I assume your new head unit has its own mics? It would be easier to remove the OEM ones and put the new ones in the same places. That way there is no modifications required to the wiring and it would still be hidden away

Btw the OEM mics are in the courtesy light panel

You will only have 2 mics if you have both factory Bluetooth AND Bose

The mics are otherwise interchangeable as I have done this in my car in order to place the handsfree mic on the driver's side

 

Hello everyone!

I am currently replacing my crappy Symphony head unit for a new 9" Android 10 unit. I know there's been a few of you who talked about using the OEM mic... and I think I even remember someone talking about using the OEM antennas.

Now, I promise I DID look in the knowledge base... and then did a search in the forum. But I was not able to find solid info on this. Is the OEM mic reusable for the new radio?

Theoretically you could, but you would have to wire up the wires to the mic into whatever the radio accepts, which is usually a 3.5mm mono miniplug. TBH it's not really worth wasting your time and the results might not be good if the sensitivity is different, though granted most HUs have adjustment for mic level as well.

What are those two antenna connectors for that come into the back of the OEM radio. I suppose there's no GPS antenna in my car since there was no OEM GPS unit. But there are two antenna connectors... and one is for FM. But what is the other one for and can I use it for 4G or GPS at all?

The factory radios use a diversity tuner system. Basically it uses two antennas to improve reception. You can look this up online if you want more info on how it works but pretty much no aftermarket HUs have diversity tuning anymore. Back in the day Sony's higher end units had diversity tuning capability but haven't heard of this existing in the aftermarket in a long time.

As for the GPS antenna, if you have the sharkfin (which I believe pretty much all cars do) then you have the GPS antenna. The rooftop antennas are all standard and they are triple-function antennas. They have sat radio, "telematics" (basically a cellphone antenna that is never used since forever), and then GPS. So there's three fakra connectors coming off (I'll get to fakra in a minute). The blue is GPS, the red is telematics and the green is sat. radio. Most cars have the Sirius tuner so that's where the green one goes to. The red one almost certainly goes nowhere but depends on your model year, but not really relevant anyway.

So the blue one is GPS. Now there's two ways this can be wired if you don't have the factory nav. One is that the antenna doesn't connect anywhere and the plug is just dangling/taped near the antenna. The second way is, it is wired as if the car did have factory nav and ends up behind the radio. This is a bonus if you have this already.

As mentioned these are Fakra connectors coming off the antenna. Basically an SMB antenna connection with a colour coded housing. The colour coding is designed so only blue can plug into blue, only green can plug into green, and so forth. However you can "bypass" this by simply using a cable with Fakra teal connection which is universal--it fits any of the coloured connectors. The Fakra colours also have a corresponding letter--for example blue I think is C while green is E... The universal/teal one is called Fakra Z.

So, how to use this GPS antenna? Either way you will need an adapter for Fakra to whatever connection your aftermarket HU uses for GPS. It used to be that some of these connectors/adapters can be very hard to come by but these days with AliExpress and stuff you can basically get anything you need if you're willing to wait the month or two it takes to get to you. If you have the blue Fakra behind the radio all you will need is a short 3-6" adapter for the antenna connector you have and that's that. I suggest you simply get one with Fakra Z on the one end instead of worrying about C/Blue in particular, then on the other end the connection you need. If you don't have the wire behind there you'll have to find the wire in the back either under the side trim on the driver's side or the headliner trim near the antenna--how long the wires go or where they were taped to can vary. In this case you will need a longer wire, let's say 10-12ft for a TT (maybe even shorter but always better to have a longer wire than you need). You can either use a cable with the correct ends or a cable with both ends Fakra and then the adapter cable.

Finally, the cable that comes off the antenna is male Fakra for the GPS I believe, while the other two are female Fakras. But if you have the cable in there already the end that plugs into the RNS-E is female--so whether you have the cable or not will determine what gender connectors/cables you need.

If any of that is confusing, lol, let me know and I'll try to clear it up for you.

Any assistance would be appreciated... and beer is on me for anyone who helps me use any of the OEM stuff (disclaimer: I am in Canada ).

Hooray for Canada--me too

 

That's a very thorough explanation of the antenna system as fitted to NA market coupe's. As an EU roadster driver I'd be interested in a similar description of how our cars are wired for antennas? Anyone?
Thanks,
Jez

 

Theoretically you could, but you would have to wire up the wires to the mic into whatever the radio accepts, which is usually a 3.5mm mono miniplug. TBH it's not really worth wasting your time and the results might not be good if the sensitivity is different, though granted most HUs have adjustment for mic level as well.

