What the heck is this little black cube on the top of my trunk? I'm assuming it's a radio antenna, but why here??

Is there any possibility for me to buy, say, a sharkfin antenna "blank" and paint it, then put the little cube underneath?

 

Thats definitely not OEM, did the car car come with a XM or Sirius radio?

 

Can you follow it to ant transmitter? It looks like some sort of XM radio antennae. You can also have it relocated to the inside rear deck in the corner of the window. That looks like a lazy job!

 

It has the Nav system, so maybe it had XM at one point. But okay. As long as I know it's not OEM I'm fine with relocating it.

 

I have an 06 IS350 when sat radio wasn't an option. The aftermarket setup includes an antenna which looks like what you have. The official instructions say to mount it just like it is in your pic. There was no way in hell I was going to do that when I added the XM receiver.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...install-7.html

check post #99 to see where I mounted mine...get a few drop outs..but not sure any worse than if I mounted in the offical spot

 

Mine is also an 06. Maybe that's the deal. They just did what they were told instead of actually THINKING first. Seems to be an ever increasingly common thing...

 

It is an XM/Sirius antenna. The problem is that since satellite radio is more "line of sight" than AM or FM, it has to be somewhere that gets good "vision" of the satellite. We used to mount some inside the car on the package tray, but that didn't always give good constant signal, thru the glass. Then, you would have to go back and move the antenna and it doubled the work. All of this before the current shark fin.

 

Nice explanation right there. Thank you.

So, would mounting it under a shark fin piece work? Or would that interrupt the signal?

 

i have the same thing. i placed it inside next to the center brake light.

 

If you are using a stock shark fin, it should not be necessary to use the small black square one. I am not sure how that would need to be wired - perhaps someone else can chime in.

 

i had one in my old is250. its for the Sirius radio. dealer installed option

 

07 onward had the sharkfin standard, even if you didn't opt for Sat radio; 06 did not. Your seller had an aftermarket Sat radio installed, but left the transmitter when you bought it.

 

See if you have Sirius by pushing AM a few times. If you get the preview channel (184), all you need is a subscription.