XM Radio antenna install Location - Where?

[COSteve]

As I run my truck over miles of wash board road in the summer, I am been saving my pennies for a XM radio in lieu of the CD skipping. Finally got the OK from the better half and had it installed. On of the things I ran into was where to put the small flat XM antenna. The crew at CarToys here in CO came up with the perfect location.... Under the Left Wing Vent! It sits on its own metal bracket (needed for reception) the vent is not obstructed, and it is completely out of the way with no wires exposed. Just wanted to pass it along as it is working great!Cheers! COSteve

[januconn92]

Personally, Sirius is my choice, NFL, NBA and better music, but opions are like .....

Anyway, I'm building a metal bracket to mount on the brakelight bracket, then use the magnetic antenna...

Either way, Sat Radio is truly amazing.....

[chrisvonc]

I completely did away with the little antenna and went to one of the larger ones and mounted it to the rear door. After having it there now for a year, the only change I would make is to mount it on the right side of the tire. Its easy to forget that its not strong enough to use as a handle to close or open the door and being where I have it now I catch myself reaching for it.

[loykd]

How well can you hear it with your STs? Are you driving with headphones or are the Badger tops that good at keeping out the road noises?

[Mike Hippert]

Ken the type of radio signal or even a CD will not make that big of an impact on how well you hear it as much as better speakers and a good amplifier. Although CVC's XM sounds good!

[chrisvonc]

add a 300w amp, jbl front speakers and bose rears with volume WAY up on highway.
:)

[loykd]

front speakers in the door or elsewhere? I saw someone at MAR two years ago with 2" tweeters in the dash, just outboard of the windshield defrost vents. I was wondering if that works well on the road.

CVC, with that big stereo, do I also need to get hyd lifts, neon lights and fuzzy dice?

[chrisvonc]

:)
Replaced the front speakers with the marine JBLs. You will need to get a set of bling spinners though.

[loykd]

I thought I knew what you were talking about until I did the google search on 'bling spinners'. Do you think they make these for Buck's 37s?

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****

oops, maybe this is an example of thread hijacking... Sorry Steve. I'll google 'bling satellite antennas' next time

[Art Vigil]

Some things are just wrong.... :riflespinners

[Eric Siepmann]

They have their place. They aer after all ghetto rich.....

EwS

[COSteve]

Hijacked maybe..... but the banter is well worth it!

[flippedrover]

Hey Ken we were listining to my XM at the camp site Sat night. I've got the stock speakers and hear them fine with and without the top. Only have to remember to turn it down after I get off the interstate. I mounted the antenna on one of the light tabs on the cage. Low profile mag mount off of my pickup.

[mdmccallum]

Same here Tyler. Mounted on the Light tab. Works fine. I had some reception problems with it mounted on the rear of the 90. Steven, any chance of getting a pic of your mount?

[chrisvonc]

We bought the XM "boom box" for camping. Pop the head unit in and you are jamming by the campfire.
:)

[COSteve]

They also did a great job on the JL Audio Amp under my bench seat with enclusure and cooling fan. Will post if anyone is interested....

[OCD90]

So, the antenna isn't even on the surface? It's able to get the signal from under the wing vent through the plastic? Also, I'd heard it had to be "Line of Sight"...doesn't the cab affect signal at certain angles that low?

And, yes, I'd like to see a pic of that amp posted here.

Thanks! Such a help, everyone.

[COSteve]

The XM antenna top is right below the plastic of the wing vent cover. CarToys cut the ridges down that are on the bottom side of the wing cover to get the antenna as high as possible. They also mounted the metal "L" bracket that the antenna sits on with its magnets. I have not run into reception problems at all, all driving directions are good (Hyphoticially- driving north would pose the most interferece of the body of the truck).
The JL Audio 300/4 Amp is under the enclosure that they fabricated, under the bench seat. As it tumbles with the seat, it gives up miminal cargo space. Fan is there to keep it cool. :cool: Now if I can just get the truck to stop marking its territory on the garage floor!:grin

[Joe P]

Where did you install the XM unit. Could you take a picture?

Thanks

[loykd]

Steve, That's very interesting on the antenna mounting. I never would have thought that you'd not suffer signal reception degradation from the body panels.
Back to the speaker question, what did you install to go with that massive amp? (Besides the bling spinners, of course)

[Tawayama]

We did XM on the Range Rover, and I just use the magnetic mount and have placed it on the hood right in front of the cowl.

