Richy_T
Veteran Member
I have a 2000 Jetta that I bought used. Shortly after I bought it, I replaced the head unit with a Blaupunkt unit I bought from Europe. I had no idea that the Jetta uses an amplified antenna (is this all models?) but other than having to move a wire in the factory harness, it seemed to be a fine exchange. I lost my AM channels but I just assumed that was due to it not being a US head unit. FM was fine as far as I was concerned.
In the past few years, the coating on the whip started to break down. Eventually, my FM reception has deteriorated. I thought it was probably just the whip which I recently got around to replacing but this didn't help things. Today, I measured continuity and found it not present (though this may be OK with an amplified antenna?). So I'm wondering if the damaged plastic on the whip allowed water to get into the antenna body and damage the amplifier.
So I'm guessing first thing is to check that the radio is really putting out 12V on the antenna? That should just be a simple voltage measurement at the back of the radio, right? Is there a next step after that other than just replacing the antenna base? The antenna base I see available has a connector close to the base. Is this factory or am I going to have to splice something in? (Never mind this bit. Shows well in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2z_YURcm7w)
In the past few years, the coating on the whip started to break down. Eventually, my FM reception has deteriorated. I thought it was probably just the whip which I recently got around to replacing but this didn't help things. Today, I measured continuity and found it not present (though this may be OK with an amplified antenna?). So I'm wondering if the damaged plastic on the whip allowed water to get into the antenna body and damage the amplifier.
So I'm guessing first thing is to check that the radio is really putting out 12V on the antenna? That should just be a simple voltage measurement at the back of the radio, right? Is there a next step after that other than just replacing the antenna base? The antenna base I see available has a connector close to the base. Is this factory or am I going to have to splice something in? (Never mind this bit. Shows well in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2z_YURcm7w)
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