I'd be tempted to try it since I am good at wiring but not so good at taking my car appart... I'll try and figure out where that comes to the back of the radio and go from there.

The factory radios use a diversity tuner system. Basically it uses two antennas to improve reception. You can look this up online if you want more info on how it works but pretty much no aftermarket HUs have diversity tuning anymore. Back in the day Sony's higher end units had diversity tuning capability but haven't heard of this existing in the aftermarket in a long time.

As for the GPS antenna, if you have the sharkfin (which I believe pretty much all cars do) then you have the GPS antenna. The rooftop antennas are all standard and they are triple-function antennas. They have sat radio, "telematics" (basically a cellphone antenna that is never used since forever), and then GPS. So there's three fakra connectors coming off (I'll get to fakra in a minute). The blue is GPS, the red is telematics and the green is sat. radio. Most cars have the Sirius tuner so that's where the green one goes to. The red one almost certainly goes nowhere but depends on your model year, but not really relevant anyway.

So the blue one is GPS. Now there's two ways this can be wired if you don't have the factory nav. One is that the antenna doesn't connect anywhere and the plug is just dangling/taped near the antenna. The second way is, it is wired as if the car did have factory nav and ends up behind the radio. This is a bonus if you have this already.

As mentioned these are Fakra connectors coming off the antenna. Basically an SMB antenna connection with a colour coded housing. The colour coding is designed so only blue can plug into blue, only green can plug into green, and so forth. However you can "bypass" this by simply using a cable with Fakra teal connection which is universal--it fits any of the coloured connectors. The Fakra colours also have a corresponding letter--for example blue I think is C while green is E... The universal/teal one is called Fakra Z.

So, how to use this GPS antenna? Either way you will need an adapter for Fakra to whatever connection your aftermarket HU uses for GPS. It used to be that some of these connectors/adapters can be very hard to come by but these days with AliExpress and stuff you can basically get anything you need if you're willing to wait the month or two it takes to get to you. If you have the blue Fakra behind the radio all you will need is a short 3-6" adapter for the antenna connector you have and that's that. I suggest you simply get one with Fakra Z on the one end instead of worrying about C/Blue in particular, then on the other end the connection you need. If you don't have the wire behind there you'll have to find the wire in the back either under the side trim on the driver's side or the headliner trim near the antenna--how long the wires go or where they were taped to can vary. In this case you will need a longer wire, let's say 10-12ft for a TT (maybe even shorter but always better to have a longer wire than you need). You can either use a cable with the correct ends or a cable with both ends Fakra and then the adapter cable.

Finally, the cable that comes off the antenna is male Fakra for the GPS I believe, while the other two are female Fakras. But if you have the cable in there already the end that plugs into the RNS-E is female--so whether you have the cable or not will determine what gender connectors/cables you need.

If any of that is confusing, lol, let me know and I'll try to clear it up for you.

Damn! That's some solid info there mate!

I am both surprised and relieved that I don't have to install a separate GPS antenna as I was looking to keep the car looking as stock as possible... except for the head unit, of course.

For some reason, I had never heard of a fakra connector. That is embarrassing being an IT tech! I will get the proper cable for sure as shielded cables are much harder to handle and I could screw-up with the antenna's performance if I start cutting it up... :roll:

It just sucks that Audi can't be bothered using a standard antenna setup... but then again, I guess it makes it just a tad more likely that people will opt for one of their costly OEM stereo upgrades instead of going the third-party route. :roll:

Anyway, cheers mate! And if you are ever in the vicinity of Sherbrooke, beer is on me for sure!

 

I assume your new head unit has its own mics? It would be easier to remove the OEM ones and put the new ones in the same places. That way there is no modifications required to the wiring and it would still be hidden away

Btw the OEM mics are in the courtesy light panel

You will only have 2 mics if you have both factory Bluetooth AND Bose

The mics are otherwise interchangeable as I have done this in my car in order to place the handsfree mic on the driver's side

I'd much rather not disassemble parts of my car if I don't absolutely need to. But yes, if I have install the after-market mic I have in the OEM spot for sure.

