RE: 89 200TQW Antenna (long, "Bypassing the Fuba Amplifier")

[Todd R <todd@myboat.com>]

My windshield antenna lead wasn't connected either. 

>From a post a while back regarding the Fuba style antenna (I saved this 
in case mine went on the fritz, but not the URL)....

 
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Bypassing the Fuba Amplifier


From: s_bone@juno.com (Steven K. Bone)

It would seem that the amplifiers on Fuba antenna's fail regularly. The 
symptoms I have read about are poor FM reception and almost no AM 
reception. My amplifier failed, but the FM reception seemed fine, so I 
guess they can act differently. 
I have successfully bypassed the amplifier with excellent results. FM 
reception is probably as good as any radio I have owned, and AM seems 
very good, although maybe not the best I've experienced. I would be 
curious to know how much is added by the amplifier, but since I bought 
the car used and the amp was bad when I bought it, I have no way of 
knowing. 
The first step is to remove the antenna from the car. This process is 
described in detail in other articles, but the short version is to remove 
the plastic trim piece at the rear of the headliner and then pull the 
headliner down an inch or two. The antenna is fastened to the roof with a 
nut. Unscrew the nut and remove the antenna. 
The next step is to disassemble the base where the amplifier is located. 
This is a delicate operation and care must be taken not to destroy the 
unit. On the bottom of the base are two phillips head screws which fasten 
an aluminum cap to the bottom of the black plastic base . The problem is 
that when the base was assembled at the factory it was filled with foam 
adhesive. This was probably done for two reasons. First to seal the unit 
from water, and second to provide added strength to the finished 
assembly. After removing the two screws carefully insert a thin 
screwdriver blade down the sides of the base cutting away the foam. Work 
your way around the base until it finally separates from the aluminum 
cap. 
The amplifier should remain attached to the aluminum cap. Mine had 
obviously been wet and had corrosion all over it. Someone skilled in 
electronics could probably repair the amp, but I elected to rip it off 
with a pair of pliers. 
At this point you should have the plastic base, and the aluminum cap with 
two wires attached, the power lead, and a lead from the coax cable. Pull 
the power lead out of the cap from the bottom, it no longer serves any 
purpose. In the bottom (top) of the plastic base you will see a metal 
"button" which is the bottom of the threaded insert the mast screws into. 
Take a piece of wire and solder one end to the "button" and the other to 
the coax cable lead. 
Now you can reassemble the base and cap using the phillips head screws 
and put the antenna back on the car. 
I do think that without the foam adhesive the assembly is not as strong, 
therefore it might be wise to remove the antenna mast before going 
through a carwash, but I have not had any problems during normal driving. 

From: Byron Porter ssccpas@inlandnet.net

I found the procedures outlined in the orginial posting to be complete, 
however, I think I have some additional tips to make the procedure 
simplier to follow. 
First, keep in mind that the foam adhesive completely fills the black 
plastic cone.  This means that in order to remove the outer cone, you 
must detach the foam from the majority of the inside of the cone.  I 
started using a small screwdriver to do this, but migrated to a long, 
thin bladed pocket knife.  This process took some time and requires 
patience. It also took some force - I wouldn't necassarily describe it as 
a delicate procedure. 
Once the cone was off, I made a slight error when I removed the foam 
encased amplifier with a pliers.  Doing so removed the coax cable at the 
base, making the soldering of the bypass wire more interesting.  In 
retrospect, I would spend a little more time removing the foam and amp. 
The coax cable connects to the amp at the base and was not in the normal 
coax sheilding - all I saw was the copper wiring. 
After soldering some wire between the button at the top of the cone and 
the coax in the aluminum base, I covered the solderings with some silcon. 
The rational being to protect the connection against moisture because of 
the hole in the base left when I removed the power cable. 

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