rtriley45

I didn't even drill a hole... Used velcro with heavy duty stick. It isn't going anywhere because it fits so snug in there anyway.

t-bone

That's even better!

kyee

I just got a price quote from Autobahn Motors in Belmont - $1500 +!!!!!!! They said it would cost at LEAST 1500, maybe more if it took longer for their installation guy to do. Sounds like I'm getting screwed with that price. I'm going to call Beshoff down in San Jose to see what they would charge.

At that price, I might as well drive down to LA and have T-Bone's dealer install it for me!

airbusman

I posted in another part of this forum regarding the antenna mounted in the back deck.

BTW the dealer cost is less than 581 - about 100 less - but they have to make money to keep the lights on.

I wanted the SDAR install to be completely MB spec'd as per MB Star Bulletin P-1-82.60/309 "Model 211.0, Model Year 2004 Satellite Radio Installation", Figure P82.60-4399-01, the illustration shows how the SDARS antenna is to be mounted by the dealer.

There is probably a reason (engineering RF reason) that the antenna is installed in the middle of the boot lid, as well as the GPS antenna is mounted on the roof also, using the same logic the GPS antenna might as well be mounted in the back window too. (joke)

I would think twice before mounting the antenna in other than the factory recommended position, but again that is your call.

I asked the MB zone service manager from Chicago (they cover the Minneapolis area) and he specifically stated that any receiver reception problems would not be covered under warranty unless the factory bulletin was followed.

Being an engineer (and not just an Airline Pilot) the reasons make sense to me. As I mentioned in the other post - larger cities have terrain transmission of the satellite signal (henceforth the dual leads from the antenna) so there may not be a problem in urban areas, but in more sparse areas the satellite signal may be obstructed by the C pillar of the car and/or the roof of the vehicle if the very directional satellite signal is obstructed.

I guess there is a reason why Boeing, Airbus and other aircraft manufacturers mount the satellite antenna on the top of the fuselage of the aircraft rather than in an area where behind a window would provide less air resistance. (and fuel savings) But then again, what do engineers know.....



Ed

'04 E320 4matic (ordering a new SLK for Euro delivery)
'01 ML320
'99 A170cdi (in London)


'01 E320 4matic (9500 miles for sale)

airbusman

The install took about an hour. It was actually fairly simple. The hardest part was drilling the hole in the boot lid. (and yes I felt funny about drilling holes in my car)

It did not have to be coded in the MOST ring, it worked immediately.


Ed

rtriley45

I have been using it for almost a month with it mounted under the package tray and it has been flawless. Never a dropped signal unless I was in a tunnal or under a bridge for a long period of time.. and no wart on the trunk....

MB-JIM

For best reception an antenna needs a "Ground Plane" which is essentially a sheet of metal under the antenna. The trunk works great for this.
There is another option that I haven't heard mentioned and that is to mount the antenna on the front portion of the roof directly over the dome light. It is very easy to bring the antenna lead in from that point.
I did this a few years ago with a cellular antenna mounted on my MB wagon and it worked very well.

airbusman

Yes an antenna needs a ground plane, but I did not want to start into the scientific or physical reasons why.

The radio works great, the only reception problems I've had are when I pull into my garage (expected) or when I am next to a large building or vehicle. The datastream gets interrupted when it is out of line of sight. Terrestrial transmitters would help, but then again I have read that there is some harmonic interference problem with certain mobile phone bands.

I have a Kenwood "Hear2Anywhere" sat radio in the ML320, I put the antenna on the front dash (for about a week now, in about the same location in relation to the sky as where the one would be in the back window sill) and guess what - intermittent problems with reception. "Acquiring signal" appears periodically for no reason. I put it on the roof two days ago, and the problems have all but disappeared. Yes I think it is ugly.

I guess there is a reason why Kenwood and all the other manufacturers of portable magnetic antennas (Terk) recommend the antenna is placed on the roof or the boot cover of the vehicle. The portable antennas I have seen have no terrestrial lead.

I suppose the antenna mounted in the back window sill could "see" line of sight to the satellite most of the time. Remember the signal is directional. My friend and his E55 love the satellite radio. We just installed another receiver on an E500 4matic wagon. Works beautifully.

But again- put the antenna where ever you think it will work. It is your car.

IMHO, satellite radio is worth it just so I do not have to hear political ads.

Ed

Barry45RPM

I have noticed that when driving slowly down a not too wide residential street with large Oak trees overhanging the roadway from both sides of the street, that when I get to a stop sign (& stop) I can lose the signal untill I drive forward again. This is more noticeable when it has been raining & the leaves are wet.

