I'm tired of trying to find an OEM working antenna where the seller doesn't want an arm and a leg for it so I went ahead and bought this aftermarket one.

It's a manual, screw-in type. This give me plenty of options as far as the antenna mast goes. And not only that, it's a hell lot cheaper then the OEM Nissan powered antenna.

The problem I have is that the antenna cord is too short to go all the way to the headunit/cd player. How can I go about fixing this issue? As you can see from the 2nd picture, I'm holding the aftermaket antenna end and the factory antenna plug on the right side of it. Can I just cut the wires and connect them that way?

 

maybe this can help.

http://www.google.com/products/catal...ed=0CDMQ8wIwBA

 

were did u buy the antenna from ?

 

that should work


edit off topic awesome signature lol

 

Thanks!

Now I no longer have to deal with the antenna issues whether it be failing or not retracting. I can replace the antenna mast to anything I want and not having to worry about the antenna mast not retracting

I think i'm going to go with the S2K style antenna

 

If it die on me, I'm going to use the FM antenna from my old stereo receiver, and tape it inside the trunk.

 

Interesting. Too bad you didnt ask me. I have a working one that I do not want. Ida sold it cheap.

 

quick question, so when you turn on the radio, do you still hear the motor that lift's the oem antenna?

 

No. You have to remove the old powered antenna out and install this. No more noise.

 

thanks!

 

The factory antenna is not amplified, obviously...so if you put a shorter mast you will lose reception strength. If you're doing it for looks that's fine, but don't expect it to work very well.

 

$42.95 for a Maxima Power Antenna @ www.AntennaMastsRus.com

 

The 80's and 90's are over. Time to move on from the power antenna and bury the horrible invention. Nothing worse than turning your car on everyday and hearing "REEEEEEEERERERE" as that annoying thing rises 3' out of the back end of the car. A 3" Carbon fiber antenna is the way of the future.

 

You really have no idea what you're talking about. There is nothing wrong with a properly functioning power antenna and it will get MUCH better reception than that "for looks only" stubby antenna you linked. You are correct, power antennas ARE no longer used in newer cars. However, they were replaced by amplified systems typically using in-glass antennas...with mixed results I might add. It all comes down to want you want from your antenna, form or function. You can only choose one.

If your power antenna mast is damaged, replace it...and the antenna will work fine for years.

 

I do know what I'm talking about and was only joking about power antennas. My power antenna hasn't worked on my Max since I bought it and my reception is very clear to all local FM stations. Probably because we have an antenna installed in the rear window and if you have an aftermarket headunit with an amplified antenna setting then you are good to go. The power antenna is only truly useful for AM, but the only people I know that listen to AM is my grandfather. I very rarely listen to the Radio at all for that matter. I hate adds every other 3 songs and listening to the same hit 10 songs over and over week after week. That's why I have a built in MP3 connection and can listen to whatever I want when I want.

I'm still left with a broken antenna that no longer works. This leaves me with 3 options. 1: buy another power antenna that I'll have to listen to open and close, get stuck or snapped off.
2: get a simple 3" antenna for looks that will give me decent reception when needed as well as look sporty and updated to today's standards.
3: shave and fill the antenna hole which will provide my car with a sleek antenna-less look but will eliminate all AM reception.

 

I've had first hand experience with those short stuff "CF" antennas, and the reception is 50 times worse. Reception is almost, dare I say, non-existent. They're just for looks.

On my Max, I changed the headunit to an Eclipse..FM reception went waaaaay down, and AM too.

Because of my experiences, when my gf wanted to listen to her Ipod, I kept her stock Bose deck and added an Ipod interface solely for the purpose of keeping the awesome AM/FM reception with the stock antennae(s).

 

Agreed with what the wizard has to say about aftermarket headunits. I've had 3 in my car, 2 pioneers and a JVC. All of them suffered in comparison to the OEM headunit FM reception. The other complaint is that the pioneers don't control the antenna properly. When the headunit is powered to any source the antenna extends while other brands such as the JVC only deployed the antenna when the radio tuner was selected. A simple switch fixed the problem but a notable issue anyway.

