Audio Systems: Can car antenna cable-to-radio plug be repaired?, antenna cable, center conductor

Question
I have installed an aftermarket AM/FM CD Changer into a 1995 Chevrolet Cavalier coupe. I followed the instructions (from Crutchfield) as to how to dismantle the car's dashboard to access the stock radio. When I pulled the radio from its location in the dash, I noticed that the antenna cable's male plug which connected it to the back of the radio had remained (as expected) in the radio's case, while the cable had come apart, held to the back of the plug by one strand of wire! I gently pulled the metal plug from the back of the unit, and tried to push together the parted end of the antenna cable to the back of the cable's plug. As expected, the new radio's reception is intermittent, at best, and not as it should be.

Short of replacing the car's entire antenna cable, from the antenna's rear fender location up to the back of the radio, is there a way I can make a clean cut through the antenna cable and crimp or otherwise attach a new male connector plug up in the dash where the unit "lives?"

Answer
Jim,
The antenna plug was crimped onto the wire, the easiest thing to do would be to purchase a solder on type plug and solder it to the antenna wire. You may be able to use the original plug if you carefully disassemble it so that it can be soldered onto the wire. When soldering either plug onto the wire make sure that the braid doesn't short to the center conductor, and make sure to solder the center conductor to the plug tip.


TOM,
T&D ELECTRONICS
tdeser@zoominternet.net