 

That's a very thorough explanation of the antenna system as fitted to NA market coupe's. As an EU roadster driver I'd be interested in a similar description of how our cars are wired for antennas? Anyone?
Thanks,
Jez

I believe it should be the same, although the roadster uses different antennas:
-The radio antenna is not built into the rear glass like the coupe, instead it's a mast antenna on the left rear fender.
-The GPS/combo antenna is more of a square shaped bump instead of a "sharkfin" and sits in the middle of the trunk. Unlike coupes if you don't get the GPS or sat radio, it seems this is not equipped on the car meaning adding it would require drilling, etc--probably not a wise idea.

As for Europe, GPS is GPS so that part is always the same. However the telematics (useless) and the sat radio antenna systems may be setup for different frequencies/bands of reception. I don't think you guys have Sirius or XM there but I could be mistaken? Not sure if there's a factory DAB tuner (?), in which case I assume the sat. radio antenna portion would be for that.

Oh also for the coupe there's actually a video on YT showing the GPS antenna wire (if you don't have the full wire going behind the dash) ends up on the passenger side under the headliner--possibly the driver's side in UK/RHD cars:

 

So, it appears what my new HU has at the back are SMA connectors (one for 4G and the other for GPS). They're about the same size as fakra, but a screwed-on type like RG6 coax. I'll get an adapter from that to fakra.

I've not found an antenna connector anywhere near the radio, so it looks like I'll have to run an extension from the HU all the way up to that antenna connector. That sucks because I am worried I am going to end-up damaging a trim or the roof liner and then have a damaged car for the rest of its life... :/

 

- please delete -

 

Hey, so I wonder what would happen if I used this kind of adapter to run the OEM antenna to the after-market HU... :?:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000430339073.html

EDIT: I've gone and ordered it. It should be here two weeks from now (ePacket shipping method).

 

That's a very thorough explanation of the antenna system as fitted to NA market coupe's. As an EU roadster driver I'd be interested in a similar description of how our cars are wired for antennas? Anyone?
Thanks,
Jez

I believe it should be the same, although the roadster uses different antennas:
-The radio antenna is not built into the rear glass like the coupe, instead it's a mast antenna on the left rear fender.
-The GPS/combo antenna is more of a square shaped bump instead of a "sharkfin" and sits in the middle of the trunk. Unlike coupes if you don't get the GPS or sat radio, it seems this is not equipped on the car meaning adding it would require drilling, etc--probably not a wise idea.

As for Europe, GPS is GPS so that part is always the same. However the telematics (useless) and the sat radio antenna systems may be setup for different frequencies/bands of reception. I don't think you guys have Sirius or XM there but I could be mistaken? Not sure if there's a factory DAB tuner (?), in which case I assume the sat. radio antenna portion would be for that.

Oh also for the coupe there's actually a video on YT showing the GPS antenna wire (if you don't have the full wire going behind the dash) ends up on the passenger side under the headliner--possibly the driver's side in UK/RHD cars:

Thanks for that. I knew about the regular radio antenna of course but I don't have any lump for the GPS?
Jez

 

Hey, so I wonder what would happen if I used this kind of adapter to run the OEM antenna to the after-market HU... :?:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000430339073.html

EDIT: I've gone and ordered it. It should be here two weeks from now (ePacket shipping method).

That adaptor will work electrically, However the two seperate Fakra connectors will not both fit into the car's double Fakra connector as their blue housings are too wide to sit side by side. What you will have to do is to remove one of the adaptor's plugs from inside its blue housing. To do that you just pull the pink tab out and the housing will just slide off the plug. The plug without its housing will still plug firmly into the car's connector.

Aerial adaptors are available fitted with a single double Fakra connector which will plug directly into the car's aerial connector but they are a bit harder to find.

 

As for Europe, GPS is GPS so that part is always the same. However the telematics (useless) and the sat radio antenna systems may be setup for different frequencies/bands of reception. I don't think you guys have Sirius or XM there but I could be mistaken? Not sure if there's a factory DAB tuner (?), in which case I assume the sat. radio antenna portion would be for that.

You are correct, we don't have satellite radio in Europe.

DAB radio was not offered by the factory in Mk2 TT cars in any market. However, when the Mk2 coupe was designed, provision was made for the future possibility of a DAB capable head unit being offered. That provision takes the form of DAB aerial elements being present in the rear window and a matching DAB aerial amplifier being made, but never fitted to any cars. When I fitted my Pioneer HU I made use of the factory DAB aerial set up. See my post on how to do it here:-

https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &t=1004361

 

As for the GPS antenna, if you have the sharkfin (which I believe pretty much all cars do) then you have the GPS antenna.

