Pierluc

is it the same small oem puck but just magnetic ? cant you use a good 2 way tape instead ? i believe thats how the oem ones are holding, i would not want it inside the truck personally

Theocoog

The antenna is different than the OEM antenna. It is smaller (about 1.5" in sq.) and thinner (about 3/8") and square. The OEM ones may be held on by some adhesive, but I don't think it's double-sided tape and in any case, I've already moved it inside. Besides, I don't like the idea of sticking things to the truck - I've been working on removing everything that Ford stuck to the truck (like the 4x4 Off-road stickers). So thank you for the idea, but I went with the inside install. If I still lived in Texas I might have considered keeping it on the roof, but with the snow we get here in the Northeast, inside is better, in my opinion.

The puck itself is now just in front of the red blinking light in the center of the dash. It's a very professional installation and it works just fine! I've tested it by driving around in different directions and no matter what direction I am driving the reception is good. There a long downhill headed north near where I live and I had thought it would cut out there, but it didn't. It's a little more sensitive than before when I go under bridges, but I'd rather have that than a scratched roof. Besides, I seriously doubt that I will subscribe to Sirius when the free trial is over. Sirius radio is too expensive for me, for what it provides. The traffic I get from SYNC and/or AM radio is more accurate and my iPod has better music on it.

cdvaight

On my last truck I ran the wire down the drivers side under the kick plates, tucked under the interior next to the back window, through the head liner and out the top break light. Just have to make sure you put a drop of silicon where the wire comes out. I never had an issue with snow, car wash or anything moving it.

SultanGris

Listen to Jason Ellis, channel 41 Faction from 2-6pm mon-fri an you will be a subscriber for life! Red Dragons! He's way better than Howard stern.

2000xl_toronto

I agree 100% with this remark

On a side note I'm not sure if you're repositioned the antenna yet but on my previous vehicle I didn't like the magnet scratching my roof either so I just traced the outline of the antenna on a piece of felt I had lying around and cut it to fit underneath - the magnet is more than strong enough to keep holding it to the roof even mounted on the felt, and it never scraped my roof again.

Theocoog

Side note? The original post was about the antenna, not Jason Ellis's show! Anyway, I have re-positioned the antenna and it works fine on the inside. Also, my concerns went beyond scratches. The magnet isn't very strong, so even with felt (a great idea BTW) it would have moved around if something pushed on it - like a snow broom. As I mentioned in my original post, the wire ran on the outside of the windshield and was merely "hidden" by a bead of colored caulk. I had visions of it getting snagged by a tree or something and being ripped right down to the hood. Also, where I park my truck during the day, an antenna with an exposed wire is a vandal magnet. So I'm good with it inside.

On a side note, I may give Jason Ellis's show a listen... it sounds like something I'd like.

Randymwv

The Ford antenna sucks! I had the same experience, salesperson was actually doing the delivery demo of controls and we were both surprised that the sat radio wasn't installed. Smacks of Fraud!! So the aftermarket was installed. My previous truck had the CHEAPEST Sirius radio from Radio Shack, installed by an amateur (me), and it worked well. This radio will not receive satellite transmissions through any tree cover, where my old one did just fine. The Radio Shack version had a round antenna (also magnetic), that was maybe a quarter of an inch thick. It was mounted in the back of the roof (Toyota 4-Runner). I was supposed to get a radio equal to the factory installation. Clearly I didn't. I will be at the dealer this coming week and raising cain about this radio. The installation could easily be thru the roof (like the factory antenna) at the ceiling mounted console, or through the brake light at the rear of the cab. Clearly one problem is the antenna being mounted below the plane of the roof, just above the windshield. I looked at Crutchfeilds site and that is a no-no for antenna installation.

Also, my old radio would show the song and artist for Sirius, the new one doesn't. Does anyone with a "factory radio" get this info?

I really hate this kind of crap, it was the reason I have driven foreign cars and trucks for the last 10 years.

Theocoog

I'm interested in how you make out with your dealer. It may not be the radio that is the problem: something I didn't mention in my original post that may help you is that after I initially got the dealer to install the sat radio, I was having horrible reception problems - a bird could fly overhead and the signal would drop out - well, not that bad, but close. I called the dealer back and after some investigation on their part they called me back in and replaced the antenna itself. Apparently there were known issues with the antenna they had originally installed so they got a different one from Ford. That new antenna looks identical to me (small square puck), but it works like it should have from the beginning.

However, after the way my dealer ran my antenna wire up the outside of the windshield, protected only by a bead of caulk, I was reluctant to let them drill a hole in the roof, which is why I went with the interior mount. That and the fact that the antenna puck is magnetic and is not designed for thru-roof mounting. For what it's worth, the interior mount has been working well, and was installed so well that it looks like it came from the factory that way. Also, I do get the song's metadata (artist, title, etc) I just had to push the "Text" button.

They did all this for free, so all it cost me was some frustration and time. As far as I am concerned, the service department did right by me. They had me in there three times to make sure that everything worked - they tried hard to make me a satisfied customer. In my opinion, responsibility for the whole mess is with the sales department that didn't know that the sat radio was optional and assumed it came with one of the XLT packages I had ordered. If they had just told me that I had to order it separately, I would have paid up and they could have made a profit and would have avoided doing all this work for free to make it right.

Good luck to you!