z120sequoia Posted June 22, 2011 Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 Just noticed that there doesn't seem to be any method of lowering my retractable antenna, even when AM or FM is not my source. This concerns me for situations like going through a car wash and being able to turn the antenna off... Any ideas? TIA... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RonS Posted June 22, 2011 Report Share Posted June 22, 2011 Just noticed that there doesn't seem to be any method of lowering my retractable antenna, even when AM or FM is not my source. This concerns me for situations like going through a car wash and being able to turn the antenna off... Any ideas? TIA... It seems that feature disappeared with the Z110 -> Z120 upgrade. On the Z110, it was on the AV System Settings menu [ANT CTRL]. I don't know if it ever worked. But I knew I saw it somewhere so I dug through all the manuals (pdf). Looks like you are out-of-luck. Maybe because fewer cars have retractable antennas? If you are really concerned about damage, the only thing I can think of is to wire in a switch to allow you to manually turn off the HU (a toggle switch wired into the red wire would do it). I agree that is a pain. Too bad Pioneer decided not to provide an OFF switch. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Brian S Posted June 26, 2011 Report Share Posted June 26, 2011 i had my shop wire a switch directly to my power antenna. i than had them install a somewhat hidden but accessible switch on the side of my center console. the switch gives me the ability to have my antenna down most of the time since i mainly use xm pandora and my ipod or up the few times i use the am/fm tuner Brian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RonS Posted October 28, 2012 Report Share Posted October 28, 2012 Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd continue this one with some more info. My issue is the behavior of the Blue antenna power wire in the harness. In the original Z110-BT, the AV System Settings menu had a soft button called ANT CTRL. The following is from the Z110 manual: Switching the auto antenna setting If the blue lead of the navigation system is connected to the antenna control terminal of the vehicle, select either of the following settings. Power— The antenna extends or turns on when the ignition switch is turned on. The antenna is stored or turned off when the ignition switch is turned off. Radio — The antenna extends or turns on only when the audio source is FM or AM. The antenna is stored or turned off when the AV source is switched to another source. This setting option disappeared in the newer Z120, Z130, and Z140 models. However, it still shows up in my AV System Settings menu after installing the CNSD-x10FM upgrades. So, the first question I'd like to ask other Z110 owners - Do you also have this option? Anyone without a Z110 see this? Also, I think I finally realized why Pioneer removed the option. With Traffic Tuners being more common, it became more important that any external antenna amplification and/or extensio/retraction be set to always on. This is because the traffic tuners use the antenna all the time to get traffic updates. So, my theory is that the option was removed just to avoid dealing with complaints about Traffic not working. Even though this feature is still very useful for those with motorized antenna (and no traffic tuner). On the Z110 (and maybe the Z120 - since I thought the hardware was identical) there is a blue wire (part of the RCA harness) and a blue/white wire (in the Power harness). The Z110 installation manual says to use the Blue wire to control motorized antenna or in-glass amplifcation. The Blue/white is a trigger for external amps. I see from the Z140 installation manual that the solid blue wire is eliminated. It says to use blue/white for both antenna control and to trigger external equipment (amps/subs). So the antenna would always have power and/or be raised when the HU is on. Now, my main reason for this post. I think this only applies to Z110 units - or at least only units with ANT CTRL. I just installed the ND-TMC10 Traffic Tuner. Being a Z110, I had my factory antenna booster (in glass antenna) connected to the blue wire. Since I had the ANT CTRL setting in my menu, I thought it made sense to set it to Power (so it would be on with the HU). I rarely listen to AM/FM - prefer iPod or streaming BT audio from my phone. I noticed immediately after installing the ND-TMC10 that I wasn't getting any traffic data - but since it was Saturday I wasn't particularly concerned. Then I started playing w/my FM source, did a channel scan, and Bingo - I got lots of traffic bulletins - mostly road constrction notices. SO I thought that fixed it. A few days later - wondering why I hadn't seen anything new, I went through a similar process. After turning on the FM source, I started getting traffic updates. I then double-checked my AV System Settings menu - it still said Power. So - for the hell of it, I changed it to Radio. Since then, I have gotten consistent traffic data - without switching to FM. So I'm beginning to wonder if, with the newer software, the ANT CTRL settings are actually the opposite of what they imply. I guess I could tear it out and test this with a volt meter, but it isn't worth the effort as long as it now works. However, it would be very easy to demonstrate if you have a Z110 (upgraded to CNSD310FM) with a motorized antenna connected to the blue wire. Anyone else having these issues? In hindsight, I should re-wire my antenna power to use the blue/white wire and just forget about ANT CTRL. I might do that, but it is a real PITA because there is so little room behind my HU - I would have to disconnect everything - resplice - and then carefully re-pack all the RCA and power wiring to allow the HU to set flush. Maybe I'll do that if I ever install a BU camera. But not just for grins. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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