konigstiger

I personally have not followed the many threads advising various installs of the satellite antenna. I have been looking at after market alternatives because I’m fed up with commercials. But alas, the Gods have decided to hold off because the ’03 will be no more in ’06. That said I stumbled across a find (IMO) that I will no doubt utilize for the ’06 (unless something better to my liking comes along) if MB has not cleaned up their act as it concerns the antenna install they offer by then. Once again, I’m not sure if it was this site/project was discussed already but thought it best to share anyway. There are also other interesting finds. For example, I thought the various spoilers were attached with bolts yet this installation utilizes double sides tape & adhesive. Anyway if you were already here fine, if not the project vehicles make for interesting reading. BTW, I have no affiliation to this site, and seek not to offend MBenzNL, Scorchie, etc. - just bringing info to the forefront.

http://www.autowerksdirect.com/
MBWerks forum – E Class forum - #7

jprescott

. But alas, the Gods have decided to hold off because the ’03 will be no more in ’06.

I'm sorry, what do you mean by this?

konigstiger

More than likely we will replace the '03 e320 (signature below) for a new '06 MB - model undetermined as of yet.

kort677

[QUOTE=konigstiger]I personally have not followed the many threads advising various installs of the satellite antenna.

well maybe you should have! I installed my antenna using t-bones's method and have been enjoying sirius ever since, I can't even listen to "normal" radio.
Now srop beating yourself up and do the install and get sirius, you won't be sorry!

HELL ONA HARLEY

Perhaps by 06 they'll have that CLS dialed in...I think it may be in my future. I'll wait and see how things go.....

DWP

'06? How 'bout 1/05?

http://www.forbes.com/2004/07/20/cx_dl_0720vow.html

HELL ONA HARLEY

First year of production????? Uhhh, I HAVE learned a little since joining the forum..... Thus the wording "Dialed in".... Hope the model does well for MB. Thanks for that link.

scorchie

No offense taken at all! The folks over at Autowerks do a great job and I never hesitate to recommend people to them. I am even planning on having some body parts painted over there when I get down that way.

Their antenna has already been discussed in the past... and also, I've pointed out that I believe using an aftermarket antenna is not an optimal solution due to the number of connectors involved. But everyone has to make their own choice!

-s-

jprescott

I agree. The underlying theme to so many threads is the risk associated with getting a car in the 1st year.

DWP

I dunno. An early production model can be trouble-free, just like a model five years into a production run can be buggy. It's sometimes just the luck of the draw. Our 9/02 build E500 hasn't had any problems to speak of, except for the usual audio system glitches. One visit to the dealer to install patched software cured that.

And yes, "dialed in" could be taken to mean "sorted out", or "having the kinks worked out": http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...fine:Dialed+In

http://www.fecundity.com/pmagnus/humpty.html

HELL ONA HARLEY

So glad you approve.... Here is a link for you too....

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...no&btnG=Search

ATS

What are you trying to say that they are getting rid of the E class. You have to be out of your mind. This is the fastest growing Mercedes available.. Funny where people get their info.. I can see them changing the E320 into the E350 but that is it. C'mon now..

DWP

Atssystems:

I can't tell which post you are responding to. Did somebody mention getting rid of the E-class? Konigstiger did mention getting rid of his '03 E-class for an '06...

ATS

Hehehe.. Sorry I see.. I had JUST responded to a post re: getting rid of the E class and thought he mentioned the same thing. Sorry guys!

anthem

The t-bone install is good, but it does suffer from dropouts in moderately wooded roads as well as tunnels. It also has some issues with cloudy skies. It still outweighs having an external install (in my opinion), but perhaps the performance is better in sunny SoCal than the east coast.

The install above has connector issues, but may solve some of the weaker direct LOS issues that the t-bone install has. Then again, its more 'permanent' than the hidden install but still better than the trunk hole route.

scorchie

The place that I install the satellite antenna in the rear parcel shelf has almost no LOS issues that t-bone's install has... but it is a lot more difficult as it requires removal of the rear parcel shelf.

ANY install will have problems with moderately wooded roads ("moderately" is subjective so I am assuming it to mean a road where a roof install will drop out). The installs I do in the rear parcel shelf seem to have performance similar to my friend's Kenwood/Terk installation on the roof of his Discovery.

Again, the issue I have with using a third-party antenna is that you introduce multiple connectors into the system, and those multiple connectors DO introduce signal loss, resulting in an effect loss of gain from these active antennas. That can result in drop outs that might otherwise not occur. So I think a weaker direct LOS might result in the same performance problem as loss of gain due to connectors.

I'm actually getting the absolute best performance I've seen by using the antenna for the CL on TOP of the parcel shelf in the same location I would put the standard antenna. I am going to start stocking these for installs as an option, which I think most people will not take, as the price for that antenna is very high compared to the slight increase in performance.

-s-

anthem

scorchie, I would agree with your term moderate. I'm not even talking heavily wooded as that is out of the question. Moderately wooded is a problem. It's also a problem with cloudy skies which shouldn't be an issue in a normally installed exterior antenna. I haven't seen yours yet, so I can't comment on that one, but since I have multiple cars with satellite radio, I do know what a normally acceptable drop out ratio should be and the tbone one is a bit below that. . . But. .. like I said, you're weighing that against the drill hole in middle of trunk option and it beats that out.

kyee

Scorchie installed my Sirius antenna under the rear deck, and I've been very happy with the results. Here's some pics of the install:

HotWheels500

I'm not sue where "anthem" is located, but I can't say I've has a problem with cloudy skies, or even rain. Trees yes. Very vulnerable to tall trees lining the road, as we have in New England. I've got the stock roof mount antenna. But on the wagon, next to the black rails, it doesn't both me. In fact, it often pulls in a signal when indoors. But still the problem with trees. Go figure.

ToyCollector

This is how Brumos did the install for an XM on my W124 500E

scorchie

That's pretty cool... I think. Isn't it blocking the 3BL?

Also, XM antennas tend to be smaller than Sirius antennas, and although you can hook up an XM antenna to a Sirius receiver and have it work, it's not an ideal situation, and your reception, again, will suffer somewhat.

Finally, if you have a 500E, why don't you have a 500E rear window?

-s-

ToyCollector

Scorchie,

The car was completely dismantled and given some fresh glass. Sadly, they use the wrong rear window. The 500 is the one recently documented on www.500E.com and was the personal car of Bob Snodgrass at Brumos Motorcars (Jacksonville FL Benz/Porsche dealer, and well known to racers).