finally got XM radio last night... now

[Gobbla2001]

now: what is the best way to get the best performance out of this thing when it comes to the antenna etc...???

[pirate4state]

that's what I'm still trying to figure out with my Sirius. I bought the plug & play b/c I also bought the boom box :D. The signal off the boom box is awesome, but sometimes in the car it can be sketchy. :mad: I just have the antenna that came with it. It also came with some extra "help" but I think it would look tacky on my window so I didn't put it up. I'd say 80% of the time the signal is clear with the antenna I have.

Enjoy!!

[Gobbla2001]

well I know with XM you can actually hardwire it to your anttena, but I didn't see any of those last night... pretty sure you can do it with sirius as well...

my XM receiver came with the regular antenna and a little deal you can clip to your actually antenna and run inside of your car... luckily I can hide all of the wire if I hook it up externally so it doesn't look too tacky, but I'm trying to figure out how to get that to work also...

[pirate4state]

Originally posted by Gobbla2001
well I know with XM you can actually hardwire it to your anttena, but I didn't see any of those last night... pretty sure you can do it with sirius as well...

my XM receiver came with the regular antenna and a little deal you can clip to your actually antenna and run inside of your car... luckily I can hide all of the wire if I hook it up externally so it doesn't look too tacky, but I'm trying to figure out how to get that to work also...

yeah, i think the hardwire stuff will cost extra and has to be professionally installed??

When I first got my radio I just had wires hanging everywhere. Just cause I was so excited to have it and wanted to listen to it. That only lasted a day. The next day I had my cousin hide the wires as best he could, but he didn't have the extra time to mess with that other little wire. I'll see how it does on my trip out West next month and decide if I need to put up the extra help.

[Gobbla2001]

Originally posted by pirate4state
yeah, i think the hardwire stuff will cost extra and has to be professionally installed??



well if you know a little bit about what's behind your dash then you could do it yourself... I think you'd have to go behind there and unhook your regular stereo from the antenna jack and instert the XM one there... I'd like to hope the package comes with two jacks so you can have both your regular stereo and your XM/sirius hooked up to the antenna at the same time... but that's where my knowledge of it stops because I dunno how that'd work... I can't get rid of my regular radio... don't want to go back and forth taking my dash apart to switch etc...

[pirate4state]

yeah, i no zilch about all that stuff. :D I just know I love the channel 24.

[duckbutter]

I put Xm in my truck and had to take out the radio to install the FM modulator and antenna wire. I then ran the antenna wire behind my dash over to the front of the drivers door, inside of the door molding up to the top corner, then under my windshield molding to the center of the cab and place antenna at the edge of the molding, top of cab. Works great and only loose reception during bad storm or sometimes in the mountains. All of this clear as mud?

[Gobbla2001]

Originally posted by duckbutter
and place antenna at the edge of the molding, top of cab

you talking about that magnet deal you can really hurt someone with if you sling-shoot it at 'em?

[SWMustang]

I've seen two different types of antennas. One mounts inside the car on the dash -it's very small and unobtrusive and one's a little bigger and mounts on top of the car. I don't think you can go wrong with wherever you place it.

[Gobbla2001]

well the one I'm talking about is the magnet antenna... I'm wondering if that's what he has hooked up on the outside of the car, because I tried it, and it works... also wondering if you can just used that one without using the one that clips to your vehicle's actual antenna

[crzyjournalist03]

my car doesn't even have an antennae on it ...wonder what I would do if I ever got XM?:thinking:

[Gobbla2001]

Originally posted by crzyjournalist03
my car doesn't even have an antennae on it ...wonder what I would do if I ever got XM?:thinking:

is your antenna in the windows? they have stuff for that

I'm just talking about the antenna that comes with XM.... it works fine, just wanna know if it's safe to mount it outside of the car... the guides that came with this thing must be in a different language, me no understand

[duckbutter]

My antenna is the magnet kind and is about 1 1/2 inches square, very hard to see unless your looking for it. I would think it is very safe due to the fact that mine hasn't moved in the 2 yrs that it has been on.

[Gobbla2001]

Originally posted by duckbutter
My antenna is the magnet kind and is about 1 1/2 inches square, very hard to see unless your looking for it. I would think it is very safe due to the fact that mine hasn't moved in the 2 yrs that it has been on.

and that is the only one your using, correct?

I fixed mine up, hid the wires etc... it seems to be working very well...

[Old Green]

I put velcro on the magnet antennae and on the dash board. It work great. I also did the same thing on my harley. I haven't had any problems and it works great.

[wildstangs]

Gobbla...just got back from Arizona. XM worked great all the way out there and back. We use the magnet antenna and just feed it through the door. You can mount it more permanently, but we like being able to take it out and use it in the wife's car.