kxmike

I`m going to be installing Sirius Satellite in my 99 Maxima with Bose. How should I run the antenna wire to the outside of the car? Also what is the best looking best functioning mount for the Sportster?

themills

iTrader: (2)

Middle of the trunk, on top, closet to the rear window.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

Are you wiring the Sirius unit throught the AUX mod in the BOSE unit?
If so, please tell us how it goes and how it sounds.

kxmike

Haven`t looked into that yet.

Jeffs95max

The best spot for the antenna is probly the trunk lid. Sometimes when i install these i hide the wire in the window trim, and mount it on the roof. The antenna has a magnet on it. But use the extra piece of 3m tape it comes with and stick it on the car. That sportster isnt gonna look pretty no matter where you mount it, its a little bulky. but definately do the aux through the radio. Good luck with the install

Blaxima95

I put Sirius in my friends 00 SE and XM in my brothers 97 SE this weekend. Both cars, mounted the antenna to the dash, directly in the center of the defroster vents. Get great reception in both cars and no ugly antenna outside

themills

iTrader: (2)

Do not get is mounted inside. Reception will suffer. You can't decide "great" reception in a week, try over months and months. Mounting inside especially causes problems when your car is facing away from the satellite. My wire comes form inside the trunk lid and is not visible.

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

mine functioned fine inside the car. It was next to the 3rd brake light.

WaarrEagle

iTrader: (1)

Here is a pic of my XM antenna on the roof at the top of the back windshield. Run its wire around the back window under the gasket surrounding it and then take off the trim piece below the window to get the wire into the car.

loverholic

iTrader: (3)

that looks great, i think that adds a lil class to your car

kxmike

Then what? Run the wire through the rubber window gasket?

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

route from inside the trunk up around the rubber trim to the top of the car.

Blaxima95

Weeks and weeks? reception will change with the movement of your car. Putting the antenna on the dash with a clear view out the glass is just as good as it being mounted outside.

98maximagle

Mine is stuck to the rear driver's side Bose speaker grill (yay magnets). Runs from the dash, down the driver's side floor trim, between the rear seat and door where the slack is hidden and onto the speaker cage. I've had it since July and it works fine.

So where is the satellite? In the USA, I would assume it's South toward the equator? How does your theory work if the radio works great when driving down Wall Street in NYC when the only view is up?

One a side note, be careful with the wire, as it is fairly fragile and $50 to replace. Don't try to jam it in a place it doesn't fit

themills

iTrader: (2)

Whatever, I drove to LA , south with an antenna inside, and it worked great, drove back north, and it worked like crap until XM had it re-installed for free, when I told XM it was on the inside of my car. . I make this trip often, so it wasnt a one time result. Have you ever seen a satellite mounted a house? They dont point up, it's south like you said. The XM antenna does not get the signal from "up" , that doesnt not make any sense. That's great it works on wall street, but even mine cuts out, when there is a clear "up". Wall street is wide, compared to a small highway with large trees on both sides. Maybe you dont have trees to worry about. Mounting inside is not as good as outside, thats why XM doesnt do it, thats why new cars come with it built in to the roof, instead of mounted in the dash, where it would look better, just not work better. It will work in the dash, but if you want the BEST reception all over the country , outside. You see, the long, windy, heavily wooded highway is where I want my XM to work most of all.

98maximagle

That's interesting how different you experience has been with XM compared with mine and Sirius. I do agree with you that the best position to mount it is outside the car, probably on the roof. I just want to make the OP know that it is not completely necessary to mount outside if he just wants to hook it up on a temporary basis.

The only times that I can pin down a problem with reception with my Sirius unit is when a big storm is coming. Seems that thick cloud cover screws it up for me. I'm still very impressed with the unit overall. I was in stand-still traffic last night a few car lengths under a bridge, and the only exposure to the sky was a 30 degree slice to the NE. Worked the whole time!

Max_Gator

I've got mine (sirius) mounted inside behind the clock in my 2k. I've put it in roughly the same place on the 4th gen. The only drops I seem to get are parking garages, etc.

