# Show us your XM install!



## ibglowin (Sep 10, 2002)

I originally installed my SKYFI in my Expedition a few months back. Liked it so much I put one in a few weeks ago in my new toy. Still looking around for ideas on other peoples install experiences. Show us your setup. Are you happy with it?

Here are some snaps of my most recent install. Enjoy!


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

Looks great ibglowin! Nice a clean. Here is mine in a 2001 Ford Focus wagon.


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## Steve Mehs (Mar 21, 2002)

Well no one said it had to be an auto installation, right? 

Not exactly the prettiest looking thing from the outside, but hey it works.  I have the antenna strapped on to our clothes line pole, the antenna cable runs into the basement and up through a hole drilled in my floor where my outdoor antenna and satellite dish cables also come through. 

The other picture is of my bedroom entertainment center, the SkyFi is sitting next to my 5 disc CD changer and on top of the speaker from my Philips shelf system, which I don’t use anymore. It’s just there to hold up things and fill the empty gap where the TV is supposed to be.


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## Tom_P (May 8, 2002)

A little off the topic but I seen all your pics and the envy flow in my veins.. LOL
I live in Puerto Rico and Sat Radio is not available for us, even though we can lock the signal with the original antenna. A friend on mine bought a Delphi(I think) at Circuit City brought it to PR and he was listening to the promo channels last Saturday. The Stations here suck, we only have a "True"Rock Station and doesn't cover the whole island. I travel a lot and my pickup is full of Minidiscs and Cds..


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## ibglowin (Sep 10, 2002)

I don't know how I made it this long without sat radio! Can't wait till feb 1. No commercials and more channels!


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## TopCat99 (Nov 3, 2002)

As has been mentioned in my sig for quite some time  here's my SkyFi in my Topaz. There was no place (else) immediately obvious for mounting it. Then I looked up and saw the light--map light, that is :lol:

I Dremel-ed notches in the map light housing to pass the wires through, then routed them behind the head liner and down the A-pillar, under the dash, and over to the head unit and power. The audio connection goes through a ground loop isolator and then into the auxilliary input on the head unit.

Getting power was a bit more involved, since this unit requres 6 volts regulated. No way the factory adapter with it's micro-length cord was going to reach. Soooo...I figured I could hack the cig adapter  Basically I chopped off the cord near the adapter and ran the hot side along with the audio cable up to the radio at the map light. There, it's spliced into the original plug. Ground is supplied by connecting the shield of the power connector to chassis ground 

It's had a couple aesthetic mods since this pic was snapped: a right-angle plug is now on the left instead of the sticky-out plug, and the thin wire in the background (to the alarm antenna) is now buried behind the headliner. And yes, the map lights work just as well as before.


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## TopCat99 (Nov 3, 2002)

Guess I should've mentioned why elsewhere on the dash was out. The top because of sunlight and greedy ne'er-do-wells  The bottom because of having to reach frequently and I had already ripped out the ash tray to mount my ham mobile rig.

(Ignore the display on the head unit. It was stuck in demo mode when I took this.)


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

Ok guys, my first Sirius system is arriving today. It will be installed in my Hyundai Santa Fe, which should be fairly easy since it is an SUV and I will simply run the wire in the open back hatch. My question to Chris is how do you get the antenna wire around the front window gasket as shown on your car? Ibglowin obviously routed the wire through the trunk, which makes for an easy install, similar to mine.


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## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

Richard King said:


> Ok guys, my first Sirius system is arriving today. It will be installed in my Hyundai Santa Fe, which should be fairly easy since it is an SUV and I will simply run the wire in the open back hatch. My question to Chris is how do you get the antenna wire around the front window gasket as shown on your car? Ibglowin obviously routed the wire through the trunk, which makes for an easy install, similar to mine.


I have since moved the antenna down to the hood of the car. The wire runs through the passenger door. I set the wire in some tubing so it doesn't get squished when I open and close the door.


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## mwgiii (Jul 19, 2002)

I went with a 1st gen Pioneer last year for the clean install in my Subaru Outback VDC.


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## Richard King (Mar 25, 2002)

It has arrived. Yea, I know, it's Sirius and should be in "that other" forum, but I figure install pix and comments are ok here. I haven't activated it yet, but will do that in the morning. My car is a bit tight for space on the inside so I mounted it on the dash. The antenna is on the roof off to the driver's side (I have a "luggage rack" on the roof and moved it to the side for the greatest clearance. I will take some pix when it is all cleaned up. I mounted the indoor unit on top of one of my JBL's. I'll do some shots of that also when all done. Once I got the indoor unit set up and working (without activation) I programmed my Harmony remote to control it as an activity. I sure like that remote.


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## Guest (May 7, 2004)

I ordered one of the Sat-Mounts from ARKON for my XM roady and am quite happy with it. They offer about 9 different solutions, all of which allow you to mount your XM radio in various places within your car. Most of them do not require any tools.

I ordered the SR088... a 15" flexible gooseneck mount that attaches to the seat rail on the passenger side seat. It's a perfect placement for my radio.

I highly recommend these mounts as they are the only ones I've seen that have the t-slot connector on the pedestal. You'll notice that there is a female t-slot opening on the back of the XM roady or skyfi cradles. That opening is ARKON's proprietary t-slot connector. You can connect their mounts directly to the XM cradle without any screws or tools.

See http://www.arkon.com/satmount.html


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## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

I've got my Delphi SkyFi mounted in my Aurora on a cellphone stalk (no room on center console and the dash is too curved for a standard install). Boombox in my office, and home kit at home on my A/V system. I need to buy the antenna extension cord though as the signal is kind of weak as it is right now. Less of a concern now though with Sirius coming on E* soon.....


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