Technical Electric arial

[Yaz22]

Has anyone replaced the electric arial on a Barchetta after it fails to lift when switching on the radio?

 

[LezLezLez65]

Hi Yaz22 - I cannot answer your question direcctly. On my B there is a manual aerial fitted only and this matches the handbook description. However I could replace with an auto aerial and have inspected wiring to do this. I have the "white" outlet present in the radio but my aerial would need to be replaced. It would then require power which I could probably get from a rear lighting circuit. I would then need to inspect that the wire from radio to aerial exists. I haven't done this yet!
Any further advice from you will be welcome.

 

[s130]

When our electric aerial failed I look to repair.

My notes:

07/03/17 : New Aerial - Nick
0044,390 Electric Aerial packed up - failed to fix it - corroded PCB, broken relay (internal)

Fitted Autoleads RMA878H Rubber Aerial (Halfords 187641)

Note: Wing hole is 20mm diam. Aerial requires 10mm. Packed diameter with nylon
washer over packing sliding sleeve stud. Also large penny washers, one rubber
and one of steel.

I purcahsed two of the same type so should there be an issue in the future I could just swop in a new one using the same adaptations regarding hole sizes.

Works well but have not done a back to back comparison with a 3 foot length antenna.

 

[Yaz22]

Hi Yaz22 - I cannot answer your question direcctly. On my B there is a manual aerial fitted only and this matches the handbook description. However I could replace with an auto aerial and have inspected wiring to do this. I have the "white" outlet present in the radio but my aerial would need to be replaced. It would then require power which I could probably get from a rear lighting circuit. I would then need to inspect that the wire from radio to aerial exists. I haven't done this yet!
Any further advice from you will be welcome.

Thanks. I have the auto aerial but it might be an idea to simply replace it with a manual one

 

[Yaz22]

When our electric aerial failed I look to repair.

My notes:

07/03/17 : New Aerial - Nick
0044,390 Electric Aerial packed up - failed to fix it - corroded PCB, broken relay (internal)

Fitted Autoleads RMA878H Rubber Aerial (Halfords 187641)

Note: Wing hole is 20mm diam. Aerial requires 10mm. Packed diameter with nylon
washer over packing sliding sleeve stud. Also large penny washers, one rubber
and one of steel.

I purcahsed two of the same type so should there be an issue in the future I could just swop in a new one using the same adaptations regarding hole sizes.

Works well but have not done a back to back comparison with a 3 foot length antenna.

Thanks for the detailed measurements - these are really helpful. I appreciate your idea of a rubber aerial, but as I mentioned above, it might be simplest to replace with a manual aerial.

 

[bugsymike]

Around the mid 70s electric aerials became the must have accessory, however I generally found them to be poorly made and very susceptible to water as often fitted in a wing through the wheel arch allowing all the mud and water to soak them. Even without that, they often became lazy and only went up or down part of the way resulting in damage.
Short aerials mounted on the roof seem to get good reception and usually free from damage as long as they don't become loose allowing water into the roof lining etc.
I quite liked the Mazda use of the aerial fitted into the windscreen although more expensive when replacement required.

 

[s130]

Thanks for the detailed measurements - these are really helpful. I appreciate your idea of a rubber aerial, but as I mentioned above, it might be simplest to replace with a manual aerial.

The electric aerial has that large 20mm diameter hole in the wing. Most manual aerials have a smaller hole requirement so some packing will be required.

We chose the rubber duck aerial as it is fairly accident and vandal proof. Also with the one we chose you can alter the angle of the aerial as it has a swivel boss/joint at the base.