AM/FM Aerial cable broken behind radio - Fiat 500

[AA77]

Any ideas of the best way to join a new piece of aerial cable to connect to the back of the radio? I have a replacement cable but am having trouble joining the wires as they are so thin. The inner wires are very fine (they consist of 5 or 6 very thin strands). Space is very limited behind the radio so soldering is not an easy option.....I am not very good at soldering either!

[Rough101]

Put a male F connector on each end and a barell join in the middle

[AA77]

Thanks for your help with this. I tried to use two F-type connectors with a coupler but the aerial lead in the car has such a fine inner wire of approximately 4 strands it was just to weak. I have cut back a little further into the arial lead in the car but the inner wire is still just as thin.

Is it normal for this inner wire to be so thin and delicate? If so, I think my only option may be to replace the whole cable but that looks like I will need to remove the head liner which doesn't look that easy.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Catnip64]

You could try this method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSRPpFd2EOc

[AA77]

Thanks so much for your reply and link. Both solutions look good but my problem is the inner wire on the car cable seems to be so much thinner and more delicate than any of the many videos I have watched that as soon as you do much with it the few strands just seem to break.

The inner wire on the new cable I am joining to (as in my photo) is much more solid, even though that is fairly thin too.

I can only assume that the original cable in the car (Fiat 500) has an extremely delicate inner wire which is too difficult to join to.

[donkmeister]

Do you know the route between head unit and aerial? There may be a more accessible place to make a joint.

Alternatively, you could run an entire new aerial cable - I've done that on a couple of cars where I've replaced a head unit with a DAB equipped one, and overall it might be less faff.

[AA77]

Thanks. Yes, the cable I understand runs from the back of the radio to the driver's side then along the driver's side headlining where it then comes across to the rear roof mounted aerial. I have already removed a small area of the rear headliner as originally I thought the poor radio reception was caused by water in the base of the aerial which is supposedly a common fault with the Fiat 500.

I am still surprised how thin the inner wire is in the car aerial cable and am expecting it may be that thin all the way to the aerial at the rear of the car.

I think I will just cut another couple of inches off the lead where it comes through the dashboard (that will be the most I can remove) and if the inner wire is still just as thin, I will have to bite the bullet and remove the whole cable and get a replacement from a breaker, hopefully.