Now I'm a Happy Camper.

[AbaloneTony]

New Keystone shell with options.
Many Mods have been drawn in CAD.
Now it's time to start building.

AbaloneTony

 

[pods8]

Build away! Is that the extended cabover or regular?

 

[AbaloneTony]

So many building plans and no time.

It’s the extended cab over.

I need to talk to Stan about my Sirius radio antenna.
I have the antenna mounted in the rear of the cab. I have lost my reception.

I did see a Hawk unit that was going to be mounted after me that had a Sirius Puck antenna mounted to the top on the camper.
The wire approximately 20 feet long looked like it would go to the cab and hook to a splitter or the radio.

CD’s are good but Satellite radio just plane rocks. I tend to do long drives and music helps pass the time and can help keep the eyes open.

Anybody have any antenna relocation ideas.

AbaloneTony

 

[Northern Explorer]

Not a FWC but this is what this guy did for his XM. netboy's camper

 

[Marc]

Looks great Tony, congrats. Look forward to your build.

 

[DLN]

Tony, all that space in a Keystone should be great fun to build out, can't wait to see what you end up with.

 

[kcowyo]

I need to talk to Stan about my Sirius radio antenna.
I have the antenna mounted in the rear of the cab. I have lost my reception.

I did see a Hawk unit that was going to be mounted after me that had a Sirius Puck antenna mounted to the top on the camper.
The wire approximately 20 feet long looked like it would go to the cab and hook to a splitter or the radio.

CD’s are good but Satellite radio just plane rocks. I tend to do long drives and music helps pass the time and can help keep the eyes open.

Anybody have any antenna relocation ideas.

AbaloneTony


Congratulations on the new camper. Looks great on that big ol' Dodge. What a way to go...

I agree 100% with having satellite radio as a requirement for long drives across the middle of nowhere. Here is what I did with mine after installing the camper...

I fastened the receiver to the tranny hump and ran the wires along the underside of the dash to the passeneger door. Then I tucked it under the weather seal, running up the A pillar along side the the windshield. Because the cord was rather long, I continued tucking the cord under the top of the windshield gasket, until it was perfectly centered in the middle of the windshield. Three years later and no issues, works like a champ. No install pics, but a pic of the reslut...

I did something similar to the girlfriend's SUV and her Sirius antennae, but to her driver's door. Then under the weather seal, up the A pillar. Her cord wasn't as long, so instead of being centered over the windshield, it sits just at the top corner. Again, 2 years, no issues. It looks identical to what my buddy Chuck did here with his truck. Not a great pic, but the best I could find -

 

[fatpete]

Abalone,
Sweet setup!
I just got my Hawk shell last Friday, I'm the guy with the Sirius puck installed on top. It was one I already had from an old radio. I also have a Dodge Quad Cab. It has the factory installed Sirius. The antenna for it was mounted on the cab near the 3rd brake light. Needless to say, it was going to be totally obscured by the FWC. I disconnected the wire at the roof, and ran it along the inside rear of the cab and out a plastic vent (about 4" by 4") that exits between the cab and bed. Directly adjacent to the vent on the bed side is a plastic plug. It pops out easily. With a Dremel or pocket knife you can cut in a slot for the wire. My camper wiring came out on the driver's side, and the truck sat wire just barely made it down to the vent hole. If your camper wiring is on the passenger side, you'll have more length from the truck.
If you are running your own wire from the dash (non factory installed Sirius), I would recommend stopping it at the vent/bed plug and then running the antenna plug to there, even if you have lots of cable or have to buy an extension. The reason for this is removal of the camper. I have the camper power plug and satellite connection right next to eachother. If you run it all the way into the dash, it will be a long day of trim/panel/carpet removal to get the wire out to remove the camper. Extensions for the Sirius antennas are available cheap at www.tss-radio.com Hope this helps, best of luck with your camper. I'll be posting pics of mine soon.
Pete

 

[AbaloneTony]

Give me Music !!!

Pete,
Great information. I too have my antenna right above my Third brake light. The radio is also a factory install. I do have a question about the connection between the factory-installed cable leading to the factory-installed antenna. Is the connection the same thread size as the connector on the Sirius Micro puck antenna?

Reason I ask is because I will be taking off and on the FCW and switching between a Fiberglass shell.
When I’m civilized I top the truck with the FWC. When I’m in the Blood and the Mud I’ll switch to the fiberglass. I do mean raw meat and blood.

My plan is to have a puck antenna that removes from a temporary mount that is off a jack bracket.

Before I remove the camper I want to get all the correct hardware.

Good info from all. The more information I have the longer it will take to nail down a design. I hate to do things twice.

AbaloneTony

 

[fatpete]

Tony,
The wire disconnects at the top by the roof. The connection is a single small coaxial connection. it just pushes on, there's no threads.
Having the connection point up there sucks as it is tedious to run the wire back up there when you switch campers. I plan to run an extension from the roof down to the floor by the vent I described in the other post so when I take my FWC on and off I can plug the truck antenna back in at the same location instead of removing seats, carpet etc every time.

 

[cruiser62]

It’s the extended cab over.

I need to talk to Stan about my Sirius radio antenna.
I have the antenna mounted in the rear of the cab. I have lost my reception.

I did see a Hawk unit that was going to be mounted after me that had a Sirius Puck antenna mounted to the top on the camper.
The wire approximately 20 feet long looked like it would go to the cab and hook to a splitter or the radio.

CD’s are good but Satellite radio just plane rocks. I tend to do long drives and music helps pass the time and can help keep the eyes open.

Anybody have any antenna relocation ideas.

AbaloneTony

Tony, nice rig.
I have an '07 Quad cab 2500 short bed with the Hawk on it. I got the
little puck style antenna at Radio Shack. On my truck there is a panel
for the radio under the dash on the passenger side of the cab. I just
set the antenna on the dash and ran the wire down behind the defrost
vent trim next to the windshield. Hook into the radio panel and you're
done. No cutting or running wires outside the cab. It works fine inside
the windshield. When the camper is off it doesn't interfere with the
factory antenna on the roof. If you find that it does, just unplug it.

 

[fish more]

If you unplug the antenna on the rear of the cab and run the lead to the front of your truck, like up the right "A" pillar, you could mount your antenna puck in the right front corner of the roof just above the top windshield moulding. The factory puck that was installed by Ford in this area still gets full reception from Sirius. I was afraid after the Hawk installation, I would lose my reception, but it works great ! You may want to consider remounting your antenna forward on the cab, this would save you from having to unplug something else when removing the FWC. I think you will find by lowering the headliner and removing the "A" pillar trim the installation would be easy, check it out.

 

[AbaloneTony]

All,

My Antenna has changed like I thought it would.
When I was driving threw the woods and while camping I had to REMOVE some small
tree limbs. These were hitting the extended antenna and I needed to resolve the problem.

The antenna is now removable.
The top portion is now longer for better reception while on the road.
NOW when I get into the trees I can pull off the antenna quickly by
removing a couple of locking pins. I turned the top tube down to fit the inside dimension of a larger Aluminum tube mounted on the truck.

Well see how this works on the weekend coming up. It will be tested again before it’s painted.
Five days planned at a Lake towing the kids around again. It’s the last trip before school starts.

AbaloneTony

 

[AbaloneTony]

Here's a couple of pictures.

It didn't take the first time.

AbaloneTony

 

[AbaloneTony]

Another close up picture.

AbaloneTony