All,
I am a newbie with a two week old '06 E350. I had Sirius radio installed with the small internal pod antenna. I could not stand the idea of drilling and having the "puck" on the trunk. Looks good but the reception is unbearably poor. Has anyone else used this set-up? What have you experiences been? Suggestions/options?

Regards,
fubar

I had the internal antenna mounted inside my rear window. I got the windows tinted and then the reception went to ****. Took the car back and had the small antenna mounted on the trunk lid. Unortunate, but now the reception is great. I have heard that you an mount an antenna inside the vents in the front hood just in front of the windshield wipers but my service guy said they couldn't do it. Good luck. I'm used to the look of the antenna on the trunk lid now - at least its not as big as they used to be!

I have an '06 E350 with the trunk mounted antenna and the reception is great. While I understand everyone has different tastes, I can't imagine being so disgusted with the small trunk antenna that I would need another solution (particularly if it resulted in poor reception).

Have to disagree with those who think a "cigarette pack" drilled through the trunk lid is not ugly. I for one will not purchase with an install there. Worse, my dealer refuses to relocate the antenna, even if I sign a waiver, because in their words "the factory won't allow it". When I point them to this site and the many people who have had their dealers make alternate installs, I get the big, blank look (I actually brought my laptop to the dealership). So, if anyone knows any dealer in Ohio who will make an alternate install I'd be much obliged.
I realize opinions vary but let me say it this way. At least in one instance, me, MB and Sirius are not getting a sale. If there are even a handful of others like me, that, in essence, is a terrible marketing plan because it is driving business out of rather than into the door.

Just a little info, for model year 06, you on 211 (without panorama roof) and the 203 sedan, you can get a "factory" installation (not VPC) where they mount the new small style antenna on the roof.

It sounds like for 07 the 211 will have some sort of roof mounted antenna for sat, teleaid, and gps. Hopefully it looks good!

I had mine installed under the rear deck, so no antenna is visible from outside the car. The signal will drop for a second or two, but not very often... mostly happens if I'm going under and overpass slowly (i.e. in traffic). I really wasn't a big fan of the external trunk mounted antenna either and I've been happy with the small tradeoff in reception vs. appearance.

The internal antenna is still not working well. Drops the signal if I pass a *tree*. Can anyone post a photo of the "small puck" trunk installation?

fubar

I don't know if this helps, but I think that there are two different issues here. The first one is that SOMETIMES the non OEM antennas don’t work well with the W211. That is why my dealer still uses the regular big black antenna that would be mounted on the trunk lid, but puts it on the rear hat shelf. The other is location on the car.

I have at least 100 hours of listening to the radio and I have excellent reception. Even in winding mountain canyons it never cut out. When I go into a tunnel, the music lasts about 7 seconds and then takes about 2 seconds to come back once I am outside the tunnel.

Attached are some pictures of the installation. If I had the antenna mounted on the trunk, then I would at least want it painted to match. However, since this has worked flawlessly, I am very happy with it being black and on the hat shelf.

Steve

I was told they CAN be painted body color (but warned not to paint the rubber gasket between antenna & car, duh) by the guy who installed it on my trunk at the dealership.

Has anyone opened one up and looked to see whether the antenna is tucked away in the inside of the black plastic cover mounted on top, or if it remains on the car when the emplty black cover is unscrewed & lifted from the car?

Just got back from the dealer and got the "working as it should" story. Even the service advisor was sheepish when he was telling me. He committed to get more facts as he knows it's unacceptable for the reception to be so flakey.

Do y'all think the "big black" unit on the shelf is the best option?

fubar

Here’s what the smaller trunk mounted antenna looks like (compliments of scorchie – post #3)
https://mbworld.org/forums/cls-coupe-c219/107699-satellite-radio-antenna.html

Heavy overhead foliage (particularly on wet, cloudy days) will cause a drop out after 6 seconds. On the North Shore of Long Island, where all the homes are located on densely treed small winding streets where the leaves from one side of the street almost touch the limbs from across the street, Sirius is almost unlistenable due to the almost continuous drop outs. That's the nature of Satellite. They could use some earth based repeaters.

dont know how it got the hockey puck name. but maybe i have a newer antenna. my car is only a little over a month old. my antenna is only about 1/4 the size of a hockey puck. i didn't really like the look of it from the get go but now it doesn't bother me at all. maybe bc my car is silver and it just blends in...