In my experience it seems alot of folks just don't listen to radio stations as much anymore. I for one have listened to the radio in my car once or twice in 30+ drives.. Seems like you're just wearing the power antenna out by needlessly lifting and lowering every time the head unit is turned on or off.
Well it turns out it's actually very simple to insert a fog switch to manually disable the power antenna function.
When the added fog switch is off it disconnects the white wire going from the head unit to the power antenna, so when the radio is on the antenna stays down. When you want to listen to a radio station you push the fog switch on and the power antenna works normally. Just turn it off again and the antenna retracts.
The fog switch works well for most folks that have an empty switch spot above the HVAC panel - pic below shows the antenna bypass switch on the left
Otherwise or you can use a small square switch from an E30 sedan instead and mount that on the console (hat tip to Levent at Gutenparts for the square switch idea).
If you have the premium amp / BMW Sound System the wiring is slightly more involved, because the same white wire to the head unit feeds two white wires going to the power antenna and the premium amp in the trunk. You have to experiment a bit and find out which of the white wires is for the amp (leave that one connected to the head unit) and which one is for the power antenna (insert the switch on that one).
By "insert the switch" I mean connect the white wire from the antenna to it. Then connect another piece of white wire between the switch and the radio.
It's easier to see how to wire with BMW sound system if you have pics. Here's a schematic view. you insert the switch where the red XXXXs are.
Just keep in mind the short line from C219 to C233 in the schematic is actually between the trunk and the radio opening lol. What you need to do is find where the white wire from C219 plugs into a clear connector in the radio opening - that's the C233 connector.
Insert the switch there - but again make sure you're not cutting the wrong white wire! . It's actually easy to screw it up unfortunately so get yourself a meter and be sure. If you picked the right spot, when you turn the radio on the amp will stay on and the antenna will be disabled.
I will be producing these at some point soon and make them available to the community
Well it turns out it's actually very simple to insert a fog switch to manually disable the power antenna function.
When the added fog switch is off it disconnects the white wire going from the head unit to the power antenna, so when the radio is on the antenna stays down. When you want to listen to a radio station you push the fog switch on and the power antenna works normally. Just turn it off again and the antenna retracts.
The fog switch works well for most folks that have an empty switch spot above the HVAC panel - pic below shows the antenna bypass switch on the left
Otherwise or you can use a small square switch from an E30 sedan instead and mount that on the console (hat tip to Levent at Gutenparts for the square switch idea).
If you have the premium amp / BMW Sound System the wiring is slightly more involved, because the same white wire to the head unit feeds two white wires going to the power antenna and the premium amp in the trunk. You have to experiment a bit and find out which of the white wires is for the amp (leave that one connected to the head unit) and which one is for the power antenna (insert the switch on that one).
By "insert the switch" I mean connect the white wire from the antenna to it. Then connect another piece of white wire between the switch and the radio.
It's easier to see how to wire with BMW sound system if you have pics. Here's a schematic view. you insert the switch where the red XXXXs are.
Just keep in mind the short line from C219 to C233 in the schematic is actually between the trunk and the radio opening lol. What you need to do is find where the white wire from C219 plugs into a clear connector in the radio opening - that's the C233 connector.
Insert the switch there - but again make sure you're not cutting the wrong white wire! . It's actually easy to screw it up unfortunately so get yourself a meter and be sure. If you picked the right spot, when you turn the radio on the amp will stay on and the antenna will be disabled.
I will be producing these at some point soon and make them available to the community
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