I just swapped my XM setup for Sirius and placed the Sirius antenna in the same location as the XM was previously - on the strut bar.

Reception sucks. It's constantly dropping out and I keep getting "aquiring signal" messages.

I was going to do the obvious test and place it on the roof to see if that helps. I'm curious as to whether anybody else with Sirius is able to get decent reception from the strut bar location. Anybody got any better suggestions on where to put the antenna?

 

This might help you out a little bit.

https://my350z.com/forum/audio-video...s-antenna.html

Obviously the roof will give the best reception, but under the center gauge cluster is usually a good location as well.

 

mine is located under the center gauge clusterand i get great reception. are you sure your antenna is not bad or damaged?

 

I have Sirius with a Kenwood HU, and the antenna is placed on the rear strut brace, on the driver side.

I don't think reception is as good as it could be, but it works ok. It does take it a few minutes to get locked in, but I've never had it drop once it's locked.

The worst part of it, is when you first start driving the car. Reception is fine until you make a turn, then it drops out for a bit while it grabs onto more satellites.

-Tim

 

Bingo! That's exactly the problem I'm seeing. Most of the time it's working fine then once I make a 90º turn it drops out. I never saw this problem with my XM setup with the antenna in the same place.

 

It's brand new, so I assume it's okay. Based on t0mills' post, I doubt antenna is the problem.

I already have my havi antenna on the dash in front of the cluster so I don't really want to put the Sirius antenna there. Since I mounted the controller and tuner in the cubby behind the drivers seat, it would be tough to run the antenna all the way back to the front of the car.

 

The magnet on the antenna is what makes the reception work the best. When its attached to the roof, it uses the whole body of the car as one big antenna as oppose to a small antenna on the strut bar not magnetically held on. i used to work at circuit city and tell customers this all the time. My sirius antenna is on the roof on the back right corner. It doesn't look bad at all. Let me know if you want pics and i can take them.

 

Yeah, I thought I had read something before that indicated that they get better reception when stuck to the surface of the body. I might just stick it on the roof then drive it around for a few days and see if that helps. Then I can decide to permanently route the wire to hide it.

 

Have you thought about putting it under the plastic cover on the rear strut brace? It would be directly attached to the chassis, and should help a little with the coverage.

I know it wouldn't work as well as if it were on the roof (larger ground plane), but in theory, you should see some sort of improvement.

I may give that a shot tonight and see if I can tell a difference. I don't think there will be any issue reading through the plastic, because I can get a signal inside of my garage, with the door down.

Just a side note, I too, had XM in a previous vehicle, and I never had the same issues as I do with Sirius.

-Tim

 

I have mine under the plastic on the rear strut brace, and mine works just fine, no problems. Give it a try, the worst that will happen is you relocate it somewere else.

 

Under the black pieces on either side of under the silver piece across the middle?

 

Dave, I have mine on the strut bar, and I get very good reception.



I realize that some people will look at this position and not like the look (not totally stealth with a wire and bump showing), but I’ve tried it inside the strut bar and the reception was not as good. Also notice that my antenna is to one side of the strut. I tried putting it in the middle (temporary setup), and reception was a little better (less interruption). I decided to leave it at one side as it is in the picture because it was slightly more stealth (and again, I realize this is not totally hidden and less-attractive).

I also did a temporary setup on the car’s roof (I ran the wire out the window and attached the antenna to the roof using a magnet). This provides the best result, but I don’t like the look of a bump on the Z’s beautifully raked roof-line. There is no way I’m going to put a “BMW Pod” on my Z’s roof.

Here are some facts about reception and satellite radio:

1) You either get the signal completely or not (it’s all or nothing). That’s why the signal drops completely (no sound at all), and it’s also why there isn’t poor reception (i.e., “noisy/partial/static” reception as you can experience with terrestrial radio).

2) Since you get the reception most of the time, there is no problem with your equipment, antenna, or antenna wire (as some people erroneously suggest here). In fact, if any part of your satellite equipment is faulty, you won’t get any reception at all.

3) The satellites travel around the earth over the equator. You are in the Northern Hemisphere, so your antenna must “see” to the south to capture the signal. A car’s sheet metal is capable of blocking this signal from the currently satellite, and that’s probably why you notice the drop after doing a full-turn. The device loses its satellite, and must grab another. Even a tree-line boulevard with a thick leaf-overhead can block the signal. You experience a temporary loss of the signal during this transition. That is the real inconvenience here.

The majority of Sirius users are satisfied with reception, so mercifully there is a solution for people who experience problems. There will be a few problems during the merger when Sirius and XM blend the equipment for better reception to the respective satellites. It’ only going to get better.

I really like satellite radio. I hardly listen to terrestrial radio any more (with the exception of PBS).

--Spike

 

exactly where mine is - under the center cluster, reception never drops out for me even under tree cover

 

Good information. "Tree cover" is a common complaint for satellite users.

Have you tested different antennas (brands from different companies)?

I ask because I did some testing (not scientific by any means), but did notice different results.

--Spike

 

nope, I use the sirius one that came with my tuner - I have no doubt the type of antennae matters though

 

Spike,

I have mine in the same position but on the drivers side. That where I had the XM antenna too. I notice that you have a Kenwood branded antenna, mine is Sirius. I'm not sure how interchangable antennas are. I would have thought the wire length, etc. all mattered so you wouldn't be able to mix and match them.

I'm going to experiment around this weekend to see if I can find a better position. I agree that I don't want to ruin the lines of the Z by putting a bump on the roof.

 

I just installed sirius for my DDX512 and I decided to install the antenna in the stock GPS location.

I didn't find that exact location, but I found one that works. Its right behind the center gauge cluster under the defrost vents. I drove from Dallas to Houston with no unsual interuptions.

I plan on at some point trying to locate that GPS antenna location but I was in a rush to get it in the first time. It was cold out there.

 

Sorry for the dumb question but is it just cost prohibitive to put it where the stock antenna goes? A la "shark fin"?

 

I don't want to put anything on the outside of the car. Its an aesthetics thing.

 

I've had the antenna on the roof of my Z (center, about 2" from the hatch glass), and on the rear strut bar.

On the roof, my reception is perfect. On the strut bar, in certain area of Las Vegas, I lose reception (near my house). My concern is the paint under the antenna (my GF had a similar antenna on her Honda for 2 years and it scuffed her paint pretty badly). I may move the antenna inside the cabin to experiment.

Honestly, I'm slightly nervous about long-term exposure to the satellite signal (I have a sirius unit in my cubicle at work, and the antenna is like 2 feet from me...I've had this setup since Jan of '06).

Maybe I'm just a wee bit paranoid?