Wiring to VAG bee sting aerial

Can someone tell me how many wires are supposed to go into the amplified bee sting aerial commonly found in VAG hatch backs (e.g. a 2001 A3).

I've lost radio reception in mine and I suspect the amplifier in the aerial base is gone. So I unscrewed the aerial base and opened it up. Now all I can see going into the base is a single core black wire... no co-ax and no power wire. So could it be that the radio signal + power is carried by a single wire???

Before opening it up I picked up an amplified bee sting aerial (universal fit for VW/Vauxhall etc..) from GSF carparts, but this one contains a coaxial cable + a red power lead going into the amplified base.

Very confused????? DT

Reply to
Don Turner
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Yes.

Simply take the red wire to a +ve feed. It'll use the ground of the aerial to supply 0V.

Slightly related...you may want to check that the grounding area of the existing antenna isn't corroded.

Reply to
Conor

The whole circuit board of the existing antenna looks coroded and is covered in white powdery residue. I might try and take it out and spray it liberally with contact cleaner and then re-solder all the dull joints. I just wanted to make sure that there were no other wires going into the base, because its possible that a corroded wire may have come loose and disapeared into the headlining of the car.

Cheers

Reply to
Don Turner

That's water getting in.

Give it a good scrub with a toothbrush. Shouldn't need soldering. Water got into my cars remote central locking unit and it was similar to your description. 10 minutes scraping the powder off cured it.

Reply to
Conor

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