John, My first response to you message bounced. So, let's try again. I'm betting that the radio power doesn't run the antenna. My '63 has a switch that runs the antenna is mounted next to the map light. Just checked the '61 brochure. Yours should be in the same location; just right of the map light under the dash pad. Here's a pointer to a photo of your dash. You can see the map light just above the radio and the switch just above the right-most radio preset button. http://www.imperialclub.com/YearbyYear/1961/Brochure/page14-15small.jpg Hope that helps! Mark Evans 1963 Imperial Crown Convertible http://www.io.com/~maevans/MyImperial/index.html 1968 Dodge Polara 500 Convertible http://www.io.com/~maevans/MyPolara/index.html