Hi guys:

Last summer I (Car Toys) installed an Alpine 7894 in my E320. Previous owner had a nice system already in there with a big amp and nice, well placed and installed speakers and an old Sony head unit. The antenna worked just fine with the old head unit.

Since replacing the head unit, the antenna mast is confused about when to go up and down. If I turn on the ignition without cranking, the antenna always operates as intended - up when the tuner is on, down when the cd/mp3 is on. But when the car is cranked, most of the time the antenna seems to not get the correct signal to go up or down. For instance if I leave the tuner on when I turn the car off, the next time I get in and crank, if I do not hesitate for about 5 seconds between the time I turn the key to the second position and the time I actually turn the engine over, the antenna will not go up. In this case, if I do not turn the engine off and pause at the second position of the ignition, I may have to turn the tuner off/on 10 or 15 times to get the antenna to go up.

I have lived with the condition for almost a year, but would really like to know why this is happening. Several of you have the same head unit, any similar issues? Thanks!

Doesn't it just drive you crazy? Does your's go up and down when you open/close the door also. I don't know your model my Alpine is a 7870 and that (antena) needs to be set with the mode/program button(s).

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It does drive me crazy. But no, the opening/closing of the door has no effect.

Keep hitting the mode button till the antenna command (ANT) comes up. Use your arrow button to try different sequence arrangements. It's like trial and error.

__________________
BENZ THERE DONE THAThttp://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...c/progress.gif
15 VW Passat TDI
00 E420
98 E300 DT
97 E420 Donor Car - NEED PARTS? PM ME!
97 S500
97 E300D
86 Holden Jackaroo Turbo D
86 300SDL
(o\|/o)

Wouldn't you know it - no ANT mode for mine. There are so many adjustments for audio on this thing it took me a month to figure everything out.

There's a guy out in La Jolla named Scott I'm hoping can shed some light on this little problem. He knows everything.

I've had La Jolla Audio install a 7894 in my 500E about 6 months ago and it doesn't operate like yours, 95E320cab. The only time the antennae would go up would be for two reasons ... one, if the tuner is selected as Source, and power is applied to the head unit, and two, if the MBZ phone (the monster in the center console "glove box") is powered up. When the Source on the 7894 is CD or CD Changer (I didn't buy into the XM radio feature), the antennae would be in the down position.

At the end of the day, contact either Scott or Cleeve at La Jolla Audio Repair ... (858) 373-0596 ... http://www.lajollaaudiorepair.com/contact1.htm

Best of luck.

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1992 500E (Daily Driver)
2004 Porsche RUF 955 Dakara 550

Alternatively, contact Alpine directly. It sounds like the head unit had an issue with the antenna circuit from the get-go.

Sorry to hear about it too, it's a good unit.

-anthony