XM Antenna Relocate

BostonBadlands

Thanks for the report, and the detailed install process and images. I'm very interested. My XM reception was problematic from the start, and more so after I put on a Trailrax full-length (4DR) roofrack. It's steel structure with aluminum crossbeams. Three questions:

1) Can I detach the antenna easily for car washes? Or is it sturdy enough to handle roof brushes?
2) I notice it comes with its own wire. Why did you replace it with cable, instead of just using the provided wire--is there a real difference in performance, or were you indulging in a more perfectionistic setup?
3) For me, the biggie: What's your reception like now--any noticeable difference?

Getting silly: wouldn't it be great if somebody had a combination dune flag/AM-FM/CB/XM antenna?

• https://pixelsatradio.com/collections/siriusxm-truck-antennas
• https://pixelsatradio.com/collections/siriusxm-marine-antennas

reynolwi

So, after getting the Gobi Rack installed in Colorado, I started noticing some issues with the radio. Randomly audio would just drop out but come right back. The radio 98% of the time would sound like it was "buffering" with some audio skip and the other 2% of the time it would actually say signal lost and let me switch to internet mode.

I kind of figured it was the roof rack causing the issue and Ford did install the XM in somewhat the only place that seemed to make sense to the designers and engineers, but let's face it adding a metal roof rack is just going to cause issues if it goes across the area the XM antenna is hiding under the removable roof.

Researching around everywhere I finally found enough information to give a relocation a try and the roof rack gives me tons of mounting places. In the end I went with an approved Sirius XM antenna designed for Trucks/Semi and RV from the company that seems to manufacture a lot of SiriusXM stuff.



The antenna is from Pixel Technologies. I got is a 14" tall with a mirror mount style clamp so I mounted it to the Gobi Rack on the driver side (SiriusXM Radio 14 Inch Truck Antenna) and has a 16-foot cable and the connector is push on style SMB female. I mounted it on the driver side and routed the cable down the roof rack leg and then entered the back of the bronco right between where the back cap and body meet at the back rear window and door. It works perfect and maybe later I'll route it down and come up from underneath the vehicle when I work on the trailer tow stuff.



The factory XM antenna is on top of the back roll bar and you can access the connection by popping the lower plastic off. The vehicle side connector is a FAKRA female style connector and everything I checked it is the FAKRA female F Key 8011 connector (Nut Brown Color). The factory XM antenna is the FAKRA male connector and it should be the F Keyed 8011 connector (Nut Brown Color). So to get the aftermarket SiriusXM antenna connected I needed a conversion cable to go from SMB female to FAKRA female. I googled around and found a place to get a custom cable made and ordered it. Now, with FAKRA there are 13 different keyed style connectors and 1 universal. I opted to go with the universal to ensure no issue which is the FAKRA Z No-Key 5021 (Water Blue Color). I purchased the conversion cable from VCableMart and got the FAKRA Z Male 5021 to SMB Male bulkhead connector using RG316 coax 3-foot long. (http://www.vcablemart.com/fakra-smb-z-male-smb-bulkhead-male-rf-cable)



I did not remove the factory XM antenna from the roll bar, but it is unplugged inside the rollbar and I plugged in my conversion cable to the vehicle side connector. I went with the bulkhead connector so I can drill a small hole and mount the SMB connector outside of the rollbar and keep things looking clean. For the time being I just have the cable coming out of the rollbar next to the driver rear speaker. I got it all connected and tested and XM seems to start playing much faster now as well. Just for sake of argument I disconnected the cable just to ensure it was fully working and the radio displays antenna malfunction when it was unplugged. Moment it was all connected to the new antenna came right back and audio was immediate, whereas with the factory antenna I had noticed it took longer for XM audio to start playing.

The Pixel Technologies people have other antennas as well, but I went with one that I could just clamp onto Gobi rack without having to drill anything and this will somewhat complement the look of the weBoost overland 5G antenna when I get it and installed. I will move the antenna cable around and get the SMB bulkhead connector drilled and mounted later, but the goal for the time being was get it installed and connected so I could make adjustments or improvements before anything final.