Sirius/XM radio antenna - mounting location?

[bikerchris1270]

Ok folks, I have a 2019 F3L.....added Sirius/XM radio in the trunk.
Anybody have a good mounting location for the antenna with clear “view” of the sky?
I have tried the top trunk, up by the windshield......I need some place where riders or bike parts don’t block signal. A cars roof has 360 “view” of the sky.....kindda hard to get that on a Spyder.
I do have the flag pole antenna also.....just can’t get my brain to come up with a mounting solution.

[Sopher]

i have an Onyx (color) XMradio that I mounted to the left handlebar. The power, antenna cable come up from the center. The Antenna is mounted under my front windscreen with 3M double stick tape. The EZ-Pass is also mounted under the windscreen. Never an issue with either. I have a 2010 Spyder RTS.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Ok folks, I have a 2019 F3L.....added Sirius/XM radio in the trunk.
Anybody have a good mounting location for the antenna with clear “view” of the sky?
I have tried the top trunk, up by the windshield......I need some place where riders or bike parts don’t block signal. A cars roof has 360 “view” of the sky.....kindda hard to get that on a Spyder.
I do have the flag pole antenna also.....just can’t get my brain to come up with a mounting solution.

I have a friend who worked for Sirius and He said the veh. roof ( metal ) has some signal gathering ability ... that's why the Antennae is put on the roof as designed ..... He knows my RT and suggested I put a metal plate on the rear trunk top .... I used a thin piece of galvanized sheet metal which I bent to fit so it just slips over the top section. I have no testing equipment so my opinion is subjective, the reception appears a bit better ..... I live in rural Vermont, so tall buildings are not usually a factor..... Tree cover doesn't seem to affect signal strength much .... but the ANGLE of the signal does ..... example : near my home I travel on certain roads at different times of the day .... I have noticed that at certain times the signal is weak on a certain road but at others times the signal is fine on the same section of road..... I have been in other parts of the country where there have been No Dropouts of the signal - like what I encounter in Vermont ..... this is why I think the angle from a Satellite matters .... I love my Sirius XM .... I have pics ( in an Album ) of how I put my receiver into my 14 RT glovebox ..... good luck .... Mike .... PS, I took the receptacle from the rear trunk, stripped it from the OEM cable, and it will stretch as far as the glovebox without splicing .....

[MONK]

I had XM on my 2018 RTL. I mounted the antenna to the top of the trunk lid. No metal but seemed to work fine. Like Mike, I had no testing equipment and can only state that it worked well.

[Schreckftw]

If you are looking for something a little easier you can stream Sirius/XM from your Phone. I have a package for my truck that includes streaming. This way I do not pay for an extra subscription for my RTL. As long as you have a call signal you are golden. Although I have unlimited data it really does not use that much.

[bigbadbrucie]

On my ‘14 RT S I started out with the antenna on the top of the passenger seatback. Unit worked fine there, but I did not like the way it looked. Someone on this site, don’t remember who, mentioned that they had there’s mounted INSIDE the trunk, so I tried that. Worked just fine. I put a wooden wedge on the very top shelf and used self stick velcro on the wedge and the antenna, and there it still sits, and as the others have stated, I have no testing capabilities, but do not notice any signal loss.

[MONK]

If you are looking for something a little easier you can stream Sirius/XM from your Phone. I have a package for my truck that includes streaming. This way I do not pay for an extra subscription for my RTL. As long as you have a call signal you are golden. Although I have unlimited data it really does not use that much.

I do the same now as I have an XM subscription for the car. It works "ok" but not always great as I ride in some places that have little to no cell reception. Also, I can't change the channels well as I'm riding. With the XM module, I could pop open the glove box (where I mounted the module) and change channels by feel with gloves on. I probably won't add XM to my current ride as I have hundreds of tunes on my phone and I listen to them. Something like (16) hours of songs so even when I get to the bottom of the list, I can start again from the beginning and not feel like I'm listening to the same songs over and over. I'd say BuRP needs to add XM to the BuRP Connect but since they can't even get the current apps right on that, I doubt that will happen anytime soon.

[bikerchris1270]

If you are looking for something a little easier you can stream Sirius/XM from your Phone. I have a package for my truck that includes streaming. This way I do not pay for an extra subscription for my RTL. As long as you have a call signal you are golden. Although I have unlimited data it really does not use that much.

I do that in poor reception areas....but data costs $

[bikerchris1270]

On my ‘14 RT S I started out with the antenna on the top of the passenger seatback. Unit worked fine there, but I did not like the way it looked. Someone on this site, don’t remember who, mentioned that they had there’s mounted INSIDE the trunk, so I tried that. Worked just fine. I put a wooden wedge on the very top shelf and used self stick velcro on the wedge and the antenna, and there it still sits, and as the others have stated, I have no testing capabilities, but do not notice any signal loss.

Hmmmm...there’s a possible direction to try.

[bikerchris1270]

I live in Wisconsin,I believe the satellite is more or less in the southern part of the hemisphere. So the angle of”attack” of the antenna is important for uninterrupted music. I guess I could move south.

[RayBJ]

Having a metal base (ground plane) helps reception. In theory you could stick aluminum tape/plate inside the top case or rear panel under the antenna location if signal is spotty to maximize signal.

[Spyder Insyder]

I had problems with the stock antenna supplied with my Onyx XM radio, mounted to the top of the trunk on my 2018 RTL. Since most of my rides are with my wife as a passenger, I noticed signal loss in certain directions of travel, probably due to the fact that the antenna was only about 8 inches from her back. I purchased and installed the motorcycle handlebar mount antenna from Satellite Radio Superstore, and have had rock solid reception since.

[grumpyoldretiredcop]

Both of my bike/Spyder antennas (both Garmin units connected to Zumo 550s) are on a RAM mount on the right handlebar.