Bgw70

I did a search but could not find anything on the subject of the satty radio antenna location.

According to the shop manual, the GPS antenna is located aft or to the rear of the back seat, located under the black flap or piece that flips up when the roof is raised or lowered. When the piece flips up, stop the roof transition and go take a look. You will see some cloth material and a black rubber **** at the center of the car. I believe the GPS antenna is to the right or american passenger side of that black rubber ****, or rubber pad.

This is the location where I plan to install the Satty radio antenna. It has a clear view of the sky with the roof up or down, just like the GPS antenna.

Pictures will follow, once I get going on this project!

Moondog

Bgw70, I installed the beatsonic, pioneer and XM radio in about 2 years ago into my 02 SC430. I placed the antenna on the driver side front part of the dash at the very base of the windshield. It is not noticeable and it works as good as I would expect. The wire was easy to run to the position from the dash. Good Luck on your installation.

Helogadget

I tried putting mine there last week and it didn't work well at all for me. The signal came and went and at one point I had to call Sirius and re-activate my receiver. I moved it to the roof above the windshield and no more issues. The newest modules are tiny now compared t the older ones, I am guessing they are not as sensitive as they used to be.

JohnnyCake

I think placement is a trade off between function and appearance.

Habious installed his on the rear trunk lid, about four inches from the rear window. Works great.

Mine is installed inside the car, right behind the little glass that runs between the two rear headrests. It is basically invisible. However, I get some cut-outs, especially when passing through an underpass.

Once Habious was following me and so were able to do a side-by-side test (actually nose-to-tail test) and my placement definitely had cut-outs that his did not.

Having said all that, if I were to re-install it today, I'd put it in the exact same place since it is completely invisible and I don't find the occasional cut-out annoying. YMMV

Sounds like you are thinking of basically the same place, but underneath. My guess is that is going to have significantly worse reception.

Bgw70

I am going to try and look at it this weekend. If so, pictures will be posted. I would encourage anyone to post pictures of their antenna and/or radio installation locations. It would certainly help.

JohnnyCake

Here's a pix -- as I said, this placement, although clean, does not give perfect reception. if you are going underneath, I don't exactly get how that gives a clear view of the sky.

Bgw70

Very nice and clean installation! I may just copy what you have done. Did you happen to try it under the flap that moves up and down with the roof movement? The GPS antenna is under that piece and another material piece, with that said, I guess the receiver sensitivity is much less with the GPS rcvr compared to the XM rcvr. I will experiment and report the results...

BTW, where is your rcvr located?

JohnnyCake

As I recall, we thought about on top of that piece (since it would move it farther under the window), but reasoned that the movement of wire so often with top open/close would lead to wire fatigue and possible problems. In addition, the wire could not be fixed, as the wire distance would increase/decrease with the open/close of the top. Never considered underneath.

Receiver is crammed under the heater unit/gear shift area.

Solman

My 2010 came with factory XM and the antenna had to be installed at the dealer. The placement that Lexus called for is on the roof (between the windshield and roof panel and centered with the rear mirror. It works extremely well.

rudyH

That's very helpful. How'd they get the wire from inside the car to the outside? I assume you mean it's attached to the windshield header. If you get a chance, I'd like to see what the factory recommended antenna and it's placement look like. I looked everywhere for pics and found none. Thanks!

Helogadget

That's where I put mine. The antenna (not the factory one) is magnetic and holds very strong. The wire is thin and easily hidden along the edge of the rubber gasket and routed down the outside of the pillar. It just tucks in and is totally hidden. If I knew for sure that the antenna could be painted (I suspect it would affect it's sensitivity) I would paint it to match the car.

rudyH

I like the magnet idea! I hate gluing and screwing things into the car. Can you post a picture of your install? I bet paint wouldn't hurt a bit as long as it had no metal content but I wouldn't experiment either. Thanks!

Helogadget

rudyH

I like that placement. Looks good and you probably have great reception. Thanks for the pics.

Helogadget

No problem Yeah, I tried the antenna on the dash first and had bad dropouts. Working great here.