Optimum Satellite Radio Antenna Placement?

[beamer_bear]

Does anyone have a good place to mount an XM satellite antenna for a Pioneer AirWare receiver? I found that the signal to the radio antenna on my RAM antenna mount sometimes gets blocked by my body when heading north. I have an 05 R12RT. I'm considering placing it above the left mirror. Any suggestions or your experiences?

 

Thanks.

Barry

[UberXY]

Barry: I use a Garmin 376C with XM. The XM antenna is about the size of a hockey puck, and I have it on one of those shelfs that mount above the instrument panel. As it is magnetic, I made a round steel plate which I bolted to the shelf. Nice neat installation, no blocking problems. The Garmin is on a Touratech mount.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

The best place would probably be a steel plate glued to the top of your helmet and stick the antenna to that.

 

Not real practical. The signal is so weak that it needs line of sight to work. I have found the same problem with the loss of signal while heading North. Front of my tank bag is a fair compromise. Up on the dash or atop a mirror would be better so long as you maintain some metal for a ground plane.

[beamer_bear]

Ed, thanks for the reply. I tried it affixed to the LF mirror with velcro. I rode 250 miles and the only time I seemed to have interference was with large trees on both sides. Can these magnetic mounts be grounded? Mine has four tiny rubber feet on it I assumed to protect the paint when you put it on the car/bike.

 

Barry

[ShovelStrokeEd]

You will get a bit better reception with a chunk of metal plate under there but if your OK with the current setup stay with it. It's normal for trees to block the signal and the metal won't help with that.

[Fajah]

I use sirius and have mostly good signal....however, whenever in the twisties, the antenna spends time pointing the same direction as the attack angle of the bike, so in the heavily wooded areas and twisties, I fall back on the IPOD.

 

Good Luck,

[4rugby]

I have sirius satellite radio the kenwood ez700sr slides right into the radio box for a r1150rt mount your antenna

under your windscreen just above your gage's i get reception in my garage facing north with the door closed.

but sirius has a much better signal then XM does so loose xm and get sirius

[subvet]

I have the Roady 2. I mounted the receiver and antenna on a small metal plate and the whole set up goes in my mapcase on the tank bag.

I thought I'd have exactly the problem you describe but to my surprise, I have not had any problems with reception except in instances (as others have said) where there are alot of trees near the road.