Adding Satellite radio antenna

[Pushrod]

Has anyone added an antenna for either Sirius or XM radio? My '06 Meridian was built without the antenna even though it has a "Sirius Ready" radio. I was told that it is possible to drill through the forward cap, where the TV Sat antenna should be, and route an antenna wire down through the "A" pillar. If I do this I think I will go with XM because of their PAC 10 football coverage.

[Pushrod]

Has anyone added an antenna for either Sirius or XM radio? My '06 Meridian was built without the antenna even though it has a "Sirius Ready" radio. I was told that it is possible to drill through the forward cap, where the TV Sat antenna should be, and route an antenna wire down through the "A" pillar. If I do this I think I will go with XM because of their PAC 10 football coverage.

[rebelsbeach]

Doug, WELCOME to iRV2!!

I have an '06 Vectra that I specked out like I wanted....The radio is the same radio, with or without the Sirius control box and the antenna...You will need to add the control module as well as the antenna.
You are correct that, without a tv dish, you will have to drill through the front roof and run the wire down the "A" pillar...

[Robert & Kiki]

I mounted my Sirius antenna in the inside top of one of my overhead bins (against the inside of the roof). I have fiberglass roof and full signal...

[Diplomat Don]

Doug... I don't have a Winnebago, but had the same issue. I added GPS and needed to place the antenna on the roof. I removed my TV to access the front nose and got a clear view of the front cap. I drilled the hole through the cap, after measuring inside and out. Don't forget to run the drill in reverse before you dril through to keep the fiberglass from chipping. I found it easier to run the cabling through the left windshield pillar.

Finally, prior to sealing everthing up, I forced a bunch of insulation up into the front cap to keep the nose cooler.

[Belgique]

I tried placing it in the cabinet but got too many drop outs. I took a lazy approach, at least for now: I placed it on the roof and attached it using 5200 silicone (boating stores have it) I then ran a bead of 5200 on the seams down to the door and pushed the wire into that bead. Touched it up and it is barely noticable and has stayed there for 3000 miles. I'll probably do one of the approaches cited here, one day, when I'm inspired, but then, maybe not.

As someone else said, they are both the same tecnically, make your decision on what channel lineup you like best.

Steve

[Robert & Kiki]

I too had dropouts until I found a place that must only go through the fiberglass & not be near metal crossbeams...It cost nothing to try...

[Belgique]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Robert & Kiki:
I too had dropouts until I found a place that must only go through the fiberglass & not be near metal crossbeams...It cost nothing to try... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
You're probably right...hadn't thought about that. I'm a fan of putting it on the dash in the cars but didn't work in the MH. I've also had good luck with using the car antenna indoors and inside the travel trailer when we had it and it worked fine. I probably had the sucker right under a metal beam Steve

[AdrianLee]

Steve,

Have fun with that 5200 when you get ready to re-mount the antenna.

Actually, I would check it periodically because while 5200 is an incredibly strong adhesive it gets hard and will tend to crack with vibration sometime.

[John Hilley]

I also mounted my XM antenna in the overhead cabinet. I worked great going south, east and west. I would get drop outs going north. It wasthe roof ACs blocking the signal. On my prervious MH I mountedit on the fiberglass roof with a 12" square piece of sheet metal, worked great.