Sirius radio antenna

I am curious if anyone has any experience or knowledge if the Sirius Radio signal will penetrate a solar panel without signal loss or attenuation.

The Sirius radio antenna sits on the roof behind the driver. My solar panels have the potential, depending on arrangement of overlapping the antenna. I suspect and will test to see if a panel over the antenna disrupts the signal but was hoping someone here could let me know if covering the antenna with a solar panel is going to be an issue, because I won't have my panels until mid-January to test. I'd rather not have to move it, but will, if I have to.

Thanks in advance,

Jack

JIB said:

I am curious if anyone has any experience or knowledge if the Sirius Radio signal will penetrate a solar panel without signal loss or attenuation.

The Sirius radio antenna sits on the roof behind the driver. My solar panels have the potential, depending on arrangement of overlapping the antenna. I suspect and will test to see if a panel over the antenna disrupts the signal but was hoping someone here could let me know if covering the antenna with a solar panel is going to be an issue, because I won't have my panels until mid-January to test. I'd rather not have to move it, but will, if I have to.

Thanks in advance,

Jack

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It will probably interfere. Satellite radio antenna reception is different than AM/FM. For instance" If you drive under a bridge/overpass or under trees. You lose the signal. Even heavy rains can corrupt signal .

it interferes.

The satellite signal can go through non-metals, i.e. fiberglass (handy on MHs with fiberglass front caps), but I suspect there's too much metal content in the solar panels for a signal to penetrate.

Hi Jack,
How did your solar install go? I, too, am worried about how close I can come to the satellite antenna with a solar panel.
Dave

I had an Aluminess roof rack with a perforated aluminum floor installed on my van. It covers the satellite antenna and wrecked the reception. I have to move the antenna.

AlaskaD@ve said:

Hi Jack,
How did your solar install go? I, too, am worried about how close I can come to the satellite antenna with a solar panel.
Dave

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Sorry, I've been off to a slow start and have not gotten there yet. Solar is next on the list.

Where I am:

I have a MaxxAir fan as rearward as it can go. It is between the last two ribs. The solar panels will start just in front of the MaxxAir.

I have 4, 210 watt panels. They are roughly 58x26. If I mount them lengthwise in a two-by-two pattern, the outside edges will be right over the roof rack channels, which would be perfect, except that they would extend far enough forward to cover/nearly cover the satellite antenna.

I have chosen to mount the panels across the van, which saves about 12 inches in length, clearing the satellite antenna by (I seem to recall) about 8 or 10 inches, which I hope will be sufficient. The panels extend about 3.5 inches to the side beyond the roof rack channels, but this will be pretty negligible in the grand scheme of things, as I didn't want to move the satellite antenna.

Jack

I had to move the antenna and reception has been very poor since moving. Cuts in an out about ever 5-10 seconds. I plan on stopping at Aluminess to confirm the antenna was moved properly. It’s very annoying as I was looking to my first vehicle with Xmas radio haha.

How long does the trial period for the XM last. Anyone know?

3 months for me, now lots of emails plus snail mail offers. I havn't decided if im going to re-up it yet.

How do you get SiriusXM to play on your MBUX? I've signed up for the trial, but haven't seen an option for logging in or selecting a channel.

You should be able to go to RADIO and select SiriusXM at the top where AM and FM are. Radios are activated by receiving a signal from the satellite. You may have to call SiriusXM while tuned to channel 1 and have them send the refresh signal.

GLJones said:

You should be able to go to RADIO and select SiriusXM at the top where AM and FM are. Radios are activated by receiving a signal from the satellite. You may have to call SiriusXM while tuned to channel 1 and have them send the refresh signal.

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I don’t have that option on my radio for some reason. Only AM, FM, and TuneIn (whatever the hell that is)


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I would call your dealer. Might need to activate it somehow.