Paul_G Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 I have a Sirius Sportster with the standard auto antenna. 20 plus feet. Have it mounted in a tank bag, with 19 of the 20 feet neetly rolled up inside. I poked around on their site, and saw no shorter antennas. Would like to get rid of much of the excess. Any input on shortening the lead? I just don't know that type of wire the antenna input is. Thanks as always, Paul Link to comment
TonyT607 Posted November 12, 2006 Share Posted November 12, 2006 Paul, did you try MyRadioStore.com ? I was able to get a 12" antenna for my XM from them. They seem to have just about everything. Link to comment
Aluminum_Butt Posted November 13, 2006 Share Posted November 13, 2006 I did some research on this a few months ago, as I wanted to shorten my antenna. Based on what I found, there are four options: 1. Cut and splice the cable. It's very thin, shielded coax. This is the route I tried, and I failed miserably. I tried it twice, and both times I got zero satellite strength. The instructions I followed are HERE. There's also similar instructions HERE. 2. You can buy a pre-made unit at www.dallasmotorcycles.com. Look under "Satellite Radio Components", then go about 3/4 of the way down the page. Sean Daly used to offer these, too, but I'm not sure if he still does. 3. I've read that people opened the antenna and unsoldered the connections from the board, then resoldered them with the shorter cable. You might search Advrider - for some reason I found more info there than anywhere. 4. I've also read that you can buy the connector end and just crimp it on. I was never able locate a part number, though. From what I could find, the cost of the connector and crimps was probably going to be half as much as a pre-made antenna anyway - didn't seem worth it to me. Link to comment
Paul_G Posted November 13, 2006 Author Share Posted November 13, 2006 Thank you for the information Bob, The one at Dallas is for one which does not use a cradle. Mine is a Sportster, and does use a cradle. I would spent the 50 bucks if it would work. Still looking. Paul Link to comment
squints Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 I have shortened 2 XM's so far with no problem. I just open the antenna and made the connection inside of it. Not real hard to do just takes a small soldering tip. If your not sure about doing it, I'm sure a local radio shop will do it for a couple of bucks. Link to comment
bmwmick Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Paul, I've shortened several XM antennas for folks. If you have some good soldering skills, it's no problem at all. Signal strength is not affected. Mick Tucson Link to comment
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