xm/onstar antenna issues

[Murf]

I've got a nice little cab over slide in that interfeirs with my antennes on the xm and onstar - rendering them useless - anybody know of any cures? Thanks - Murf

[Burner]

That sounds scary. If you were to traverse an odd bump or small hill, would the slider not hit the top?


Burner------> tongue.gif

[FisHn2DMax]

The camperr slider bottom is blocking your RF signal path. The only solution I can suggest is not an easy one and that is to add a XM external antenna to the top of the camper and bring the wire/coax down to and into your existing XM antenna base. For On-Star you could do the same thing using an external camper top Cell phone antenna and wire it into the base of the cab top on-star antenna. You might be able to tap into the base of both cab top antennas ( XM and on-star) by unscrewing the existing antennas and finding a similar male connectors as the antennas have to connect the camper top antennas?

Keep in Mind that even if you use external camper top antenna's, the ON-Star GPS tracking feature may not function? You should still be able to contact On-star and or place calls with an external Cell antenna on your camper. The only thing that may not work is On-star's ability to locate you. I don't beleive the on-star GPS has an external antenna option, so your camper will block the ON-star GPS signal.

Good Luck! ;)

[et]

Murf,

I have an extended ladder rack on top of my extended cab truck. I originally went with a long OTR, Over The Road, XM antenna bolted to my Ranch Hand Grill Guard, however it looked rather unusual and was in my direct line of sight when driving. Later, they introduced another OTR antenna that is also used on RVs. You can see it on the Camping Worlds Web site. I got mine new off of eBay for a better price.

I removed the antenna's clamp base and bolted it to an existing hole in the roof rack frame. This is a heavy duty unit with a much larger diameter cable, so you won,t be putting it through the high mounted brake light. I drilled a hole adjacent to the rear drivers side vent behind the rear seat and used a groment, formed a drip loop, and sealed around the cable with "sillycone." This unit comes with thirty feet of cable and I have twenty five feet of it coiled up behind the rear seat. The way it is mounted, I can fold it down so I can go through a truck wash.

Works great!

[Manfred]

Murf - I have my camper overhang about one foot over the Onstar antenna, The vertical gap between the antenna top and the underside of the camper overhang is very small, but not touching in static mode. I have not noticed any problems using Onstar.