Satellite Radio

Baja jaja · Post by **Baja jaja** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 6:33 am

The radio reception in my WRX was non-existent, likely due to a combination of the stupid little in-glass wire antenna and the type of tint the original owner had applied to the windows. But happily I used this as an excuse to get the Sirius radio I'd been wanting. I always expected my next car would be something with Sirius included (VW new Jetta) but I fell in love with Baja.

So here's my q: Anyone got any thoughts on installation satellite radio? I don't really want to replace the head unit. After all, I just tapped myself out getting the 06 Turbo! My little suction-cup mounted unit will have to do for now. I am looking for tips on antenna mounting and wiring; wiring the unit for power (or just using cig lighter); and hooking up to the radio (or just using the built-in fm xmitter).

Also I see there is a "SAT" indicator on the factory radio, but it is not documented anywhere. Do you think the factory unit can do satellite? Or be upgraded to do it?

cliffhanger · Post by **cliffhanger** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 11:46 am

well, i replaced my head unit so i can't really help you out there, but i do have xm and i absolutely cannot drive without it. i have mine sitting in the pocket in front of the ashtray (b/c i don't smoke, this is a convenient place) and plugged into the cig lighter. the sound goes to the stereo via aux input, but i have heard it thru the fm modulator and the sound quality is not that bad, the only problem is finding the right radio frequency that no one else is broadcasting on. this is especially bothersome on long road trips. the antenna was fairly easy, i have mine run through the middle of the console and thru the firewall, and sitting on the back of my hood in the middle. it doesnt look as bad as i thought it would, kinda like a third windshield washer (only a little bigger obviously), and its reception is fine.

Hawk296 · Post by **Hawk296** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:01 pm

I did a small writeup on my sirius install over on Nabisco http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthr ... s+Starbase

I mounted the antenna on the roof and ran it all the way through the interior up to the front. The 12v power is supplied from the rear 12v outlet in the center council. (used the rear because the starbase is mounted under the seat). I de-pinned the connector for the outlet, soldered on the leads to the existing terminals and then re-inserted the pins into teh connector, and plugged the connector back into the 12V outlet, so its hardwired, relativly easy to treturn back to stock and totally clean.

The starbase comes with an Fm antenna relay. so the relay connects to the antenna port of the radio and then the regular antenna plugs into the relay. with the natural lower quality of satalite radio to begin with, it sounds fine.

And in the pics I have a 2004 WRX/STi radio because I wanted the tape deck, it would hook up exactly the same to the baja radio if i wanted.

There are a lot of ways to do it, this way worked well for me. Hope you get some good ideas.

hookupny · Post by **hookupny** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:29 am

I have the XM Roady 2 , and it is perfect... Only 2 wires and 5 minutes and you're good to go. It has a FM modulator that transmits the signal thru your radio..so you only have to plug in the power cord to the cig lighter or power adapter and lay the antenna on your dashboard..set your radio to one of the unused frequencies...that's it. And you can take it from car to car or use the headset and take it anywhere.

Baja jaja · Post by **Baja jaja** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 8:45 am

Hook... yeah the Roady2 looks nice. I am sticking with Sirius -- I think the content is better -- but XM has some nice units available. My Starmate also has the FM xmitter thingy built in... I was wondering if anyone had a better option. I am going to look at upgrading to a nicer unit (the Starmate was the cheapest available at the time).

Hawk... Your radio sure looks familiar.. heheh... Y'know I hadn't even noticed that I gave up cassette tape with this new one. Your install looks excellent! Nice job... Very professional. I like those guages, too! I am going to try to find an easier way to run the antenna wire, though... I hope...

Thanks for your responses!

hakysak · Post by **hakysak** » Mon Apr 10, 2006 8:29 pm

I'll be switching from XM to Sirius in early 2007. Sirius will have the rights to Nascar, and that's about the only thing I follow on the XM. Other than that, the channel line ups are about the same.