Back on topic, OP I say shave off the antenna completely if you are going to install the little stubby thing, maybe retro fit one of those shark fin style ones from another model vehicle.

 

i am interested to install a switch to the antenna. which wire did you cut?

 

I spliced a switch into the power antenna wire. I forget which color it was check the FSM or most radio harnesses have the wires labled with what they are.


To install the switch simply get a standard toggle switch

Cut the power antenna wire

Add neccessary wire to run to where you will put the switch, I put mine in the empty spot I had next to the dimmer.

connect each end of wire to each terminal on the switch

The switch then just acts as an off off for the antenna and can only be used when there is power to the headunit.

 

you shouldn't cut anything, just buy an antenna 10' cable extension

 

I had to replace mine last year and i bought the aftermarket 1 from autozone, it took me some time to get it in and rite because of the mounting brace that comes with it was too hard for me to figure out how to use so i had to mad the OE mount and it came out perfect

 

I'm not talking about the antenna cable, I'm talking about the wire harness from the headunit.

 

There is a black/red stripe wire (97-99, I don't know about the 95-96) on the antenna that is the up/down signal from the head unit. Since this wire comes from the head unit, you can do this under the dash behind the head unit. If you are using an adaptor between the head unit and the Nissan wire harness, I would suggest that you cut the adaptor wire and not mess with the nissan wire harness.

 

I shaved off my power antenna a few weeks ago. In the 14 years I've owned this car I have never listened to AM. The antenna drain hose broke off from the metal connector and caused rust on the inside of the right quarter and bubbled the outside.

The bose rear windshield antenna gets just as good FM reception as that power antenna did so I said the hell with it.

 

I have bought power aftermarket replacement ones from mastsrus (on ebay motors) for $14.95 each and they fit well and are easy to install. Have bought a few because the kids keep breaking them. Since they are so inexpensive, I buy two at a time (we have two Maximas) so that I always have a spare. I highly recommend them

 

if it is on the head unit side then the only wire left is the remote lead?

 

I'm not sure I understand your question. All radios have a wire that is used to raise a powered antenna. Usually it is called antenna in the radio documentation. On my Sony radio, this is a solid blue wire. On the Metra adaptor that plugs into the Nissan harness, this is also a solid blue wire.

Some radios have another lead called remote or remote amplifier and this is for a rear amplified subwoofer or something like that. On my Sony radio, this is a blue/white stripe wire and the Metra adaptor is the same color.

The difference would be that the remote wire would have 12 volts on it any time the radio was on, regardless of whether you were listening to the tuner or the CD or using the aux jack, etc. The antenna wire would have 12 volts only when you were listening to the tuner and would be 0 volts any other time.

 

I stand corrected. I had no idea that we had rear glass antennas. From looking at the FSM it isn't amplified though, so it works in conjunction with the mast on the rear fender. Plus, most people have tinted windows which can kill the in-glass antenna reception. I have a Kenwood deck in my car with a built-in HD tuner. Right now my mast is broken (just got the car recently) and I get crap reception on FM. When the mast is replaced the reception will return. Logically, the mast is important and the in-glass antenna is only to assist signal recpetion. (it's technically called a diversity antenna system)

 

Actually, no, many radios don't have a separate wire for the antenna. Pioneers for example only have one wire that is 12v switched (when the radio is on) and you have the antenna raised the whole time. (or install a switch)

 

where would i be able to find an antenna like this for my 4th gen. in dire need...

 

I also had bad reception with the smaller antennas. I found an i30 in the junk yard and no one had touched the antenna. works perfect BUT the mounting bracket had to be rotated 90 degrees.

one of the best 15 bucks i ever spent

 

Good info

 

To the people who were talking about the back window, it does affect the reception. The person who had the car before me cut the defrost lines when trying to take off tint and it screwed it sounded bad. The antenna mast was also bent probably from a car wash(stock antenna). I replaced the window through Safelite and it helped a considerable amount. Also tinted it which I really didn't notice a difference. But I plan to also replace the antenna because it has a slice in the outer part from being bent and will probably just go with OEM. I was looking towards the short one because they look 10x better, but I like having the option of the radio.