BBriBro

Hi guys, been lurking here for a while, finally bought an sc300 and now I have some questions. The first thing to fail was the power antenna, the cable broke and it stayed fully extended. After doing some research I decided to buy a replacement mast from ebay, not being too familiar with the various models I bought one that said "OEM" SC300-400, so I felt sure I would have the right part. The price difference is huge so I took the chance on an ebay part, especially since it said SC300 and OEM in the title. Anyway, the antenna is shorter, the overall length and each section, and of course the lift cable too. I installed it with the unit disassembled since I had to clean it out from the broken cable. it was about half way extended when I plugged the antenna power back in. The antenna went down, I heard grinding, a snap, and then lots more grinding. I took it back apart, and it had pulled the cable loose from where it attaches inside the smallest section. I called the seller and complained about the part not working, it being too short, etc. he said the problem was not the length, but some of them are defective where the cable is crimped into the top section. So you get what you pay for, he sent another one free of charge, this time I installed it from outside the car, with the antenna fully mounted and connected, so I turned the radio off, and let it draw the new mast in. It went down fine, when it goes up, it hits the stop, reverses, goes back in 6 or 7 inches, then stops. everytime. it goes down fine, smooth and quiet, but won't stop all the way up. I have an aftermarket head unit, so I don't think the antenna will do it's usual adjusting based on the signal. Not only that, it's the same everytime, regardless of the station. So my question is, does the length really matter? To my knowledge the motor doesn't really "know" how long the antenna is, or how many revolutions it took to extend, it just goes till it hits the stop, then due to the temporary overload, it trips a relay and shuts off, Is that correct? Maybe I don't really understand how it works, but if this was NOT the case, then when it reatracted it would grind away too, since it would be "expecting" to retract further but it stopped early due to the shorter mast. Searching didn't really address this issue, nor did I find anything very recent at all. The company I bought this from prob wasn't even in business when the last antenna post was made

BBriBro

New Years eve bump. Certainly someone here has tried one of these cheap ebay masts and can comment

ThomasGS4

iTrader: (19)

I just bought one of these off of ebay a day ago, so I will let you know how good this antenna is.

horent135

iTrader: (10)

I brought mine from ebay too. I didn't have any problems with it. My original mast got snapped and cut. So i had to take the motor apart to get the rest of the mast out and put it back together. Then i turn on the radio to let the motor go all the way out, and inside the ebay antenna mast in as much as i can. Not too hard or it might snap it. Turn off the radio and everything went in. No problems, but the only thing is that when you change radio station, it used to go up and down. Now it doesn't, but i guess it didn't mind that too much as long i get signal from the radio station.

lalaland

just hookup the power antenna to the radio but unplug the motor. most of the time you dont need the antenna if you are listening to FM and in the city.

BBriBro

was the ebay mast shorter? I wasn't too concerned about it not being the "correct" length for tuning, but I did expect it to stay all the way up with the radio on. I'm not sure what to do, maybe removing it, and letting it draw the lift cable back in might reset it. But I didn't think that's how they worked, I thought the motor would run until it hit the end weather that's 15 inches, or 40.

vpatui

Now on third e-bay mast...one worked fine, (but got broken by someone very stupid, me!), one installed fine but pulled the plastic track out of the mast on the second retraction, the third would not load until the end was shaved just so, and then proceeded to pull the plastic track out of the mast. It's a crap shoot on ebay.

702SC400

I bought a powered ebay antenna and installed it. The antenna works for reception but just doesn't motor up and down. Probably due to is was a universal and the original power antenna had en extra relay on it that more than likely was connected to the antenna for retracting and extending. I think I am going for a Euro roof mount antenna instead and just fill the hole up.