# Repair satelite radio antenna?



## Pseudonym (Apr 17, 2006)

I have a Sirius radio antenna in my girlfriends car that has worn through the jacket and the insides are exposed and now the radio won't get the signal. I was just wondering if this were just a simple soldering job or if the insides aren't something I can fix with a soldering gun and some heatshrink.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

Pseudonym said:


> I have an a Sirius radio antenna in my girlfriends car that has worn through the jacket and the insides are exposed and now the radio won't get the signal. I was just wondering if this were just a simple soldering job or if the insides aren't something I can fix with a soldering gun and some heatshrink.


You mean the coax is jacked up? where? Right at the antenna or in the middle?


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## Pseudonym (Apr 17, 2006)

It's about 6 or so inches from the part that connects to the radio itself. It's a car antenna and not a home antenna. It's for a starmate4 if that helps.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

You may be screwed, the only thing I can think to do is add an inline male SMA and an inline female SMA connector and re-join them, but I'll be honest, it may be easier to just ebay a new one. I'd rather slam my dink in a car door than work with that cable again. To add to the trickiness of the situation it's at a vhey high freq so you have to be VERY precise to avoid loss in the line.


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## tomtomjr (Apr 24, 2008)

OR, you can add an SMB connector with cable. (XM antenna connection is SMB) ...If you want to do some splicing, I sell a 32" cable on Ebay that extends the length. It is a heavy duty cable that won't wear through like the factory cable. Item # 300242026959 ... A lot of people buy them to extend a connection, or repair an existing connection using half of it.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

You can't just solder two "wires" together though, it has to remain an EXACT coaxial connection,


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## Pseudonym (Apr 17, 2006)

so its sounding like i need to hit ebay for another 'tenna.


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## MACS (Oct 3, 2007)

I've had three of the Sirius "hockey puck" Directed 14125 antenna's crap out on me. Two were replaced under warranty. Third one I bought went out after less than a year. From what I've heard, I'm not the only one having issues with that POS.

My girlfriends car is now sporting a house antenna under the windshield with the wire across the dash . I've torn her dash apart twice to hide the wire and I'm not doing it again until I find a reliable replacement.


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## Pseudonym (Apr 17, 2006)

Well we never had an issue w the antennas in the past it was all due to a bad install idea on my part.


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## F150Harley03 (Feb 12, 2009)

chad said:


> You may be screwed, the only thing I can think to do is add an inline male SMA and an inline female SMA connector and re-join them, but I'll be honest, it may be easier to just ebay a new one. I'd rather slam my dink in a car door than work with that cable again. To add to the trickiness of the situation it's at a vhey high freq so you have to be VERY precise to avoid loss in the line.


dink slamming? Note to self: Stay clear of this cabling.


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## stalintc (Dec 6, 2007)

The hockey puck antenna's do die out very quickly, especially in wet or cold environments. When I worked for a box store as an installer we went through maybe 5 a week for warranty issues. Water gets into the antenna and causes some serious corrosion of the pcb's that are in there. 

I had customers call Sirius and complain and eventually get new ones sent to them at no charge. One thing I did that helped stop the issue on new antennas was put down a layer of super glue or silicon between the black plastic body and the silver (or black on the newer ones) disc. That seemed to stop the problem at least on our end.I also used 3M double sided panel tape to attach the antennas, and I imagine that helped seal the bottom also.

I have tried just soldering the tiny coax wire and while it still worked, I lost programming significantly more then it did before. Might work for the time being until you get a new one...

Good luck. To bad its not a XM antenna. I have an extra.


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## TXwrxWagon (Sep 26, 2008)

ebay... new antenna... case of beer... sat afternoon... all KINDS of lovin making Momma happy... where is the down side? You know you hvae cash hidden in Paypal, she doesn't know about, we all do.. don't lie.. lol...

My last new antenna was $23 shipped... how much is a happy GF/Wife worth? it takes how long to run the new antenna to the portable location?.. Dude... buy beer & make an install day of it... she will think you are a sensitive dude for calling in reinforcements... 

bite the bullet... order the new antenna.. schedule the friends & beer & earn points...

Damn... do I violate my "Guy Card" for typing that in a public forum?

Rob


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## MACS (Oct 3, 2007)

TXwrxWagon said:


> ebay... new antenna... case of beer... sat afternoon... all KINDS of lovin making Momma happy... where is the down side? You know you hvae cash hidden in Paypal, she doesn't know about, we all do.. don't lie.. lol...
> 
> My last new antenna was $23 shipped... how much is a happy GF/Wife worth? it takes how long to run the new antenna to the portable location?.. Dude... buy beer & make an install day of it... she will think you are a sensitive dude for calling in reinforcements...
> 
> ...


I'll tell you what......I'll buy the case of beer and sit back and watch you try to fish the antenna wire through our Dodge Magnum dash . It's not that I mind doing the labor. What bothers me is the mother F'ing POS Directed antenna fails, fails often, and fails repeatedly. Replacing a $25.00 to $30.00 antenna every 6 or 8 months doesn't sit well with me. BTW....no cash hidden in my Paypal account. I don't let those jack asses hold one cent of my money any longer than I have to 

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stalintc said:


> The hockey puck antenna's do die out very quickly, especially in wet or cold environments. When I worked for a box store as an installer we went through maybe 5 a week for warranty issues. Water gets into the antenna and causes some serious corrosion of the pcb's that are in there.
> 
> I had customers call Sirius and complain and eventually get new ones sent to them at no charge. *One thing I did that helped stop the issue on new antennas was put down a layer of super glue or silicon between the black plastic body and the silver (or black on the newer ones) disc. That seemed to stop the problem at least on our end.*I also used 3M double sided panel tape to attach the antennas, and I imagine that helped seal the bottom also.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tip on sealing the antenna housing. I do live in Florida, so it would make sense that the heat/rain/humidity may be causing some of my grief.


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