Im about to get a sirius starmate 4 and i was wondering if anyone had a sat radio and if so where did they mount it/ antenna..


Thanks

 

I usually mount mine in the corner by the driver's side A-pillar. As for the antenna, on my truck I ran the wire through the firewall, under the windshield trim, then along my lighted visor to the center of the cab. Skandocious showed me a pic of his with the antenna wire coming out from the cargo light/3rd brake light housing, wait to see if he chimes in and gives you more details.

 

Satellite??? I am still using citizens band!!

 

I mounted my antenna on the cowling in between the windshield and the hood on the drivers side. The cord runs under the hood and through the firewall, behind the dash and into the hard wired sirius unit.

It's been installed there for several years now with no problems and installation was painless.

 

I mounted my radio near the a-pillar (it recently got bumped over my trans temp gauge). I removed the a-pillar trim and ran the antenna wire under the upper cab trim, down the left side of the cab towards the rear, then popped it out my 3rd brake light housing and mounted it on the roof. Here's some pics:

 

thanks alot guys but i dont have a brake light so would a clearence light be okay?

 

The clearance light is right on top of the cab, in the same spot right?? If so, yeah. Just remove the lens and there is a hole already drilled through the inner roof in the cab. Pop the antenna through the hole and pull it out past your clearance light. Get the antenna mounted and screw the light back in place

 

ran the wire for mine out of the back of the middle cab light and centered it in the middle of the roof. If you do not have cab lights, you could use the 3rd brake light or cargo light.

 

Ahh yes by clearance lights he means those front cab lights on the roof. yeah that should work fine as long as you can find a hole near there to pop the antenna wire through. Sounds like jdency found one

 

how good does it sound? like is it going to sound good with a sound system (subs, ect.) or is it going to be alot of static like the reg radio.
And i wonder how the "FM DIRECT ADAPTER" would work?

 

The sound quality is not quite that of a CD (128 kbps) but it sounds pretty darn close (compared to terrestrial radio). I believe they rate it at around 32 or 64 kbps actually, which seems really low but the difference is not very noticeable unless switching back and forth between CD and Sirius. But there is NO STATIC or interference because it is a Satellite connection, that's the best part.

 

I think that depends on the FM station that you use to receive the signal. If I crank mine up a ways, I can hear a little static, not usually when a tune is on, but when one of the DJ's is BS'ing or the unit is powering up. The direct connected unit in my F250 though, no static at all. I would look into direct adapter if you want the best quality sound. I'm considering doing the same, if you do it let me know how it works out for you.

Also wanted to ad, I've had issues with interference off and on, sometimes I start picking up a different station that what I'm tuned to for some odd reason. Also, if you're in a more urban area it's harder to find an unused FM station (I had major issues when I took my wife to the Reno/Tahoe airport finding an FM freq. that I could use).

 

Sorry I should have specified, I have mine connected directly to the AUX jack on my stereo, no FM transmitter being used.

 

So it works well that way Skan? I'm not sure mine has a AUX jack, I'll have to check. Isn't there another "hardwired" option too, or am I making that up?

 

Yeah mine works great. My Pioneer deck requires a small adapter which adapts the propreitary AUX plug into a couple RCA jacks (red & white). Then I've got an RCA to Stereo mini jack (headphone jack) wire which I've run through the dash and up to the back of the Sirius. That's as good as the audio quality is going to get out of Sirius, no static AT ALL!!

If you don't have an aux jack, your next best option would be an inline antenna tapping module. Like this:
http://www.crutchfield.com/App/Product/Item/Main.aspx?g=251550&i=607FMDA25&tp=1251

That basically just forces the Sirius signal DIRECTLY into your AM/FM antenna, so it doesn't have to travel through the airwaves and pick up interference. You just unplug your antenna from your radio, plug it into this box, then plug the box into the radio so it's INLINE on your AM/FM antenna... Simple enough