Roadsters and North American TTs would be the exception. ;-) There's a bit more information on the antenna systems and GPS in SSP382 or for the Roadster SSP391. Both of these documents can be found in the Knowledge Base linked below -

FAQ - Audi TT (8J) Workshop Manuals & Self Study Programs
2.9 Communications - Radio, Telephone & Navigation
https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &t=1833829

If you don't use the radio that much, you can always get rid of the OEM antenna and replace it with a stubby -

Roadster Aerial Removal
https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &p=9152413

There's another GPS location for North American TTs that don't have a 'shark fin' antenna -

Audi TT 2007-2015 GPS Antenna Location

 

As for the GPS antenna, if you have the sharkfin (which I believe pretty much all cars do) then you have the GPS antenna.

Roadsters and North American TTs would be the exception. ;-) There's a bit more information on the antenna systems and GPS in SSP382 or for the Roadster SSP391. Both of these documents can be found in the Knowledge Base linked below -

FAQ - Audi TT (8J) Workshop Manuals & Self Study Programs
2.9 Communications - Radio, Telephone & Navigation
https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &t=1833829

Ahhh okay so the trunk bump antenna on the convertible does not contain GPS at all it's only for sat radio which is why it only comes on US cars. Great diagrams! The GPS antenna for the convertible is mounted up front at the top of the windshield somewhere.

Then the DAB radio antenna is actually built into the glass just like the AM/FM--since we don't have that here I wasn't aware it simply uses a similar antenna to regular radio.

There's another GPS location for North American TTs that don't have a 'shark fin' antenna -

Audi TT 2007-2015 GPS Antenna Location

Heh, that's also the same link I posted :mrgreen: That's still the sharkfin it's just that's where the wire leads to if it's not wired all the way to the head unit location.

Great to have the complete information--there's a heck of a lot of in in the knowledge base it looks like

 

Hey, so I wonder what would happen if I used this kind of adapter to run the OEM antenna to the after-market HU... :?:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000430339073.html

EDIT: I've gone and ordered it. It should be here two weeks from now (ePacket shipping method).

This is actually the exact adapter you need, but you need to make a small mod to it (see below). To be clear though this is for AM/FM which we haven't really been talking about, not for GPS.

That adaptor will work electrically, However the two seperate Fakra connectors will not both fit into the car's double Fakra connector as their blue housings are too wide to sit side by side. What you will have to do is to remove one of the adaptor's plugs from inside its blue housing. To do that you just pull the pink tab out and the housing will just slide off the plug. The plug without its housing will still plug firmly into the car's connector.

Oh yes I remember this now--good point. However instead of pulling it out of the blue shroud you can also just cut the locator off the Fakra so it can be oriented in any way. That's what I did and it worked

Thanks for that. I knew about the regular radio antenna of course but I don't have any lump for the GPS?
Jez

Turns out that antenna is not for GPS on the roadster--see the diagrams above posted by SwissJetPilot. That antenna will only appear on US cars with sat radio--so not to worry about that. The GPS antenna for the roadster is up front at the top of the windshield somewhere it looks like.

 

The SSPs and Workshop Manuals are a great source of information. Of coruse they don't cover every year and every variant, but they will help point you in the right direction. Well worth a read when you have the time.

As an FYI, this post mentions an alternative location for a GPS antenna. Probably not the most aesthetic solution, but if you don't want to pull the A-pillar or windshield frame upper panel, it seems to work. Although it was noted that placing the antenna on top of the Head Unit (inside the dash) worked okay too.

GPS Antenna
https://www.ttforum.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... &t=1754985

 

That adaptor will work electrically, However the two seperate Fakra connectors will not both fit into the car's double Fakra connector as their blue housings are too wide to sit side by side. What you will have to do is to remove one of the adaptor's plugs from inside its blue housing. To do that you just pull the pink tab out and the housing will just slide off the plug. The plug without its housing will still plug firmly into the car's connector.

Aerial adaptors are available fitted with a single double Fakra connector which will plug directly into the car's aerial connector but they are a bit harder to find.

Thanks for the info mate! I'm not worried about figuring out the connection part as I am very familiar with electronics in general. So I am just glad that it will actually operate as I was hoping. Anything OEM that can be used I will.