On the CrewCab the aentenna is mounted on top of the Donaldson pre-cleaner on the snorkel.

[COSteve]

The XM radio tuner was integrated in the new Alpine CDA-9820XM, so I did not have to add an "add on" box to the install in the interest of space.

The head unit was installed in the Tuffy Console.

Focal Speakers were installed in the front Doors (165V2 6-1/2" Component Speakers), and the crossovers were also installed in the doors. In retrospect, I would look at the slim line option as the front speakers do stick out somewhat.

The rear speakers were done above the small rear windows in custom enclosures (130CA 5-1/4" 2-Way Speakers) It was important to put them somewhere that did not take away from the cargo area

No Sub yet, got to start saving again!

[OCD90]

I saw that Alpine in Crutchfield. It looked to be a decent deal for the price.

My only concern...is that with the location in the center console...you'll have to look down to change among the many stations. My initial thought was that it might almost be better to have the auxiliary "faceplate" of non-integrated head units up on your dashboard somewhere. Think?

Post pics of the rear speaker enclosures. I'd like to see those too.

Thanks!

[chrisvonc]

Its pretty distracting for the first day or so until you learn to program in your favorite stations. Then all you need to worry about is hitting the right button.
Now I really only every roate though 4 stations although they just added some new ones I have to check out.

[COSteve]

Rear Speaker Enclosures....

[COSteve]

As requested.....

[Ntajeep]

I looked at getting the XM but Best Buy quoted my like $300 just for the install, because the Defender was such a tricky install!!!!!

I like your amp location. I have a soft top, w/ 2 jump seats in the back so didn't have that option. I went with a 500 watt / 5 channel JL amp, matched with the 4 JL's in the stock speaker locations. I then had them build a custom 12' JL Audio subwoofer box enclosed in marine grade fiberglass then covered with fabric. It bolts to the stock lower rear seat belt location and I can take it out and put it in in 2 minutes. Still plenty of storage room. It is downward facing and sounds really great in the soft top. I also had them build a cusom marine grade fiberglass removable cover for my amp on the back of my left side bench.

Just in case anyone else was thinking of upgrading the sound system in their Soft tops.

I have pictures if anyone is interested.

Matt

P.S. They were the first upgrades I did with the D90 and have been well worth it.

[OCD90]

Well...let's see the pics. Sounds cool.

[Ntajeep]

Here is a picture of the sub box from the rear view, sorry it isn't bigger, they won't let me upload and my webpage got messed up like 2 years ago.

[Ntajeep]

Here is the top view with the amp up top

[Ntajeep]

Here is the top view without the marine grade plexiglass cover on the amp

[mdmccallum]

I have a bazooka tube bass tucked away behind the passenger seat against the wall where seat was. It takes up very little space. The amp is under the passenger seat in the "glove" box. I have found this to be the least restricting for my passengers, mostly my two large dogs that can't stay out of the truck. I find $300 for installation of the XM absurd. I did it my self without any trouble in less than a hour. I am no McGiver either.

[dmarchand]

For those interested in Steve's speaker enclosures like myself.

I did some research and found these:

http://search.cardomain.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=55&EXTRA_ARG=&CFGNAME=MssFind%2Ecfg&host_id=42&page_id=12916992&query=universal+qlogic&hiword=universal+qlogic+UNIVERSE+QLOGICS+

I ordered a pair to install. I'll let you know how it comes together with pics.

[javelinadave]

I am picking up an XM tuner for my Sony radio tomorrow. I saw on an old thread about somebody putting their antenna inside the front fender. I was wondering if anyone else has tried it and if they would recommend doing the same. Also, did they use the blank to cover it up or did they use the heater vent side? Thanks you all and feel free to throw any advice towards my direction.

[chrisvonc]

Thread merged

[PT94D90]

I'm with Tyler and Mike, I've got the antenna on the light tab.

Chris - I didn't know they made a larger antenna, where did you pick that up?

[chrisvonc]

Circut City. Best Buy may stock it as well.

[javelinadave]

I went with the tiny antenna on the roll bar light tab. It works great! Thanks for the input.