It seems that the wet leaves overhead & to the sides act as a "tunnel" & block the signal & use up the buffer so that if I am not driving fast enough, by the time I pause at the Stop sign there is no more buffer left so there is a 6 second period of dead air as soon as I accelerate away from undercover.

You never know how much buffer you have left at anytime due to blockage by trucks/traffic/buildings, but as it has been mentioned, the signal comes from extremely far away.... not like your local FM signal.

airbusman

This is similiar to "snow fade" or "rain fade". Signal loss or low SNR ratio is yet another reason why the satellite antenna needs an un-obstructed view of the sky.

The wet leaves (or to a lesser degree, alive moist leaves or pine needles) are like a "sponge" . It is bad enough that natural phenomena absorb satellite signals - let alone the C pillar or additional EMI from the back heated window. Every little bit of signal degradation does matter.

Yes it is uglier than having no "wart" or whatever another poster called the antenna on the boot cover.

I think the antenna could have been made a little "prettier", maybe color matched and made more of a flat oval shaped dome.

Ed

Barry45RPM

Yeah, the pictures of the trunk/boot mount antenna on this board are my pics on my car. As a former Radioman in the USCG I know that when dealing with radio waves, you put the antenna where you have to, not where you want. Better engineers than I have come up with the mid-lid installation. I'm sure if it was as good for reception, they would have hidden it...I too think the antennas should have been color matched.

kyee

I just had the Sirius antenna/receiver installed in my E500 this past Friday (done by Scorchie). The antenna resides under the rear deck, closer to the center of the deck (t-bone's is more to the left I think).

My install was a little more difficult to do, because even though my car is a 2004, and does have that SAT button on the COMMAND, it was NOT prewired for the satellite. Scorchie figured out how to get it all setup correctly anyway, and now I have wonderful commercial free music.

I do experience the occasional dropout, but I think these same dropouts would happen even if the antenna were on the trunk. I get maybe one dropout every driving session, my drive to and from work is about 45 minutes to an hour. More than acceptable to me.

The sound quality is not up to CD standards, but better than FM radio, which is what I expected. Definitely a worthwhile mod.

jprescott

Kyee, I'm looking into xm. Do you use fm modulation or is your install different?

awiner

My god. What in the world was Mercedes thinking when they designed that SAT antenna ?

I don't understand why they didn't incorporate it into the roof top shark fin on the E Class.

kyee

NO FM MODULATION! The Sirius unit connects directly (via fiber I think) to the Command unit. It integrates with it, so you actually see the station information and song title in both the Command LCD display, as well as the display next to your speedo. Very slick!

ATS

It was Mercedes US, not Germany (or the guys at Sirrus) cause I cannot for the life of me imagine them okaying that..

DavidNJ

Did you install it yourself? Or did the dealer do it? (Is Scorchie a dealer?)

t-bone

scorchie is a very knowledgeable person who helps people with problems or questions they may have regarding modifications to their Mercedes-Benz vehicle.

You will usually see modifications done on scorchie's car before you ever see them on any other car.

If you search through the posts he has made then I think many questions you may have will be answered.

Barry45RPM

I've got the MB install on my car, and there ARE drop-outs even with this install. Primarily when driving under/thru heavily tree lined narrow streets where the overhead limbs & leaves create a "tunnel effect" and the signal being obsured cumulatively uses up the 6 second buffer, then there is a momentary drop-out. As soon as the system buffers up the 6 seconds the sound resumes... Part of the satellite deal, I guess.

P.S. You think the long "shark fin" antennas on the roofs of BMWs are nice? They're all ugly. The technology will evolve. We're what's known as "Early Adopters".

RAD

I too get the occasional drop on heavily tree-lined streets, despite the "official" trunktop MB install.

[edit to correct spelling error]

jprescott

I think I'm out of luck with an 03' and I may have to go with an aftermarket product. Not too bad since I can hide the antena on rear shelf and entire price with install is $260 (xm commander). Bad thing is fm modulation. I'm an audiophile and I may not like it.

scorchie

If you're truly an audiophile, you wouldn't mind the cost of doing a "proper" setup in your 2003, like I have.

Then again, if you were truly an audiophile, we wouldn't even be talking about lossy compression digital music sources. Never mind.

-s-

jprescott

True that CDs and MP3s sound superior to the best xm set up at this point. Curious, how did you set yours up (I can't find it on a search). Thanks.