Satellite Radio Antenna Placement
 

I should be getting my Satellite Radio in the mail tomorrow.

I was wondering where most people mount the antenna on the boat.

I was hoping I could just lay it on the dash behind the windshield but I don't know how it would work through the glass.

I would guess the top of the tower would be ideal but I don't want to drill another hole through the gunwale and run the wires all the up there just for the satellite antenna.

Thanks

I did it the hard way. [Scroll down til you see the tower mount. I've had two previous user profiles here and ... uhh ... the post is under one of those two.]

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/m...21/586986.html

It was a chore, but worth it. I could never find a place that was perfectly un-shaded. Some boat passenger would find every promising spot and sit on it or stand on it and ... reception is cut, instantly.

I mounted mine right behind the front nav lite. No drilling or anything. Wire comes out from under the nav lite base/gasket. Two sided tape holds it to the gelcoat.

Mine is on the dash just behind the windshield, wires coming out of the dash

what kind of boat?

Mine is below the windshield near the vents (that send air to the motor compartment).

I did mine this way too.

I looked at running it through the front nav light hole but my nav light is in a recessed pocket in the fiberglass.

I think that this is still an option but the wire would have to "float" out of the hole to the antenna. The little cover piece that comes with the antenna couldn't be used because the corners of the pocket.

Plus, we sit in the bow and I am not sure if that would block the signal.

I also thought about running it under the rear nav light but we lift wakeboards in and out of the boat it would probably get hit. I don't know if that would hurt it.

The boat is a 1999 Sea Ray Bow rider.

Mine is on the dash behind the glass. Never had any problems of any sort unless somebody throws a tee shirt or something directly ontop of it. Been 2 years and no problems.

Well, I haven't mounted it anywhere yet but I can't believe I am going to have any problems no matter where I put it.

I was in my attached garaged that has a room above it and the house on 2 sides, the other side is fully insulated and drywalled. The front has steel doors that were closed. There are no windows.

It was raining so I didn't pull the boat out and it still had great reception!!

Just need to decide if I want to drill a hole through the dash and leave it there or run the speakers around to the rear nav light and mount it on the gunwale at the back of the boat.

It's too bad the plug doesn't disconnect and you just had to deal with making a hole for the small wire....

In our sanger V-210 we placed it up front, using the cupholder to hide the wire. We removed the cupholder and bored out a notch in the gel coat for the wire to pass. We then used an epoxy to hold the antenna in place. We have not had any issues with reception yet and are using the smaller size antenna, not the same size as a car install. I believe it is called a portable antenna. The size of the antenna we used is a 1 inch by inch square.