I know there has been some sirius questions like this before but I would like to see if anyone has successfully installed an '08 Super Duty factory Sirius radio antenna on an earlier model truck and connected it to a Sirius portable tuner. I have a Sportster R and just ordered the (antenna 85 bucks and wire 15 bucks) for the '08 model to install on my '06. I know that the plug end on the wire appears different in the diagram. If someone has done it, what did you do for the connector end?

 

I haven't seen the plugs on the '08, but you may be able to take the plastic casing off the end and it might expose the normal small round silver connector. I have done it with the plugs that they used in the 04's etc. in the 150's.

 

It is the same on the '08s, plastic cover (clicky thingy) over normal Sirius antenna plug.

 

Great, thanks for the info guys.. My stuff should be in any day now. I'm surprised that after all this time that nobody sells an aftermarket hard mount antenna. I looked everywhere and the only thing I could come up with was buying the one from Ford. Guess they figure most people wouldnt want to put a hole in the roof....

 

The Sirius mag-mount antenna kit on my '04 Exlporer XLT performs just as well as the Ford factory mount antenna found on our '07 Montego AWD with factory NAV and Sirius radio. The FM direct-connection antenna kit does require pulling the factory radio to insert the FM connector kit in the bak of the radio. Without that FM kit the Sirius radio was useless, constantly overpowered by local FM stations, hiss, static, etc. I have heard that living out in the country there is less interference, but in a large metro area there are no blank channels on the FM dial and even if you found one, driving a few of miles you will discover a new one that interferes. There is also barely enough cable in the Sirius antenna kit to go from the back of the Explorer roof deck to the dash-mount of a Sportster radio.

Jack

 

You might already have had an antenna for sat. When I was detailing my '99 Eddie Baurer for trade-in, I noticed a "squarish" fixture behind the rear-view mirror. It had a cable attached that disappeared into the headliner. I saw "sat" molded into the lower face of the fixture. It looks exactly like many of the low-profile sat. antennas I've seen only hanging upside down. It is not really part of the mirror. Anyway, I traded my '99 for a 2006 Expe, and it has the same fixture and cable behind the electrochromic mirror (next to the inner surface of the windshield). However, the word "sat" does not appear on it as it did on my '99. When I visited an installer to "scout-out" a Sirius add-on, the guy I spoke to knew nothing about the fixture and he didn't think it had anything to do with a satellite-antenna. I believe he is wrong and that many Ford owners
went through needless stress mounting satellite antennas when they already had one. Meanwhile, I'm having difficulty verifying the use for this fixture other than as a satellite antenna. I certainly don't want to go to an installer who wants to butcher the vehicle to install an antenna that may not be necessary.

 

I am pretty sure the box you are talking about is for your car's compass.. The satellite radio antennas should be mounted to the roof from the factory.

 

black04lariat is correct. The box behind the mirror is for the compass, it is not an antenna. Even though many people lay the sat antennas on the dash, neither XM or Sirius recommends this for reception purposes and no manufacturer installs their sat antennas inside the vehicle.

 

I have mine on my dash of my truck and it works just as well as when I had it stuck on top of my truck