I got Sirius Satellite Radio installed in my car on Monday at Circuit
City. The guy working in the garage told me that, instead of mounting
the antenna on the roof of the car, he was going to mount it on the
dashboard. He told me that by doing so, he was doing me a favor
because if he mounted the antenna on the roof, it would rip off the
paint if I ever wanted to remove it, and that you get the same
reception with it mounted on the dashboard anyway.

Since Monday, I've noticed that the signal has been less than stellar
in many parts of town. I'm getting a lot of mild static, which is
especially noticable on the talk stations. I've tried playing with
the frequencies to no avail.

I'm wondering if the Circuit City technician was feeding me a line of
BS in order to save himself some work. Can anyone offer any advice or
information on this? Never having had satellite radio in my car
before, I don't have anything to compare the signal to, in order to
know if this is how it should sound or not.

Thanks.

big snip

I'm wondering if the Circuit City technician was feeding me a line of
BS in order to save himself some work. Can anyone offer any advice or
information on this? Never having had satellite radio in my car
before, I don't have anything to compare the signal to, in order to
know if this is how it should sound or not.

Two questions: First, which Sirius radio did you have installed? If it's an
FM modulated unit,
you may just be tuned too closely to the frequency of a local (likely NPR or
religious translator) station.
Second, I think the Circuit City tech was feeding you a line. I've had two
XM radios installed at
Circuit City and both times the antenna was mounted on the roof of the
vehicle near the tail gate -
both are SUV's. Furthermore, most of the Sirius and XM antenna are magnetic
mount - meaning they
won't harm the paint.

Since both Sirius and XM are digital services, poor signal is really almost
meaningless - it either works fine
or it totally drops the audio altogether due to packet loss. You really
shouldn't hear "static" unless you have
one of the FM modulated unit and then there's some other RF force at work.

HTH,

Jeremy

You'll get your best answers at the independent Sirius users' forum,
www.siriusbackstage.com .

But in my opinion the installer was simply saving himself some work finding
a route through the car and underneath the rear window lip. I actually did the
dashboard thing for a few months, taking my complete Sirius setup into the car
for longer trips. It was surprisingly reliable, but the rooftop mount does
reduce dropouts.

And the flat rooftop antenna is magnetically attached; the magnet isn't
strong enough to pull paint off, but you may dull a newer finish if you're
careless with a snow brush, as the antenna grips firmly but goes where you push
it.

Jerome
(JJS on SBS, xmfan.com, xm411.com)

"Blue Rhino" wrote in message
...
I got Sirius Satellite Radio installed in my car on Monday at Circuit
City. The guy working in the garage told me that, instead of mounting
the antenna on the roof of the car, he was going to mount it on the
dashboard. He told me that by doing so, he was doing me a favor
because if he mounted the antenna on the roof, it would rip off the
paint if I ever wanted to remove it, and that you get the same
reception with it mounted on the dashboard anyway.

Since Monday, I've noticed that the signal has been less than stellar
in many parts of town. I'm getting a lot of mild static, which is
especially noticable on the talk stations. I've tried playing with
the frequencies to no avail.

I'm wondering if the Circuit City technician was feeding me a line of
BS in order to save himself some work. Can anyone offer any advice or
information on this? Never having had satellite radio in my car
before, I don't have anything to compare the signal to, in order to
know if this is how it should sound or not.

Thanks.

I'm wondering if the Circuit City technician was feeding me a line of BS in
order to save himself some work.

Of course he was. Satellite radio is strictly line-of-sight. Placing metal
between the antenna and the satellite guarantees reception problems.

It belongs on the outside of the car. Period.