Power Antenna Wiring

Need some help...

I am installing an Alpine head-unit in a 1981 280zx with a power antenna. The bunble of wires that connect to the switch for half and full mast has 3 connections in the connector and another hanging off the side. In addition to this I also have the antenna wire itself.

I supplied 12 volts to one of the connections and the mast went all the way up, cool. Tried another one and the mast went up half way, cool again. I then connected the Antenna lead from the head unit to the wire that made the mast go all the way up. Powered up the head unit and the mast does not go up when in radio mode (am or fm).

Isn't the antenna output of the head unit a +12V?

I am I missing something here, any help would be appreciated.

SN95GT50

the best way would be to try and test the voltage that's coming out of the head unit with an analog voltmeter (easier to see how long a specific voltage is held for..) if it's just a signal voltage of 12V that activates the antenna motor... if that doesn't work out... e-mail alpine and ask them about it.. i'm sure they'd be glad to help (pfft.. yeah right, you'd be lucky to get something back from them...)

I did that last night, the head unit is supplying +12V but, after a short while, the voltage drops to 0V. Here is my suspicion, judging by the sound that the antenna makes going up, I think that the antenna is very old and is therefore pulling a pretty high current, the head unit supplies the current, but has a resettable breaker in it that shuts down the antenna circuit after a it heats up.

I am going to get everything else hooked up tonight and working and then do one of a few things. 1) get the antenna up and then wrap 12 lbs of duct tape around it. 2) wire in a switch to the ignition wire and force it up that way. 3) probably the best solution, wire a relay onto the antenna output and 12V and power it that way. 4) Buy a new antenna, this one has seen its better days. 5) Put in a solid mast. 6) put it all back to original and go back to driving my Ford :)

Basically I still have a lot of work to complete on it so I am going to get that done first.

If anyone has a wiring diagram for this beast, I sure would appreciate some input.

This is a 1981 280zx.

SN95GT50