I currently have the Delphi Skyfi2. It has the built in wireless fm modulator, which works fine, but I do get tired of changing stations when I get in to bigger cities. When I switch services, I'll be looking at replacing the stock radio with one that is satellite ready and ipod ready. I may even do that soon, if I'll be able to make the service switch with no hassle with the same radio, since it is compatible with both.

ebbie97 · Post by **ebbie97** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 6:00 am

Last year I installed my Sirius Starmate unit. I wasn't looking forward to running the antenna cable all the way from the roof to the unit. I found a good spot on the dash and it works perfectly. The wires are tugged away along the windshield, the dash and the center console, to the unit. Never liked the suction cup idea, and threw it out. The unit is now mounted on a bracket that slides right underneath the little storage compartment and I used a splitter on my cigarette lighter. I'll take some pictures this weekend and post them on Monday.
-EB

X20 · Post by **X20** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:39 am

i had the delphi skyfi 2 in my baja for like 2 days, and returned it with the quickness! The sound quality is like an a.m. station for the most part, when you finally get good reception, it has quick bursts of static distortions which are not good for our speaker bretheren. I returned that shit and just bought a new radio, the radio is xm ready, but it also is a sony that uses atrac3 compression so i can fit 1000 songs into each regular cd, so i dont really need xm or an ipod. As far as the fm modulator for satellite radio, i dont think the quality is there. i live in Miami bordering the everglades, and i never found a good reception from boondocks to city.
laters

ebbie97 · Post by **ebbie97** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 12:56 pm

These are the pictures of my Sirius set-up. Even with the antenna on the dash, I still get great reception. The build in FM-transmitter works well, it is just that the FM-band is so heavily used. Took me a while to find an undisturbed frequency.
-EB

bajabeauty · Post by **bajabeauty** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:34 pm

That is a great idea. I have Satellite radio too, My second baja around I learned to put the anntena thing in the corner of the dash too, when I had originally had it on the outside my paint was scratched very badly, and I couldn't buff it out. Works just fine this way wedged in there and it never moves. I am suction cup user, people mistakenly think I have a radar detector.

davecoon13 · Post by **davecoon13** » Sun Aug 13, 2006 6:16 pm

I installed a Sirius SV1 in my Baja. At first, I had the magnetic antenna on the roof through the back window. A co-worker of mine who had XM suggested putting the antenna on the Dash. I did this, but it slid back and fourth. My solution was to get a Cell Phone Gel Grippie pad for the dash and set the Antenna on that. Works Perfect.

I have a 6 way splitter for the ciagarette lighter outlet that goes in the bottom storage area.(Sirus, Cell Charger, GPS, iPOD, Wife's cell charger) In the top Storage Area I have the SV1

Kev M · Post by **Kev M** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:02 am

I've been an XM listener for about 3 years now, but I'm ready for a change and I was thinking about going with Sirius.

Since I didn't have enough money left with the purchase of the new Baja to go with the premium sound system, I figured I'd just upgrade everything at my leisure.

I'm definitely not looking foward to disassembling too much in order to run an antenna lead, so if you guys are saying a dash mount is working for you, I'm probably going to go that route.

As for head unit though, I'm looking for an ultra clean installation that will allow me to run Sirius and an Ipod all from the unit. Right now it's looking like I'm going to go with an Alpine with a hidden Sirius receiver and Ipod doc so everything is out of sight.

Kev

ebbie97 · Post by **ebbie97** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:56 am

Having the antenna on the dash works really well. To prevent is from sliding, I just put a small piece of double sided tape on the bottom. I have the wire run along the windshield, down by the passenger door, along the dash, along the center console, under the shifter trim to the Sirius unit.
I'll post a pic tomorrow to make some sense out of this.
-EB

Kev M · Post by **Kev M** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 10:17 am

ebbie97 wrote:Having the antenna on the dash works really well. To prevent is from sliding, I just put a small piece of double sided tape on the bottom. I have the wire run along the windshield, down by the passenger door, along the dash, along the center console, under the shifter trim to the Sirius unit.
I'll post a pic tomorrow to make some sense out of this.
-EB

Yeah, cool, I'd like to see that thanks...

ebbie97 · Post by **ebbie97** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:46 am

The red lines on this picture, is my attempt to indicate where I have my antenna wire tugged away. By prying the trim a little, I was able to completely hide the wire. It even goes under the shifter trim.
-EB