MX5Ireland

Hi, a friend of mine bought a 97 eunos 1.8, trouble is the aerial is not working, i have tried an ariel from a 93 1.6, but this wont work either. I noticed that on the 97 1.8 that there is only 2 wires that go to ariel connector, one of which is a permanent live from the fuse red with black stripe,and the other green and yellow stripe that comes alive when radio is switched on. That is the only 2 wires that are in the 4 pin block.
Funny thing is on the 93 1.6, there is 4 wires, 2 the same colour as on the 97 and 2 extra wires that arent on the 97..
I am confused as i cant see any wires cut or disconnected from the block on the 97, i cant understand how it could work considering it has a constand live and a switch live thats all???
Can any one help? maybe check their wires and let me know what they are doing.
All wiring at radio is the same.
The ariel from the 97 car is broke, and i am using the working ariel from 93 to test.

test your circuits for continuity, looked at the fuses??

The fuse at the ariel is perfect, at the plug that plugs into ariel i have a constant live and a switch live, i still cant understand how the system works with 2 lives when radio on.. as i said the older car has 4 wires instead of only 2
I am not a mechanic or anything, just someone thats handy mechanicay, and very basic electric stuff, i only have a basic light tester, just trying to do this mate of mine a favour.
I did notice that i had the working ariel pulled up by hand and when i fitted it, it retracted, but thats all
Its the 2 wires that has me confused, do 97 cars only have 2 wires compared to 4 wires in 93 model?
Any help appreciated.

Was working on an electric aerial last week too and found the same. One constant live, one switch, the unit is grounded by bolting to the body + another ground wire.
Why the constant live though? Must check to see if this goes negative when retracting the aerial.

Not an auto electrician, but I suspect you have enough wires. The "radio on" live supplies the power to raise the aerial while the constant live provides the power to lower the aerial (remember the "radio live" will have no power when the radio switched off). There is probably a relay on the aerial that sorts the ups and down. The earth is likely to be provided by the aerial itself (where it is bolted to the body). The fact that it retracted would suggest that the constant live is ok along with the earth, so the problem is more than likely with the radio switched power or the relay that controls the whole thing.

The constant live comes direct from battery and into the aerial fuse, the radio signal wire is working perfect, i.e when radio switches on it becomes live, when radio off its dead.
The strange thing is that the block connector is 4 pin yet there is only 2 wires, and on the older 93 car it is a 4 pin connector aswell but has 4 wires, 2 the same as on the newer 97 and 2 that i dont know what they do,
I think everything is earthed properly, as the radio will not power up unless ariel is plugged into it, i have cleaned the mounting point of aeriel aswell.
There has been a good few issues with the car, it is not long bought, and already the lady has had (well lets just say, not a happy new ownership)
Pop up lights were not working, but the scumbags that it was bought off, shoved a wire into back of radio, and got a live feed, and tapped it into the manual pop up switch in centre dash console.. in fairness all was needed was a new Retractor relay, so ive that sorted for her, but now it seems the actuall light stalk has decided to play up with the full beams not working, but will flash them, so one of them needed now, plus 2 new rear shocks were needed as old ones were completely gone, all on a car that has a new Nct by the seller!!!

Probably a "bought" nct, hearing more and more about them lately...sure isn't it a great little country we're in then??