mmm208

having problems installing sir-sp slitter and terk mini antenna. its seems i need to find actual SAT sirius unit and i dont know where to look. i have a e500 2005 model. i had unit installed but dealer did not tell me where it is in the car.

Barry45RPM

Right side of trunk "strapped" to whe rear part of the fender, behind the grey sidewall trunk liner.

pfphipps

I think I would look for a new dealer.

mmm208

I still cant find the sat unit. i have the whole trunk apart. im very nrevous and need help . can semone help me find where both antennas and the sat unit is. I have no idea what to look for.

helpp

scorchie

The SIRIUS receiver should be behind the air tank on the right side of the trunk (you have an E500 so it should have airmatic and thus an air tank). There is a blue and a white connector on the unit. You are supposed to plug in an ALC into the satellite receiver (blue/white) then the splitter into the ALC (green/brown) and then the antenna into the splitter. Whoa, lots of connectors there. Yes, you can force the splitter onto the receiver without the ALC; yes, it works, it just doesn't work optimally. I figure if people don't care about doing it right, why don't they just put the single outlet of the antenna onto one of the antenna connectors on the receiver with no splitter. Yes, that works too.

-s-

lorinserbenz

If you connect only one of the plugs your reception will not be good.
Satellite radio works on repeaters and the signal from the sky. Thats why there are two connectors on receivers.
This is what I was told by the Sirius rep....

ATS

Repeaters are only good in you live in a city that has terrestrial broadcasts (like a regular radio station). They put these in big cities with lots of buildings and tunnels.

lorinserbenz

Satellite radio does use ground repeaters..
<snip> Sirius satellites, which then transmits the signal to the ground, where your radio receiver picks up one of the channels within the signal. Signals are also be beamed to ground repeaters for listeners in urban areas where the satellite signal can be interrupted. <snip>

scorchie

Like he said, if you live in the city... as you wrote, "urban areas".

There are almost NO repeaters unless you live IN NYC or LA. Otherwise, forget it. I run with only one connector because I do testing a lot and it was a lot easier to run with just one wire.

-s-

digitalelegance

Actually, Sirius has about 200 ground repeaters...there is a list of the larger cities compiled by SiriusBackstage users here.

SAguirre

That Denver repeater must be why I get reception in the garage with the garage door closed. I am only 29 miles from Denver and all the repeater in this area are almost line of sight to my house. They put them on top of mountains! Smart ha?

Steve

lorinserbenz

You are wrong, there are a lot of repeaters. Regardless of the cities size, terrain differences and atmosphore conditions will cause issues with the signal from the sky thats why they use so many repeaters. I wouldnt say they are in EVERY state but I guess 60% maybe higher. It costs very little for Sirius to stick a repeater on say a cell tower or an exisiting radio tower. So the more they have the better the signal will be. Back in 2002 when I first got Sirius there were a lot of drop out ares where I live (Tampa), now the signal is almost perfect wherever I am (even in the garage).
The first Sirius (not mercedes) boxes used to have labels on the wires designating what signal they recieved (ground or sky).
If you are only using one then chances are there will be loss of signal. Maybe not in a rural area but definately in heavier populated areas .

scorchie

That's very subjective, and I can't see how you can say I am wrong when it is an opinion. YOU SIR ARE WRONG!

But really, SIRIUS has very few repeaters compared to say... XM. I live exactly between San Jose and San Francisco, and I get drop outs (even now with the terrestrial antenna connected). You might say I live in basically the center of a densely populated metro area (14 million people?), yet I can't get a repeater signal.

-s-

paulhu

The guy who installed my Sirius told me that he used a Y-adapter to connect the splitter, so I guess repeater or no repeater, it would'nt matter.

lorinserbenz

You made a statement, if it was an opinion you would have said "in my opinion there are very few repeaters".
You are correct about Xm, my Denali has it and I have never had a signal drop out. Their Rep always pushes that fact on all the salespeople at the GM service center I deal with.
Regardless, I dont think leaving one lead disconnected will cause one to have a horrible signal. I think the antennas are based on diversity tuning, so they switch to the ground signal when no signal from the sky is present.
I think the splitter boxes are signal combiners much like the DISH network ones. Dish makes use of two birds and combines two coax signals to one.
The newer Sirius tuners (aftermarket) have only one antenna input,versus two.....
Regardless.. if it works, who cares