It probably would be better to mount it outside - although I'm happy with it inside - but I just don't like it out there. It took all of about 15mins to mount it outside on the 4th gen when I first got the antenna. Ran it along the dash to passenger side and down to floor then under the plastic trim along the doors to the back seat and then behind the seat to the pass thru to the trunk. Hardest part was hiding it along the dash - just pushed it down.

GoldMax99

Wow that looks great. How did you lift the gasket w/o scratching the paint or ripping the gasket? How did you feed it into the trunk with the trunk gasket in the way?

MAXIMAK99

I used to work for Sirius customer service, and I also have Sirius in my 99 Max. Speaking from experience, you should always mount your antenna on the roof of the car, or on top of your trunk lid. When I originally got Sirius the installer put the antenna on top of the dash. Within the next day or so I started losing signal, so I called Sirius. They advised me to go back to the installer and have them mount the antenna outside of my car. I went back, had them mount the antenna on my trunk lid, and I have not had a problem since. But I believe the OP was asking where to place his Sportster and how to run his antenna wire. IMO I would mount it on the driver side pillar and run the cables down the dash and down the side of the car to the back. I also would not rely on the built in FM Modulator that is built in to your Sportster radio. That modulator is very weak and will cause bad output, it will basically sound like youre listening to a radio station that is full of static, which will defeat the purpose of having satellite. Instead I would use an AUX input if your radio has it, or have the radio hard wired to the radio antenna in the back of the radio. Good luck

tvis

iTrader: (1)

Correct.

I have one Sirius setup hardwired in my MR2 with the antenna on the roof, and I have 2 more that use the home antenna mounted to the dash since I don't feel like spending $40 on another roof antenna. Especially since I should be getting the Sportster 5 soon. My starmate replay's connections are all ****ed. The roof antenna gets much better reception than those on the dash.

GoldMax99

Just want to let everyone know that I did like WaarrEagle suggested and it was a cinch. Only thing I still need is to figure how to get it into the trunk with the rubber gasket in the way. Anyone have a recommendation on how to get it into the trunk?

nafddur

Run the wire inside the rear window molding to the lower (right or left) corner of the window, where there is a gap to get it perfectly into the trunk. Then use tape to keep the wire tight against the top of the trunk (inside of course) to get it under the rear seat.

I did this with my sirius antenna wire over 2 1/2 years ago, and have never had a problem. I'm still using my original S50 antenna - even after upgrading to a Stiletto 100 and then an S2.

caseymaxima

iTrader: (1)

On my 1996 Maxima I have the Sirius ant mounted on the roof in the back, dead center. I also ran the wire under the rear window gasket, and used a small awl to push the wire under. The wire fits perfectly under the gasket, and it looks great. I then pulled out the rear seat and the door sill plates and the wire is totally hidden. However I must do this job all over again because my ant has gone bad. I was getting a very bad signal even in areas where it should have been perfect, I called Sirius to complain, and they said most likely the ant is bad, they sent me a new ant and all is good. They said that the ant's go bad often due to the elements. My ant lasted almost two years.
And yes without a doubt you must use the aux input on the radio (hopefully you have an aftermarket head unit?) or the sound WILL BE HORRIBLE. The FM broadcast is garbage! According to Sirius, the FCC made them turn down the power of the FM broadcast, and the quality suffered. The claim is that the older Sirius units had a high power output, so their FM broadcast is much better.

Zack

fat_kid

iTrader: (13)

holy 3 year old thread

GoldMax99

I did the same thing but ran it between the rubber of the trunk and the metal blade-like surface. I don't recommend anyone do this unless you run the cable along the blade-like surface for about 12 inches and slowly guide it from one side of the blade to the other. Then softly push the rubber gasket over the entire area. DONT RUN IT OVER THE BLADE IN ONE SHOT AS YOU WILL BEND THE WIRE ALMOST A FULL 180 DEGREES AND BREAK IT!!! If you run it for a few inches and slowly guide it over the edge the angle is minimal. If you're lucky like I was you will find an indentation somewhere in the blade which will make a good spot for the transition from one side to the other of the blade.