Mounting SiriusXM antenna on top of refrigerator vent September 13, 2022, 01:20:04 pm I bought a SiriusXM SXV300V1 Satellite Radio Vehicle Tuner to go with the SiriusXM-ready Sony radio that came with the LD. I was hoping I didnât have to get on the roof so I tried setting the antenna on the dash and up in the overhead but to my dismay I was getting dropouts when camped near trees and driving under overpasses. Ok, so where on the roof would be out of the way, easy to install and have a full view of the sky? I decided to put it on top of the refrigerator vent and while I havenât driven under any overpasses yet, Iâm not seeing any dropouts while camped under trees If anyone is interested, hereâs how I mounted the antennaâ¦I had some 3M VHB Tape and Aluminum Foil Duct Tape left over from a previous project. At Home Depot I picked up a 4â Electrical Box Cover and some Wiremold CordMate Cord Cover along with various elbow and corner pieces.I removed the 4 screws holding the refrigerator cover in place and cut away one half of the leaf screen over the vent. From inside the chimney I drilled a 1/2 inch hole through the wall and into the coach coming out high on the wall behind the driverâs seat. I fished the antenna wire though and covered the hole with aluminum foil tape to keep flying bugs out. I then used some aluminum foil tape to hold the leaf screen in place and replaced the vent cover. Then washed and cleaned the area with acetone and attached the electrical cover with VHB tape. After positioning the antenna on the electrical plate and using some aluminum foil tape to keep the antenna wire from flapping around, I was more than ready to come down from the roof.The last step was to run the antenna wire down through the wiremold, under the driver side threshold and up to the radio. That took some time and a lot of measuring and cutting but I think it came out pretty good.Hint: I did have to consult YouTube to see how to remove the radio from the dash. No tools required except for 2 table knives. The radio I have is a single DIN and to remove it you first remove the control head and pull off the plastic trim piece. Then slide a table knife on each side of the radio between the radio and the metal shell that surrounds the radio. The radio should now pull straight out.- John 1 Likes As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
Re: Mounting SiriusXM antenna on top of refrigerator vent Reply #1 – September 13, 2022, 01:51:00 pm Wow, that's a lot of trouble. I pulled the antenna cable and receiver out and stuck (it's magnetic) to the left of the engine hood, outside. Works pretty good.Bob
Re: Mounting SiriusXM antenna on top of refrigerator vent Reply #2 – September 13, 2022, 03:08:46 pm To keep the XM antenna off the roof and protected from the elements, ours XM antenna is mounted in the escape hatch, with the cable running inside Wiremold tubing across the ceiling. Larry 3 Likes
Re: Mounting SiriusXM antenna on top of refrigerator vent Reply #3 – September 13, 2022, 04:31:48 pm Quote from: Larry W - September 13, 2022, 03:08:46 pmTo keep the XM antenna off the roof and protected from the elements, ours\ antenna is mounted in the escape hatch, with the cable run inside Wiremold tubing across the ceiling. Unfortunately my LD didn’t come with an escape hatch.- John
Re: Mounting SiriusXM antenna on top of refrigerator vent Reply #4 – September 14, 2022, 05:25:56 pm Quote from: JohnR - September 13, 2022, 01:20:04 pmHint: I did have to consult YouTube to see how to remove the radio from the dash. No tools required except for 2 table knives. The radio I have is a single DIN and to remove it you first remove the control head and pull off the plastic trim piece. Then slide a table knife on each side of the radio between the radio and the metal shell that surrounds the radio. The radio should now pull straight out.- JohnJohn,Could you either link to the youtube that you consulted, or explain more (maybe some pics?). I also have a 21 with single DIN radio. My dash doesn't seem to have a plastic trim piece. Looks like the whole dash area is one piece. All the youtubes I have seen say to remove the dash from steering wheel over to the glove box to get to the radio. I'd sure like to change out that awful radio.Thanks,Linda
Re: Mounting SiriusXM antenna on top of refrigerator vent Reply #5 – September 15, 2022, 08:37:12 am Quote from: Linda B - September 14, 2022, 05:25:56 pmJohn,Could you either link to the youtube that you consulted, or explain more (maybe some pics?). I also have a 21 with single DIN radio. My dash doesn't seem to have a plastic trim piece. Looks like the whole dash area is one piece. All the youtubes I have seen say to remove the dash from steering wheel over to the glove box to get to the radio. I'd sure like to change out that awful radio.Thanks,LindaHi Linda,Here’s the YouTube video I was referring to. It’s about how to remove a Sony single din radio and not Ford specific. The button on the radio that pops off the control head on my radio is on the upper-left. He uses some special tool to slide in but as he mentions, I just used couple of table knives. If you go with another single din radio then be sure to pry inward the 2 long tabs on the metal shell just a little because the table knives will push them outward when removing the radio. I found out the hard way and the radio didn’t want to snap back in on one side. Good luck 😊- Johnhttps://youtu.be/XkXGPx0-7mM
Re: Mounting SiriusXM antenna on top of refrigerator vent Reply #6 – September 15, 2022, 09:28:51 am Ah, I see the issue. I got the driver assist package on my 2021 and with that Ford was not offering radio delete to chassis purchasers. I have the original Ford radio and it doesn't have a removable front face. Could you post a picture of your radio/dash area so I could see what LD did with it when they installed the radio?thanks.
Re: Mounting SiriusXM antenna on top of refrigerator vent Reply #7 – September 15, 2022, 04:16:35 pm Quote from: Linda B - September 15, 2022, 09:28:51 amCould you post a picture of your radio/dash area so I could see what LD did with it when they installed the radio?Sure thing Linda, here you go…- John
Re: Mounting SiriusXM antenna on top of refrigerator vent Reply #8 – September 15, 2022, 05:07:33 pm Ah, the photo shows a single DIN radio installed in a double DIN space, with the bottom just available as open space.
Re: Mounting SiriusXM antenna on top of refrigerator vent Reply #9 – September 18, 2022, 06:22:40 pm Quote from: JohnR - September 13, 2022, 04:31:48 pmUnfortunately my LD didn’t come with an escape hatch.- JohnI think you have a vent there. I had the escape hatch but instead of doing what Larry did (I am not as competent) I simply put a steel washer under the magnet on the antenna with the screen sandwiched between the magnet and the antenna. I don't think the antenna is so big as to really bother airflow. You would have to check fan clearance though. 1 Likes
Re: Mounting SiriusXM antenna on top of refrigerator vent Reply #10 – September 18, 2022, 08:08:31 pm Quote from: John DaCrema - September 18, 2022, 06:38:40 pmI think you have a vent where the hatch was. I had the escape hatch but instead of doing what Larry did (I am not as competent) I simply put a steel washer under the magnet on the antenna with the screen sandwiched between the magnet and the antenna. I don't think the antenna is so big as to really bother airflow. You would have to check fan clearance though.Thanks for the input John, but the vent was one of the places I looked at and discarded because there is very little room between the motor and the screen. I don't know about the old style vents, but my LD came with the pancake style motor on the Fan-Tastic fan.- John