Radio Comes to Life

I bought the new radio a long time ago, driven by the need for it to connect to my Droid (now upgraded to Droid Bionic) phone.  The two devices will talk Bluetooth for music and telephone calls, and USB for charging and music also.  I don't really care for the blue fluorescent display, but it was one of the only units on the market that met my needs at the time.

First think was to install a new powered antenna.   The original antenna worked, but was badly pitted from age and would cause wind resistance when I wasn't actually listening to FM.  The new antenna went in fairly well, with a reinforcement bracket rivnutted into the fender and sprayed with undercoating, but the angle of the fender is just slightly off the closest adapter so there's a small gap that will always bother me.

Next I wired up the radio's connector to switched and unswitched power, the antenna, the dashboard light circuit and the two front speakers.  I was amazed that it powered up the first time and made the antenna go up and down correctly.  I then spent about an hour getting the radio to talk with the phone over Bluetooth, synchronizing my phone book and the rest.  It will take me a while to fully explore everything they can do together.

Here's a shot of the radio installed in the dashboard, playing some music.  It even comes with a hand-held remote control, so I don't have to lean across and try to fumble with the tiny controls.