Dealer installed XM radio...
I was wondering if any of you have installed XM through the dealer, and if so where did they put the antenna? I noticed the new ones have a small roof bubble, which is what made me wonder.
Thanks.
Oct 29, 2008 6:56:48 PM
From a previous reply:
I went with the ComanderMT. It works great now that I found a great place for the antenna . I was originally going to install the Cayenne unit but at the time I was getting error messages from the nav system stating system failure. The dealer found that it was a defective CD player. In retrospect the Cayenne unit would be better for the simple reason the gear shifter gets in the way of changing channels. Also, the CommanderMT is quite bright at night, out illuminating all dashboard panel lights. All in all the XM unit works fine. It's a lot cheaper. I have attached a jpg to show the installation. The XM antenna is a micro antenna.
I found a great place to place an XM antenna. By placing the antenna in the middle of the metal rollbar plate it gets great reception with the top up or down. According to the installers, the antenna works best with metal beneath the antenna. See attached pic.
In retrospect, I'll probably have the Cayenne unit put in at a later date because the CommanderMT is too bright at night.
Best
Oct 30, 2008 11:19:42 AM
Thanks, your setup looks good.
I have read somewhere about putting the antenna under the plastic at the base of the windshield wipers, but I'm not sure if this was with a dealer-installed setup.
Oct 30, 2008 1:39:34 PM
Porsche has an assigned bracket for the XM antenna under the passengers side wiper. Its found under the plastic cover just below the wiper. I had extremely poor reception with it placed there. I asked the aftermarket installer to simply disconnect the existing XM antenna and connect another with 25 or 50 feet of line so I could play with the placement. The installer said reception is better when there is metal below the XM antenna. What you saw in my pictures was the first and and only place I tried for the alternate placement. I live in Fairfield County, CT, where the roads are hilly and have a huge canopy of trees over them. Its the worse case senario for XM reception. I now have at the minimum of 97% good reception vs 60% from what I had before moving the antenna.
Alternate places where the installer said to he had placed the antenna were in the following places: 1. centered under the front bumper 2. centered under or above on the front dashboard as close to the window as possible. 3. for the cab layout: in the headliner just inside the front plastic sleeve.
Just a side note. XM antennas have vertex angle of reception of about 80 degrees that can be blocked by metal and the angle of the car. If the angle of the car is going downhill and the antenna is going away from the southern exposure of the XM satilite, the reception can be blocked. I have a cab so the placement works great with the top up or down. No metal to speak of to really block the signal.
Like I said in my thread, I looking at having the XM Commander taken out and going with the Cayenne module. The light at night from the display is quite bright. You can get information about this module from SunCoast Porsche, 877.923.1700.
Hope this helps, best