Hey guys,

Problem with my antenna. I ordered a replacement triband (AM/FM/CB) antenna from Cadillac Craft Center; it's the generic AC Delco replacement (they long ago discontinued the OEM piece.) Only problem is that stuff isn't hooking up properly. NOW, I'm not doing the work...my mechanic is...but...they say they can't get the new part to fit in. There's a wire that's like a female RCA with a little sleeve attachment that goes from the antenna itself; the other end is this kinda male end thing that has a weird expanding/contracting metal thing behind it. The shop says what they need is this "coaxial" attachment. I have the piece here, and it doesn't look coaxial!

Here's what I think is going on: they need to hook that male end into the new splitter that came with the antenna. Then, that splitter seems to have a male version of that weird little "coaxial" connector that (maybe?) hooks into the CB box, which in turn hooks into the radio head unit (whew!)

Sorry to be unclear, but I went to Radio Shreck (oops...Shack) and asked them what the connectors were on all these things, and they didn't have any idea. Do any of you have any experience with this replacement antenna? I've attached a picture.

Disclaimer: I have not done this before but I do recognize the connectors and this is what I would do, (it confirms your description..I think). Good luck
Paul

Let's hope our hypothesis is correct...I'm going to go down Monday to check it out. Any other ideas, folks? Sorry again about the unclear-ness.

If you can deal without the C/B hookup, you can run that wire straight off the antenna right to your radio. If you need the C/B I dont' know what to tell you. YOur best bet would be to try and find a junkyard and see if they have one. Have you tried comparing your old antenna to this new one?

The pic you posted where you labeled everything is the only way I could see it being hooked up. I wonder what is different with the OEM one. I guess both connectors run straight off of it instead of using that splitter huh?

Okay,

I've figured it out (with a little help from you guys!)

Yes, Paul's little diagram was right. The confusing part is that the OEM piece lacks the splitter box. Why? Okay, this is where it gets a little funny!

The new generic AC Delco replacement antenna for all the mid 80's GM cars must not have a load coil on the antenna mast itself (it's this piece about halfway up that looks fatter than the rest of the antenna.) Rather, the extra coil is in the splitter itself (!) You need the extra coil because a CB antenna needs to be a certain length long because it needs to "resonate" to be able to broadcast properly; I believe the proper length is 36 inches. On the splitter, there are little pots to "tune" the CB AND AM frequencies separately. If I would have known that, I might not have bought the antenna; I have heard these sort of devices don't work nearly as well as a normal load-coil antenna.

The problem was that since the old piece had a load coil on the antenna, it didn't need a splitter. So, the little Motorola connector went all the way to the antenna itself! On the replacement Delco unit, it has a male Motorola connector that goes to the CB transceiver itself. The shop was confused because they didn't realize that all they had to do was take out the old cable.

Now that I've rambled, can anyone confirm that the new antenna we've "diagrammed" indeed doesn't have a load coil on the antenna itself? I'm just wondering for fun; I won't know until they have the power hooked up and the antenna will move. I am hoping they can use the old escutcheon on the fender to install it, but again, I'm not sure. As long as I can make like a trucker and get on the mic, I'm fine!