some tints will affect reception. usually the higher quality films will have metal particles embedded to help reflect light. this causes an issue with sat radio.

anyone got pics of how you mounted the antenna on your rear strut bar.

i havent put my pioneer sat unit back in the car because i dont know where else to put the antenna. i always thought of placing it on the strut bar but dont know what it would look like. if someone could post a pic id really appreciate it. spike??

 

no one has pics of where they mounted their antenna???

when i went from my altima to the Z last november i couldnt figure out where to place the xm hieaway. under the center dash i was able to stuff the bluetooth hideaway and the ipod hideaway..but there is no room left for anything else.

id like to see how you mounted the XM hideaway in the Bose area...u just screwed it down onto the metal? pics?

i miss my XM, and seeing how i never cancelled it ive been paying for it all this time..i just saw the bill on my card again, and it motivated me to go with the install..id just like some pics to get an idea before going at it.


mysetup:
avhp6800dvd
bluetooth
ipod
(xm)...hopefully tonight

 

Sorry for the delayed response. I hadn't checked the thread recently. Here is a picture of my antenna mount (receiving Sirius satellite radio).

I'm actually using a Clarion H/U and its Sirius receiver (Clarion brand), but installed a Sirius antenna from Kenwood which works fine with Clarion components (the Kenwood satellite radio antenna costs less).

Here are some additional comments that might be of interest to readers:

1) I placed my Sirius satellite receiver box in the large lower-compartment behind the driver's seat (the position Nissan uses for the Bose SubW). Placing the receiver box here makes the rear strut bar the most logical position for the satellite antenna since it's an easy run from this position.

2) I experimented with various positions for the antenna, and here are the results:

- The first thing I tried was placing the antenna under the plastic panel of the rear strut bar. My thinking was this would be stealth. Unfortunately this position worked very poorly. I often lost contact with Sirius's satellites, and reception was not satisfactory.

-Then I tried placing the antenna on top of the rear strut bar, but on the "black" area of the strut bar (closer to the side so the black antenna would be semi-hidden). Again, this was not a good choice. I suspect that the car's sheet metal was occasionally blocking the satellite signal. Reception was poor with the antenna placed here.

-The best position for the antenna was in the middle of the strut bar (over the Z emblem), but this was ugly (i.e., a run of exposed wire, the antenna "right dab" in the middle, etc.). Of course I could drill a hole to run/hide the wire, but a different position seemed better than drilling a bunch of holes for an antenna-run.

-My final mounting position was on top of the rear strut bar near one side, as you see in the picture. This works well.

-I suppose the best place for the satellite antenna would be on the car's roof immediately in front of the rear hatch door. I have a 2003 Z that has no provision for this.

Here are some other things to consider:

1) There was a question on this thread asking if the antenna can be positioned upside-down. That won't work at all since the antenna is directional and its function depends upon facing satellites.

2) You cannot cut the antenna wire (and solder it) to make a shorter or more "neat" run. If you need more length, you add a connector and another length of antenna wire. An additional point here is that the antenna wire should never be run through a flex-point (i.e., the rear hatch window) since this may degenerate the antenna wire requiring an entirely new run (of the antenna wire).

3) When receiving satellite radio, you either get 100% reception or nothing. There is no such thing as a partial signal. I think that is merciful since you "know."

--Spike