ever since I got my empeg installed two days ago at Best Buy, the radio was not picking up any stations. So i figured that the antenna wasn't put all the way in on the tuner module. So today I finally pulled out the tuner module to find that the plug on the module where the antenna goes into was gone! how sturdy are those? is the whole thing shot?

A bit more detail about what is "Gone" would be helpful.

Do you mean the antenna jack on the tuner module itself, or do you mean the US-to-European adapter plug, or do you mean the connector that connects the tuner module to the player sled?

Also, is this a PCATS tuner module, or an original factory tuner module?

If it's a factory tuner module, and you mean the antenna jack on the tuner module itself is gone, as in broken off inside, to answer your question would depend on how much is damaged inside the module. Someone would have to dismantle it and look inside to know for sure.

I would suggest a photo might be a good idea here

ok...attached is the picture of the radio module

this second picture is of the antenna that originally had a lot of black electrical tape around it (that best buy must have put on to keep it in the hole at the back of the module.)Is there any way to fix this?

Ahh.. now you might understand our confusion.. that's a factory tuner module, and it is *supposed* to look like this (ignore the coiled cable on top that I added to mine):

So, basically, somebody has broken-off or removed the antenna jack from the unit. Probably because they didn't have (or just plain lost) the right-angle adapter that goes with it to allow a standard North American antenna to plug into it.



Cheers

Yup, that's broken. What I find difficult to believe is that this was broken off by BestBuy during the install and they couldn't be tossed to tell you about it! If I were you I would go and get your money back. ALL of it.

Now: how to go about fixing it. It is going to have to be dismantled and the connector replaced. Contact me with a PM.

well...it is kinda complicated since I work for best buy so I doubt that they would.....the odd thing is that I included the right angle adapter too....i don't know what they did wrong...i know it is a pain in the butt trying to get that thing to fit in there, maybe it came off when they were doing that...

They probably snapped off the center pin of the right-angle adaptor, and then (wrongly) decided to hide their lack of craftsmanship by desoldering the whole connector assembly and ... words just don't describe this kludge well enough.

How about the words "Willfull Negligence and Malfeasance"?

Jerks.

-Zeke

While words don't describe it, Robert Persig comes pretty close. I just started re-reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for about the 40th time. If you haven't read it you are missing out on an amazing book. He does a brilliant job with this issue. No maintenance book can teach what *really* matters in stuff like this, according to Persig, which is to *care* about what you're doing.

ok..i took apart the tuner module and found that it looks like there are three contacts that are supposed to hold the tuner input in place, and one of the contacts is gone. does that mean it is shot? or do you even need all 3 contact points?

One for signal-in, two for the shield -- two, simply to mechanically support the connector. Only one of those is really needed electrically.

-ml

I can see it coming already....