoms is consistent with someone who has used the blue amp remote wire to power their radio antenna.

The blue tuner wire is only on the extension cable for the tuner module.

Also, make sure you are using 2.0 software, which behaves differently with regard to the antenna than the 1.03 software does.

> Are you sure you didn't use the blue amp remote line? That's a different wire.
I used the blue flying lead labelled `power antenna' coming out of the tuner
connector block. I connected it to the place on the car wiring connector where
the original head unit had connected its labelled power antenna wire.

> Your description of the symptoms is consistent with someone who has used the
> blue amp remote wire to power their radio antenna.
When are the two signals different? When the empeg powers up, does the tuner
antenna remote power up right away?

> Also, make sure you are using 2.0 software, which behaves differently with
> regard to the antenna than the 1.03 software does.
I am using 2.0b11, with and without hijack.

Ah, I should not have doubted. The 1K-resistor-to-ground solved my problem.

When are the two signals different?

Although you have solved your problem, I will answer this question for posterity.

The difference between the blue Antenna wire and the blue Amp Remote wire is as follows:

- The Blue Amp Remote wire is meant to turn on the amplifiers in the car. It is active whenever the player is supposed to be making sound (which happens to be whenever its display is turned on). This counts even when it is playing MP3 files and you are not listening to the radio. It is only inactive whenever the player is completely turned off, or when the player is in standby mode.

- The Blue Antenna wire is meant to raise and lower a powered antenna, and/or to power an antenna signal booster. It is active whenever the tuner is supposed to be pulling in a signal. For instance, whenever you are tuned to a radio station or when the RDS Traffic Announce (TA) feature is on. It is inactive whenever the player is turned off, or when you are listening to the MP3 or AUX sources with TA turned off.

Hmm. This sounds like it should be a FAQ entry.

Hmm, seems it was already covered by this entry. I added the note about the TA mode, that should cover it.

Thanks for adding the clarification about TA mode.

If I may suggest a small alteration which would have made me sure that
FAQ entry would solve my (slightly different) problem. It now says:

Some users have experienced a problem where their antenna raises correctly when they switch to the radio, but it does not lower when they switch back to MP3 mode.

but to cover my case, it should say:

Some users have experienced a problem where their antenna raises whenever the empeg is switched on, or raises correctly when they switch to the radio, but it does not lower when they switch back to MP3 mode.

Wording clarified further in the FAQ entry.