more radio/antenna related questions

[Eric&Barb]

[mercury3298]

Ok, boys/girls I have a antenna that does NOT have a wire coming out of it can I purchase a cable and solder it in the antenna somehow and then run the cable over to my radio? I'm just not sure where to purchase the cable and how to do it any one every repair or install a cable to the antenna before this antenna has no wires coming from it but I haven't pulled it out yet and really examined it but from what I saw there isn't any wires coming from it at all.

[EarlT]

This radio was in my pastel blue 1961 beetle. It is a transistor radio, am and fm, and made in Japan. I know the radios were dealer installed, has anyone seen this before?
The tuner knob is on the left, and the on off volume on the right.
I included pics of the schematics also. I found no manufacturer name, and my google search came up empty.
Any clues? Thanks.

[type1vwjapan]

Been a while so thought I'd update you all on what has been going on. I didn't fall off the face of the earth.

I ended up exchanging my radios with radiophil. He was more than generous about doing so since it was evident the radio was not working like it should.

I swapped it out for a less valuable but more period correct Sapphire 1 Bendix. It has the grey knobs, was fully tuned, has crystal clear audio, and gives my car the stock and early look I'm after. I'm much more happy with this radio and it went in effortlessly in about an hour tops.

Makes a world of difference when your radio comes with the correct support plate, mounting bracket, and actually works!

Thanks again for all the help and support with absolutely no pics of what I was running in to. Sorry for my lack of pics, as I'm only out around my car in the night time really. I will get some pics of my current setup ASAP though.

[Eric&Barb]

Yes, loose connections do not help!
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[type1vwjapan]

Its now about 4 am, and about to wound up the evening or should I say morning. I made sure the radio was grounded for sure and even ran an extra wire like was suggested. Took out that switch wiring for the RediRad too. I think that is what was making all that noise this morning, but still not for sure.

Got my radio working much better tonight! Turns out where the speaker wires connect to the amp had come loose and were barely hanging on. Got a much louder volume now and my RediRad even worked pretty well. I think I can still get a louder volume, but I'm still happy with it overall. Maybe this is as good as it gets for this old of a radio.

How loud can these speakers get?

I'm gonna try driving around tomorrow and let the amp warm up more and see what results I can get.

Thanks again everyone and for baring with me all the way.

[Eric&Barb]

Disconnect the antenna and wiring then use a multimeter or test light connected to power to see if radio and amp are connected to ground.

Does not hurt to just add in a ground wire to both going to the wiper ground point.

If you got popping and the fuse did not blow, more than likely it is not shorting out.
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[Dangermouse]

For what it's worth, I completely empathsise with where you're coming from; everything should work as it should/did. I get it; which is why my Beetle is still 6V and I currently have two radios in pieces as I try and refurbish them to original working condition. Anything less is just cheating... Can be difficult and frustrating yet rewarding in equal measure. Stick with it

Some pics will help folks visualise what you're dealing with and motivate helpful responses!
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Do not follow me, for I may not lead. Do not lead me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either; actually just bugger off and stand over there will you.

[type1vwjapan]

can someone tell me how to check easily if my radio is grounded for sure or not? I know it's simple, but I'm a little bit tired at the moment.

Thank you!!

[type1vwjapan]

agreed, but to me a modern stereo just wouldn't leave me feeling satisfied at the end of the day. I already made a similar mistake once when I bought my 2000 Mexican Beetle. I thought I'd be happy with it, and it was in better mechanical condition than my '67 Australian Bug I have now, but I'm still much happier with my real, classic Beetle. Even if it has given me some fits after only owning it for a year. Finally is a great, little realiable car now.

I'm sure many can understand my point of view here. I'm the type that prefers old worn original stuff, rather than new repro stuff. not to say that i don't have plenty of repro parts on my bug, but I try to go original when I can and my wallet allows for it. I'm loving the oval assist straps with coat hooks and glovebox I got last month. A little worn out, but still give it that old, original feel that I'm sick for.

I know a radio is a whole other world though, and is even a little risky. I still can't help but to get this radio going one day.

For something as big and important as a radio, I wanted to get a real vintage one. I'm still happy with my purchase, just was feeling a little frustrated this morning as most would.

if I would've settled with one of those, then I'm sure I would already have it up and running in my bug, but that is beside the point to me. I wanted an actual real, vintage radio, and that is exactly what I got, even if it isn't working like it should.

There are a couple of places I can take it to get looked at and even repaired if need be. Flat4 in Tokyo is probably my best option here, as they are the go to for all and anything aircooled VW here. They even specialize in vintage sound system restorations like old juke boxes, etc.

I've already contacted them and am waiting on a response to see if they can help me out.

In the mean time, I'm going to retrace all of my work and see what the hell went wrong.

Do you think the radio wasn't grounded even though I thought it was? How can I tell easily if the radio is grounded correctly, along with the amp.

Let me explain the best that I can how I have this all wired and setup. I hope someone can point out a mistake.

