The scene where Gary Sinese as astronaut Ken Mattingly tried hundreds of differing permutations to find the one that didn't get the Mother Ship's computer to run out of memory... 
OK - perhaps more by good luck than good management I now have a SmarTenna that seems ( I'm pessimistic by nature but it seems ) to be behaving exactly as advertised.
As far as I can recall the sequence of events was as follows...
I took the CD changer out of its mountings and connected it directly to the long lead that enters the trunk ( boot ) - by-passing the extension cable that runs across the trunk ( boot ) and the phase-changing interconnect cable.
The CD player whirred and I was able to eject the CD carrier and retrieve my girlfriend's copy of Coldplay's "A Rush of blood to the Head" - saving me the cost of replacement
I then connected the SmarTenna between the long lead that enters the boot and the CD player itself, then made the connections to the aerial ( antenna ) motor and earth. all seemed OK.
I now had the gizmo doing what it said it would do - up went the aerial on radio, down it came on CD - but my CD player was across the trunk ( boot ) from its resting place in its mounting and the sound was very thin and out of phase.
I connected the SmarTenna between the long lead that enters the trunk ( boot ) and the extension cable to the CD changer mounting - then connected the CD changer to the distal ( far ) end of the extension - all seemed well.
I connected the phase-changing cable between the SmarTenna and the trunk ( boot ) cable - nada. All dead.
I moved the phase shifting cable and connected it between the distal end of the trunk ( boot ) cable and the CD changer itself - AND IT WORKED !!!!!
So, in case anybody ( TucAZNSX? ) wants to try this at home the final set-up is ...
Long cable into the trunk ( boot ) from the head unit
joins to...
The DIN-DIN connection on the SmarTenna
joins to...
The extension cable across the trunk ( boot )
joins to...
the phase shifting adaptor cable
joins to...
the short cable that leaves the CD changer.
I was going to move the phase shifting cable and try things one more time with it out of sight ( it's bright yellow and shines out from the trunk ( boot ) ) but my girlfriend insisted that I did nothing to place her Coldplay CD ( by now reinstalled in the CD carrier ) at risk and brandished the 10mm socket, extension and T-bar meaningfully in my direction.
I realise that none of this explains ( at all ) why the entire system died after the SmarTenna was completely removed, or what it was that went wrong in the first place. I cannot see how it would be possible to make any of the DIN-DIN connections wrongly ( perhaps it might just have been possible to site the male pins of the SmarTenna's DIN-DIN connection wrongly into the female connection of the DIN lead that runs from the head unit into the trunk - but I can't see it occuring more than once and I re-made the connections several times. )
Anyway, the thing's installed and working OK. I have a fantasy that connecting the CD changer directly to the main lead from the head unit reset some sort of internal logic in the unit ( or maybe sent it a "Wake Up" call, what do I know? )
Hope this fix helps you out TucAZNSX.
OK - perhaps more by good luck than good management I now have a SmarTenna that seems ( I'm pessimistic by nature but it seems ) to be behaving exactly as advertised.
As far as I can recall the sequence of events was as follows...
I took the CD changer out of its mountings and connected it directly to the long lead that enters the trunk ( boot ) - by-passing the extension cable that runs across the trunk ( boot ) and the phase-changing interconnect cable.
The CD player whirred and I was able to eject the CD carrier and retrieve my girlfriend's copy of Coldplay's "A Rush of blood to the Head" - saving me the cost of replacement
I then connected the SmarTenna between the long lead that enters the boot and the CD player itself, then made the connections to the aerial ( antenna ) motor and earth. all seemed OK.
I now had the gizmo doing what it said it would do - up went the aerial on radio, down it came on CD - but my CD player was across the trunk ( boot ) from its resting place in its mounting and the sound was very thin and out of phase.
I connected the SmarTenna between the long lead that enters the trunk ( boot ) and the extension cable to the CD changer mounting - then connected the CD changer to the distal ( far ) end of the extension - all seemed well.
I connected the phase-changing cable between the SmarTenna and the trunk ( boot ) cable - nada. All dead.
I moved the phase shifting cable and connected it between the distal end of the trunk ( boot ) cable and the CD changer itself - AND IT WORKED !!!!!
So, in case anybody ( TucAZNSX? ) wants to try this at home the final set-up is ...
Long cable into the trunk ( boot ) from the head unit
joins to...
The DIN-DIN connection on the SmarTenna
joins to...
The extension cable across the trunk ( boot )
joins to...
the phase shifting adaptor cable
joins to...
the short cable that leaves the CD changer.
I was going to move the phase shifting cable and try things one more time with it out of sight ( it's bright yellow and shines out from the trunk ( boot ) ) but my girlfriend insisted that I did nothing to place her Coldplay CD ( by now reinstalled in the CD carrier ) at risk and brandished the 10mm socket, extension and T-bar meaningfully in my direction.
I realise that none of this explains ( at all ) why the entire system died after the SmarTenna was completely removed, or what it was that went wrong in the first place. I cannot see how it would be possible to make any of the DIN-DIN connections wrongly ( perhaps it might just have been possible to site the male pins of the SmarTenna's DIN-DIN connection wrongly into the female connection of the DIN lead that runs from the head unit into the trunk - but I can't see it occuring more than once and I re-made the connections several times. )
Anyway, the thing's installed and working OK. I have a fantasy that connecting the CD changer directly to the main lead from the head unit reset some sort of internal logic in the unit ( or maybe sent it a "Wake Up" call, what do I know? )
Hope this fix helps you out TucAZNSX.
