What the heck is this thing?

Hey guys, I was doing my Aquapel window treatment and I saw this little antenna shaped device on top of my truck. Any idea what this is for? XM satellite radio maybe?

 

That or a gps antenna for a laptop.

 

It's a mouse for the laptop

No idea.

 

uh, how did you purchase a truck and not see that until you were cleaning the windshield? wtf?

 

Mostly a combination of short man + lifted truck, but I haven't actually had her for that long yet. I've probably noticed it once or twice, but never paid much attention to it.

 

You must have an aftermarket head unit with satellite radio, gps/navigation? that or a gps tracker

 

The aftermarket head unit does have GPS, that's probably it then. For some reason I just assumed that was inside the unit itself.

 

I think it's a older Sirius or xm antenna. Never seen a gps antenna wire that thin or that look where the antenna meets the wire. Just my thought. If it doesn't have sat that doesn't mean it didn't but just left the antenna. Seen that a million times. Also, gps antennas are ok to be under dash or on the inside. Sat antennas are not even though people (including myself) do/have before

 

Looks like my old Sirius radio antenna...

 

Wire tap tracking device from your psycho ex!

 

Psycho and not smart to blatantly have the tracker showing... Haha... Maybe that's why she WOULD BE PSYCHO

 

Xm antenna ... I've had a few over the years

 

Identical to my XM, Delphi antennae

 

I'm going to have to check, but I thought the headunit didn't have XM, just GPS. I don't use either, so I'm not sure.

 

Well then.... If you don't use either then pull it out. The other end would tell what it is. It's a satellite antenna though.

 

I'm going to pull it out when I get around to redoing the audio system. Right now I have a few higher priority items on my plate. Thanks for the info though.

 

This antennae has nothing to do with your truck head unit and never plugged into your truck radio. This is for a Delphi XM satellite radio receiver cira 2005. This XM unit was/is a device that will not work on its own, it has no speakers, amplifer, etc. It is a unit that sits in cradles.....one in your home, one in your vehicle, you simply move the unit (about the size of a deck of cards) from the house to the vehicle. The cradles have several wires...a power wire (in the vehicle that plugs into what used to be the cigarette lighter receptacle, the one is the house plugs into a 110 outlet), an antennae wired for each cradle, which this thing is. Unless you find about 12 more feet of "extra" wire in your truck hooked to this thing someone has cut it off, regardless you have only a part of the system, without the unit and cradle it is less than worthless. The unit is a transceiver, the antennae picks up the signal, routes the signal thru the unit, the unit has a low power transmitter that routes the signal to your truck/home radio. Choose an FM station from the units directory, set it, then tune your radio to that same station. Once they are in sinc choose any of the 150 XM stations on the Delphi unit to play thru the truck/home radio. The advantages of this is that after you have purchased the unit you can use it in both the home or vehicle(s). Mine is held in place with a heavy duty magnet on the bottom, you can slide it, and if careful get you fingernails under it to remove it.

The technology is old and dated, but mine still works great anywhere in the US, home or vehicle. But since it is obsolete remove it, or if you are concerned about leaks around the where the wire enters the vehicle leave it there and come up with a good story as to what it is.

 

That is a *really* weird way to mount it. I've never seen anybody mount them on the leading edge of the hood. Normally, those who insist on putting them outside (who read the instruction manual and follow every instruction very precisely without understanding any of it...) will put them at the BACK of the cab. Normal people don't even put them outside. Either on the dash front and center, or even better, UNDER the dash. Believe it or not, the dashboard material does NOT block satellite reception, so just stick it to something front and high up under the dashboard cover, and it'll (that is, if you were actually using it, which sounds like you aren't) work just fine.

 

Yea, I'm not happy about the way it's mounted. When I go back there to take care of the audio system I'm going to remove that. Pretty sure this is related to a random hole I have in my dashboard as well.