Right now the power comes from the battery fuse (a red fuse) on 16AWG wire and then goes through an 8A radio fuse (white) and holder from Wolfsburg West, and then feeds into the power amp. That power amp is sitting on my front carpet pad for the trunk, not bolted down or anything. Then a like 16 pronged cable is connected into the back of the power amp from the radio unit itself. This is what gives the radio power at the dash when you turn the knob on.

The radio is then bolted to my wiper motor bracket along with a couple other ground wires. I checked for continuity from the power amp to where I have it bolted to the wiper motor, and it my multimeter beeped and told me there was continity.

I'm still thinking about bolting down the power amp to the body of the car in the trunk and then running an extra ground wire from the power amp to the car body for an additonal ground just in case. I doubt this is the issue though. But, it could very well be! Say, that maybe my bracket if screwed up somehow and is not actually grounding the radio like I think it is.

Again, I'll try and take some more pics when I get the chance. I think that is the only real way for you all to help me out more.

Still, I'm determined to try once more and see if I can't find something I botched up.

[Sharp64]

Probably not going to make me very popular but going to leave this right here.....

[type1vwjapan]

Yeah, I've heard that. The radio looks fine, but that won't do me any good. Hell, I had another radio in the car that already "looked" fine.

[type1vwjapan]

not too sure, but I would think so. I know there was in issue when he was converting it to 12 volts for me, and he had to order some unforseen additional parts to finish the conversion. Something about how this amp was 6 volts only and it couldn't be switched as easily as the blaunpunkt radios. I was told not to worry and that he'd made many of these conversions before.

He said the radio was converted successfully and that he tested it before shipping it out.

HMMMMM...

[Dangermouse]

Were any of the original electrolytic capacitors replaced when it was cleaned, tested and benchmarked? The word restored means different things to different people...
_________________
Do not follow me, for I may not lead. Do not lead me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either; actually just bugger off and stand over there will you.

[type1vwjapan]

Well, I managed to get everything hooked up and I still couldn't get any decent volume out of the radio. I let the amp warm up for a good 20-25 minutes too.

I made sure that my radio was grounded by the windshield wiper bracket, replaced that ancient fuse, mounted my antenna thoroughly, and then triple checked everything to make sure there were no loose connections, etc. Very clean work. Good crimps that are insulted, EVERYTHING. Heck, I even checked to make sure I had the cable from the radio the amp plugged in correctly to the pins. It only goes on one way so that checked out fine.

Then to top it all off, after I dropped my son off at his school I decided to fire up the radio again. Then I heard some popping sound coming from the back of the radio and immediately turned it off. No fuses blew, there was no smoke, nothing.

I did smell a little bit of heat I think, but I really don't know. The traffic is crazy here and you get whiffs of everything. I also don't have my glovebox installed and the amp sits right in front of the speaker. Now, this amp gets pretty warm so it might have just been that. The amp and radio wasn't abnormally hot to the touch, just warm as usual.

Freaked me the "you know what" out. So I pulled over as soon as I could and made sure nothing was melting or on fire. Nothing, which was a huge relief. I unplugged everthing for the time being until I can afford have someone look at this. Which could be a VERY LONG time.

Don't have any more money to throw into this whole radio deal at the moment. Guess it'll just be another ornament like my old radio. Damn...

Very dissapointed as I busted my ass off doing all my research and time into putting this radio in my car. To make sure I wasn't the one that hooked anything up wrong.

I'm not giving up, I just don't know where or what to do now.

Again, I made sure this Radio Phil on here had good feeback, and I saw nothing negative about him. He was also really good to do business with. The add claimed that it was a restored, working radio, and that it has been cleaned, tested, benchmarked, and the whole nine yards.

However, I have to suspect there is seriously something messed up with the radio now. This is all definitely not normal.

What could have caused those popping noises?

[Sharp64]

Not a clue if it needs to be grounded or not, but couldn't hurt. Id also much rather have it bolted down than sitting on some Velcro running around town.
_________________
1960 Indigo Blue Ragtop (Blue Barry)
1967 Ghia
1985 Westy Money Pit
“...some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” - Michael Caine

[type1vwjapan]

the amp is stock to the radio. haven't found anything other than what I found on this site. I posted it in one of my earlier posts. Guess I definitely be bolting it down then, as it even has brackets to do so.

[Eric&Barb]

If the amp is stock to the radio, would just bolt it down. Have you found any literature on the radio?
_________________
In Stereo, Where Available!

[type1vwjapan]

Got my wiring harness complete now for my new radio fuse and the switched circuit for the RediRad. Just have to go out to my car and hook it all up once the typhoon passes.

While I'm waiting I just wanted to clear up one more question that I asked previously.

Since the radio is grounded by the radio bracket, do I need to ground the amp as well? Will it help in any way?

My amp has brackets on both side that seem like it's supposed to bolt down. Will I experience any issues you think if I bolt it down in the front trunk area straight to the body?

Or would it be more wise to just get a velcro pad and hold it down on the carpet mat I have in the front trunk?

thanks again!

[type1vwjapan]

Thanks! That's what I really want to get if my car parts store has those.