i just purchased a sirius satillite radio turner and so far i love it. i got the sportsters replay and i love on how i can rewind and listen to songs over and over and i cant get over on how well the fm transmitter i have no noise just clear music.

this is how i have it mounted so far. i cant decide where i want it exactly yet you so if anybody has theres mounted different if you could post some pics so i can get some different ideas.

day pic



night pic



the remote



and the antenna and power cord, i think i might try wiring it to a switched power source if i can find the cord.

 

My Sirius receiver is a permanantly wired one. The receiver sits under my passenger's seat. I recently bought an Audiovox SIR-3, which is quite similar in size to the Sportster/Replay, for my GF. We installed it in her new Mazda 3. I'm so pleased w/ the install and how well it works that I now want to replace my Kenwood receiver w/ an Audiovox or similar PnP unit. We mounted hers using a kit we found online. The kit adds an attachment plate which slips between the stock deck and the edge of the bezel trim. It is perfectly located for the driver to use while underway yet doesn't get in the way of the passenger. I've had notions of trying to fabricate something similar for the Ranger someday. I'll have to take pictures someday to show it in detail. It really is slick.

My only comment about your install would be to try to permanantly install the antenna and power cables. We spliced a cigarette style outlet into my GF's wiring harness behind her bezel. This let us plug the Sirius receiver's cable in behind the bezel and route the power to the unit from behind it. It's nice not having the cig outlet tied up.. or having cables to deal w/. Also the antenna is easily routed through the third brake light. Just get some silicon sealant to augment the rubber seal when you go to close it all up. The rubber seal by itself isn't quite enough.. but the issue is easily solved w/ some sealant..

 

yeah def, take a saturday and re route that antenna. It'll look so much cleaner and keep the wire safer longer. Just run it up the A pillar and under the head liner and then out the Third break light.

 

you could just put the antenna on the dash. that's what i did and i get good reception. i didn't want some a-hole to come and rip it off for no reason.

 

That is what I did as well. That way I can easily transfer the whole setup from one vehicle to another. I have the newest Xact Sirius receiver and i have it mounted just below and to the right of my rear view mirror.

 

here is mine:

 

I am using the Terk XM direct stuff with my Pioneer deh8600mp. The XMDPIO100 and the XMD1000 are mounted under the radio and above the AC controls behind the dash. The power and ground are tied to Scoshe harness. The antenna is mounted on the center of the dash next to the windsheild. I only have slight probelms with signal when driving north early in the morning or in the early evenings. I am planning to eventually install a paint matched Terk XM Micro2 on the roof from cma.com . Since installing the XM I have removed my factory antenna mast as I have not listened to the local radio.

 

here is mine

 

Nice Thomas, how is that mounted? Is there a backing plate it is attached to? Where'd jah git it? As I said above, we got my GF an Audiovox setup for her new Mazda. I freakin' love it.. and want a similar setup in truckzilla now.. Your setup is pretty much exactly what I had in mind.

 

Sirius uses a different satellite and ground-repeater setup than XM does, but MRC found that with XM, at least here on the east coast of FL, with the antenna on the dash, he would lose his signal facing due east, when it was apparently blocked by the roof! We both now have ours running through the 3rd brake light, with a light application of RTV to keep water from leaking in.



Heres my control unit mount, its the Terk XM Commander:


Ryan, where you mounted yours I would worry about it being a distraction while driving.. also, doesn't it interfere with the sunvisor?

 

Sirius uses three satellites in an 'elliptical geosynchronous' orbit over the middle of the US where XM uses three satellites in a 'geostationary' orbit over the equator. This means that the XM satellites are all lower in the horizon (especially for those of us in the North) while there is always at least one Sirius satellite higher in the horizon at any given time.

XM originally only had two satellites in orbit. Because they are in geostationary orbit, they didn't need three like Sirius did. However there was a problem w/ the first two satellites so they launched a third and repositioned one of the original two next to the other. Now the two original satellites are next to each other running at 1/2 capacity while the new satellite is running at full capacity.

I'm surprised that you'd have problems when facing east. I would think the problems would be when you were facing North, away from the equator. We Sirius types usually have the East-West problems..

 

it isnt that big of a distraction while driving when i by my self i pick a station and leave for a while and when i with my girlfriend i give her control of it. and yeah it does mess with the sun visor. i want to move it some where else but i dont have enough power cord my orginal plan was to put it above the rearview mirror but i dont have enough cord. but now seeing how thomas has his mounted i like that much better my only worry is will it be in the way of opening the glove box and the only other problem is the bracket is 40 bucks for crutchfield

 

hey collin, sorry it took this long to reply lol


it is mounted using a carkit mount made specificially for this ranger.

http://www.pro-fit-intl.com/vsm.html that is the site i got it from. just input your vehicle, and it will tell you which one you need. i love it :-)

 

Folks: there is only one 'l' in Colin!!!

That is exactly what I was looking for. Thank you Thomas! I've already forgotten where we got my GF's bracket for her Mazda 3, but it looks pretty much exactly what you found for our Rangers.

Can you comment on how obtrusive it is on the passenger? When I first saw your photo I thought it mounted adjacent to the head unit.. not the HVAC controls. Does it get in the passenger's way much? The Audiovox unit I have my heart set looks to be a little larger than your XM set, so I'm concerned..

 

i have had large and small in the truck, no complaints yet. the left leg, might have to be inward a little more, but nothing horribly uncomfie.

my friend, that is 6"2, had no problems, and my girlfriend, that is 5" has no problem.

 

Sweeet.. Now all I need is the PNP receiver. Hopefully they'll be some deals this fall..

 

hehe, my reciever cost 50 bucks, came with everything.

i love it!!

girlfriend loved it so much, i bought her one too lol

 

I had an FM Modulator version, a Sony, but the sound quality sucked (was when they were just becoming popular. Because of that, I just bought a reciever for XM Direct. Much better now. The Receiver box thingy in in the glove compartment, while I just ran the Antenna out the rear slider window. After some electrical tape to make it look nice down the window, and a little tucking in the of the wire, I love it.

 

I've got mine mounted were the little cubby hole is right above the cupholders. I hardwired it to the passenger side fusebox off of the ACC/RUN power so that it automatically comes on and shuts off when I turn the truck on or off. I ran the antenna through the dash behind the bezel and glovebox, up the passenger A-Pillar and then through the headliner and out the third light like Wowak did. All makes for a pretty clean install, and I don't have any problem with the FM modulator. I have the SkyFi2 and if you mess with the settings a little bit it gets pretty good. Best thing I did though was remove the antenna from the truck, so now I get ONLY the transmission from the XM and no outside interference from FM radio stations.

 

I have a direct tuner for XM so the receiver is my stereo headunit. I have my antenna sitting on my dash also but I think that I'm gonna move it back to the roof with the wire going through the 3rd brake light.

 

I cut out some carboard and sprayed the cardboard black and then velcored mine to the dash and another peice to the radio and then I ran the anttenas and other wires in to the dash and i have my antenna on the front right top of my truck, I also bought one of those FM modules that run the regular antenna thruw so it wouldn't bleed regualr stations thru