i was wondering is there any way to test the antenna cable in my car without a deck to hook it up to? i have a strange feeling that it it broken but want to be shur.

also how much voltage is the power wire that runs to the radio? 6 volt?

its a 63 valiant

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63 Valiant 4 door

The center pin of the plug should measure zero resistance to the antenna.

12v to the radio.

- Mac

so to test it take my ohm meter and set it to what? and then just put one pin on the end of the cable and the other touch the antenna?

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63 Valiant 4 door

Set your ohmmeter to the x1 range. You should see about the same resistance through the cable to the antenna as you do when you touch the two leads of the ohmmeter together (which is to say, zero).

Also, the center-pin to ground ought to have near-infinite resistance. If the antenna lead gets shorted, FM might work somewhat but AM is usually gone. It is fairly easy to just plug in another (universal) antenna to the back of the radio for testing - just don't set it touch any metal while testing.

The (at least the US I'm sure) 1963's were 12V systems; the radio only would get power in RUN and ACC and there was no const. 12V for memory needed by most modern radios. The factory radios didn't draw much power.

The best possible investment you can make is to get good factory schematics before touching any of the wiring.