I unwound the plastic drive ribbon from the main drive wheel via
thumbing
the rubber belt on the motor when I had the antenna drive unit open.
Ah, the hard way! For the belt-based units with the electronic
circuit board, you need do no more than unhook the mast nut and
then turn on the radio. It'll eject the mast all by its lonesome.
Then you just turn off the radio while jamming the leader into the
mechanism and it'll suck it up all on its own. The cog-based
electromechanical ones are a bit trickier because they won't
run as long before self-stopping.
Next time!
The electronic ones have a weaker motor, and rely on the stall
current being benign, and a timeout circuit. The electromechanical
ones are much stronger and have a cog-driven limit switch. If
you got it installed 'wrong', there could be too much friction
to allow any motion at all.
-- Jim
