Is this the wire everyone is referring to that provides the electrical boost to the antenna? If so, is this how the connection should look?

 

That white connector should be wired into the wiring harness, I can't tell if you saying its not...

 

Hard to tell from the photo, but it appears that the thin black wire that powers the antenna amp is plugged into a connector to a white wire. That should work fine, as long as the white wire gets power when in AM or FM mode. I have an Alpine unit and it uses a blue wire for this.

 

Thanks. I am getting the radio removal tools and will check power to there. The photo is from an earlier rennlist posting a few years back. My radio works well except when I drive into the parking garage at work and when I drive at night--no back lighting. (BTW: I have a CDR-210 Becker unit, original with car??).

 

Has your car had a new windshield? Perhaps the antenna lead off the windshield isn't connected or has been spliced. If you raise your trunk lid and shine a light into the recess behind the hinge where the antenna lead goes down from the windshield, hopefully, you'll see the lead and connector plugged into the black box.

 

Sweet. Thanks. Will check that.