Sirius Radio Antenna

DJP6371 · 07-01-2015, 12:31 PM

I have recently hooked up a Sirius radio to my RVs Jensen radio, and it works great!

The antenna that comes with it, I currently have sitting on the dash. I find that reception is intermittent in that location.

I am guessing I am going to have to put it on the roof. Has anyone run an antenna through the roof into the RV, and if so how did you do it?

Sent from my iPhone 'cause I'm probably out in the RV!

BendOrLarry · 07-01-2015, 12:43 PM

I have a Sunseeker 2860ds ford cassis. I mounted my magnetic XM antenna on the hood just in front of the windshield. It doesn't move and the signal is consistent.

silver · 07-01-2015, 01:04 PM

Try getting a 6 inch square piece of metal to put the antenna on. It is looking for a ground plane. Made a big difference for me and I have had antenna inside the Berk for 5 years now. works great. did not work befroe the metal.

DJP6371 · 07-01-2015, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BendOrLarry

I have a Sunseeker 2860ds ford cassis. I mounted my magnetic XM antenna on the hood just in front of the windshield. It doesn't move and the signal is consistent.

Thanks...I'll give that a try.

Sent from my iPhone 'cause I'm probably out in the RV!

oldkeywest91 · 07-01-2015, 06:31 PM

I do not see any where which Berkshire you have but on our 38A there is a ledge on top of the windshield that the sun shield is mounted too.I ran the XM wire up the drivers side of the molding and placed the antenna on the shelf.It does not have to be metal to work just high enough so receive a good signal.Hope this helps

ernest917 · 07-01-2015, 08:31 PM

I used industrial strength Velcro and placed the antenna in the middle top of the windshield and ran the wire down the windshield by the center column.... (My 2008 has the split windshield). Works great....

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B and B · 07-01-2015, 08:45 PM

Sirius antenna does not need a ground plane like a CB antenna. You can just stick it to the Roof. I did this with some Dicor sealant, works great!

conceptumator · 07-02-2015, 10:19 AM

I can't say either way on the ground plane thing. I've seen arguments that it worked when a piece of metal was added and other arguments that it isn't needed, just like these posts. I haven't tried the metal on the dash but may do it just to see. The biggest issue I know of with putting the antenna on the dash, windshield or anywhere other than the roof is the satellite location. The Sirius XM satellites, like most others, are orbiting over the equator. Since I'm north of the equator, with the antenna sitting on the dash, I get great reception when driving south, pretty reliable with heading east of west and absolutely no reception when heading north. Fiberglass in the RV skin is transparent to the signal, but mass will block it just the same, so upper cabinets, structural framing, etc. will kill the signal. Wish I knew an easy way to get it on the roof but I don't want to go drilling holes.

EJM4 · 07-02-2015, 12:38 PM

X2 on what Oldkeywest said. Works like a gem in my 39BH.

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oldkeywest91 · 07-02-2015, 04:07 PM

CONCEPTUMATOR, You have the same shelf as the 38A and if you place the antenna face up in the shelf it is out of the way from any interference.Have no problem receiving signal while driving North,South,East or West.As for the magnet on the antenna it is to hold the antenna on the cars and that is all.

conceptumator · 07-02-2015, 04:11 PM

Thanks, oldkeywest91 - I'll have to see if I can find that shelf
.

dave961 · 07-02-2015, 08:56 PM

Do you have a slide out? I saw a post the other day where someone stuck a low profile XM antenna to the roof of the slide out and ran the wire inside from there. He said there was enough clearance that it did not hit anything solid while extending/retracting the slide. I'm seriously (haha) thinking of doing that myself.

conceptumator · 07-02-2015, 09:04 PM

We have two slides but only one might have a way to get the wire back to the dash and that wouldn't be easy by any means. We only listen while driving so it would need to be on the roof above the slide anyway. The best way is to put it on the roof and bring the cable in where the existing AMFM antenna is now but I'm too lazy (and fat) to get up there. Thanks, though.

B and B · 07-02-2015, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by conceptumator

I can't say either way on the ground plane thing. I've seen arguments that it worked when a piece of metal was added and other arguments that it isn't needed, just like these posts. I haven't tried the metal on the dash but may do it just to see. The biggest issue I know of with putting the antenna on the dash, windshield or anywhere other than the roof is the satellite location. The Sirius XM satellites, like most others, are orbiting over the equator. Since I'm north of the equator, with the antenna sitting on the dash, I get great reception when driving south, pretty reliable with heading east of west and absolutely no reception when heading north. Fiberglass in the RV skin is transparent to the signal, but mass will block it just the same, so upper cabinets, structural framing, etc. will kill the signal. Wish I knew an easy way to get it on the roof but I don't want to go drilling holes.

Satellites Radiosat 1 through Radiosat 3 fly in geosynchronous highly elliptical orbit (Tundra orbit) in a 23 Hour, 56 Minute orbital period (1 sidereal day). The elliptical path of its satellite constellation ensures that each satellite spends about 16 hours a day over the continental United States, with at least one satellite over the country at all times. The orbit allows the satellites to broadcast from directly overhead the continental United States, avoiding the problem of large buildings or objects blocking the signal and requiring a much smaller terrestrial repeater network than does sister network XM.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highly_elliptical_orbit

JBoyer · 07-05-2015, 09:32 AM

DJP6371 - I hope you can achieve good results with some of the suggestions here. I will tell you, I had no luck as long as the antenna was inside our 08. I tried on the dash, above the steel front tv frame, etc. I finally gave up and mounted the antenna on the roof. I bought a 25 foot cable extension (available on-line through several sources). I took the stock antenna and attached a small flat steel electrical plate to the top of the frig vent. I sealed it down and the antenna magnet holds nicely to the plate. I dropped the antenna wire down the frig vent shaft and then ran the connector through the wall under our frig. The extension cable ran under the carpet edge and was out of the way. I've had this setup now for two years with zero issues. It sounds like more work that it actually was. Getting the ladder out took longer than anything else!

Best of luck to you.

dave961 · 07-06-2015, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JBoyer

... and mounted the antenna on the roof. I bought a 25 foot cable extension (available on-line through several sources). I took the stock antenna and attached a small flat steel electrical plate to the top of the frig vent. I sealed it down and the antenna magnet holds nicely to the plate. I dropped the antenna wire down the frig vent shaft and then ran the connector through the wall under our frig. The extension cable ran under the carpet edge and was out of the way...
Best of luck to you.

Brilliant, JB. I'm sold, added this one to my list.

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