Aerial printed circuit.

[jaygee]

I had a radio problem.Radio worked fine on FM but was barely audible on AM/MW.
As a keen Talk Sport listener this peed me off no end.

By a process of elimination I arrived at the bee sting aerial .Inside the bulbus bit on the roof is a printed circuit board ,I touched the end of the aerial ( which I had unscrewed, obviously) on the point where the inner core of the aerial cable is soldered to the little circuit board and the radio was fine not a buzz or crackle on FM or AM.

 I used a bit of wire to by pass the cicuit board ,joining the original  inner core  point of entry to the point it connects with the aerial ,put it back together and now the radio is excellent without using the circuit board.
So does anyone know why the circuit board is there ..thanks

[carl]

this printed circuit is an amplifier for the ariel to get a better reception
it is  powered by a live wire to the bottom of ariel

[jaygee]

Thanks for that Carl.Mine never had a live wire or any other wire to it except the coaxial thats obviously why it didn't work properly.

evidently there was a new aerial fitted under warranty in 1998,makes me wonder if they re connected the live wire.If they didn't it must be under the roof lining.!!!!!!!

[Overseer]

so dude.. u did all this from the outside.. how does that "bulbous bit" come off?

[jaygee]

Did it from the outside ??  I took off the trim that holds the roof lining in place above the rear hatch(This pulls down and is held with push in plastic clips).You can then reach inside the roof lining undo the big nut that holds the aerial on.Underneath the bulbous bit of the aerial are two cross head screws that open the thing up when removed exposing the circuit board..A 5 minute job.

[Overseer]

ah gotcha.. may have to do the same on mine