So I'm in the process of getting Sirius in my FD. Question is about the sat antenna. I don't want to put it on the outside of the body & ugly up the car. How much signal is lost by placing the antenna on the inside of the car; maybe by the hatch glass? I know I will lose some signal... but do I lose all signal... or is it barely noticable?

I won't have this running for a couple of weeks... so I can't just go out to the garage & test things out.

& I know my sat TV needs direct sight... so the sat radio probably is the same way... just thought I'd see if anyone had experimented with it...

 

i have had my XM since somewhere around the time it was released. i tried putting it on the outside of my car at first and it kept falling off. i guess i drive too fast for it or something. idk honestly. so i finally got to the point where i put it inside of the car. its in my sentra so that car has a rear deck. but either way keep it directly under glass (tint does have a small effect on it) and you will be fine. i love reception under large bridges/tunnels/and some parking structure. other than that its great. and honestly idk if you dont lose it even if it is outside the car in those same places.

 

Cool, just what I was hoping to hear.

 

I have xm in my 7. I felt the same way about having the antenna on the outside of the car. I had the antenna installed on the rear hatch cargo cover. The main reason from what I was told that you would want the antenna on the outside is so the antenna is on the medal of the car, so the place I had it installed fabricated a small medal piece the size of the antenna base and attached that to the cargo cover. They said the satellite needs to see the medal so the signal will reflect back and give u the signal you are looking for. My brother has his antenna on the outside of his car and our signal strength is identical where ever we go. If you want I can post a pic so you can see how it was installed.

 

one thing i will say though. over the years the signal has definately gotten better in certain places. and i think with the sirius/xm merger it might get be a good thing