Deactivating the Antenna

Lynque wrote:

I would like to tap a bypass switch into the radio antenna activating line so I can listen to tapes without raising the antenna unnecessarily. If I'm lucky, this line runs under the ski slope and is easily identifiable/accessible.

You are lucky in that the wire you need to tap does run under the ski slope, it is white with a pink stripe (86 XJ6 SIII).

Or you could take the even easier approach. There is a blue(*) lead coming out of the radio giving 12V to the antenna when the radio is on. Pull the radio out, cut the blue wire and extend both ends to a place where you can mount a switch.

I put a relay under the RH console kick panel since I needed a lot more juice (for antenna plus two amplifiers) than the radio can supply (300 mA). The blue wire from the radio now simply triggers the relay. I've been toying with the idea of mounting a switch myself because when I listen to CDs I want the amps to power on but I don't want the antenna to rise. In my case I'd simply mount a switch on the wire going from the relay to the antenna...

(*) At least I think it was blue (my memory is fading), blue is the "standard" color for this trigger lead on modern radios. If I didn't find it by color I found it by label since all the wires to the radio were clearly labeled from the factory on my car ('86 XJ6).