Changing my Roadster 100 Radio Arial

For some time now I have been using my radio aerial to promote either the Morgan Centenary Roadster 100 Register, Help for Heroes or our registers current charity, Combat Stress.
Flying a flag on the aerial post has proved to be a bad idea.

With strong winds this method eventually loosened the joints in the aerial stem such that it ceased to stay up. I needed a new aerial.

Following discussions with another Register member, who's aerial had a similar problem, we discussed alternative aerials.

Wanting to retain the cars originality, I trawled the internet and discovered that the exact same aerial used by The Morgan Motor Company was available on eBay from Car Masts UK and their S - L 500 is not expensive at £13.95.

I ordered a new one immediately.

The fitted Aerial Mast

The component parts

The Packaged New Aerial

The Parts Ready for fitting.

The Base Parts

The Mast Support Parts

I pondered:

1. how difficult it would be to get at the fixing points behind the foot-well sidewall carpets and, 

2. how difficult it would be to find the route and thread the cable to the rear of the radio housing.

It was about this time, in the course of events, that the other owner contacted me to say:

"I notice on this eBay aerial it screws out of the base unit.  If the one on the MOG does the same it should be a quick fix!"

 An immediate visit to the garage established that the Roadster's aerial did unscrew. 

The identical Aerial Base

The identical Support Bracket

I unscrewed my Faulty Aerial but found that the black ferrule prevented me from sliding it out, upwards through the support bracket.

As the support bracket is only fixed with one screw I was able to gently swing the mast at enough of an angle to allow me to remove it from the lower side.

This was before I had unscrewed the new mast from its base and discovered that the black ferrule on both masts was actually detachable.

I checked both of the mast screw threads to establish that they are identical.

The unused Base Unit and cable.

It took no time at all to apply a smear of grease to the thread, slide in the new mast, attach its lower ferrule and screw the new mast into the existing base unit until it is hand tight .

A quick polish of the parts to remove finger marks and a test of the radio to establish that all was well and one of the most simple jobs on my Morgan was complete.

Thank You Graham for spotting the simple solution.