Sirius Antenna Relocation?

I put a pop-up camper shell on my '16 Taco, and that covers up the shark fin, which kills decent Sirius reception. So I need to relocate the Sirius antenna. I see some instructions on how to wire in a satellite antenna on Gen 1 and 2, but nothing re Gen 3s.

Has anyone done this? Is the Sirius receiver incorporated right into the radio, or is there some other place to connect an antenna? (I use Sirius because lots of times I have no cell coverage on trips in rural areas.)

Thanks.

 

I am interested in moving my sat antenna too. I'm picking up a flipac shell tomorrow and I'm certain I'll have to remove the antenna just to install the shell. I'm expext it will involve drilling holes so I can move it forward a few inches. Have you moved yours yet?

Here's my truck with the fin antenna barley visible


Here's the flipac on the sellers truck that doesn't have a fin antenna

 

Also curious if a roof cargo box interferes with both FM and XM radio reception.

 

I just had a cargo box above mine for about a month and didn't notice any differences with reception. It was hanging over it by almost a foot.

 

If the Taco antenna is the same as my '15 4Runner you might have about 4 - 6 inches of extra cable to work with. You won't know until you drop the headliner.
You might be able to just move the antenna forward. If astetics aren't a concern, move the antenna to the side and you will gain a few more inches.
The fin contains the AM radio, satellite and navigation antennas.

 

Nope, I gave up on moving mine until I can find an adapter that will fit the 2016 head unit (radio) connection from Sirius out to a Sirius external antenna in. (Bypassing the shark fin entirely.)

 

So I picked up the Flippac and had to immediately removed the antenna from the roof. About a week later I decided to go for it and cut the holes to reposition it. I dropped the rear half of the headliner and got measurements. The main hole is a 1/2 in by 7/8 in rectangle, and there is a pilot hole that is about 1/4 in. I started by separating the antenna wire to see how much I had to work with. NYNURSE is right, I was able to pull the wires diagonally and reach the new antenna location 6 in forward on the roof. I then marked carefully, making sure the Flippac would clear it when opened as well as closed, and drilled two, 1/2 in holes side by side. I then had to spend an hour and a half with a metal file turning the figure 8 into a rectangle. This did not create very pleasant sounds. Once I could see the antenna would fit I was able to see where to drill the pilot hole. The day after I moved the antenna we had a huge rainstorm, the antenna didn't leak at all. I'm planning to open it back up and put nail polish on the new openings to prevent rust. I still have duct tape covering the previous antenna location, if anyone has any good ideas on how to seal this more permanently it would be appreciated.

Picture 1: New location with antenna resting
Picture 2: new location completed with Flippac open

 

I have a pop up camper for my 2017 and get zero satellite reception when the camper is on. Local auto a/v shops and dealer were no help in finding a solution for relocating or providing an alternative antenna. After much internet searching I found a review on Amazon for an adapter part that does the trick:

$15 Sirius XM Radio FAKRA Antenna Adapter Connector Sirius XM Radio Factory Antenna Adapter

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083TX86S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Use this with any satellite antenna such as this:

$18 Sirius XM High Gain Interoperable Magnetic Satellite Radio Car Antenna

https://www.amazon.com/XM-Interoper...43881&sr=1-9&keywords=satellite+radio+antenna

Removing the radio to trade out the satellite antenna is super easy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp-i9p6T6Go

Once the you have the radio removed, unplug the factory connection, put on the adapter, fish the antenna wire through the opening behind the radio, under the the dash and out to the hood. Connect the new satellite antenna and re-install the radio. Might have to use a little tape to keep the wire snugged into the weatherstripping around the door opening frame.


Here's the stock antenna connection:


Here's the adaptor installed in the back of the radio:


And here's the antenna attached to the adaptor:


Antenna on the hood:


Works perfectly and no issues with AM/FM, GPS, etc.

 

You sir, are the real MVP. I'm trying to get to 37s but not lose the ability to stuff this thing in the garage because my ex-wife is a key happy psychopath. I've been patiently waiting and searching for someone to figure this out because clearly I couldn't. FFS man I even had to go digging on Prius forums for clues...it's shameful.

In the words of Winston Churchill...if you're going through hell, keep going.

 

This is for a 2019 OR-DC-LB Premium with JBL. The solution below may or may not not work with other models (non JBL).

So, I ended up removing my 2019 shark fin altogether and replaced it with an older stubby shark fin. More on why here (cab-over camper). The above how-to worked great for the XM, but since I'd removed my shark fin, I no longer had FM/AM radio. My solution, after seeing the diagram , I was able to plug the shark fin directly into the back of the stereo unit FM connector, but first, in order to do that I had to switch cables in the white plug. The coaxial cable with the extra ground wire is the FM one. Switch the two cables in the plug in order to line up the FM side into the G41/G52 slot (the FM connector is the bottom one). I switched the cables, pushed the white plug in, and the FM worked fine. So, where did I put the old shark fin FM antenna? Funny enough, there's actually a triangle slot below the dash directly above the stereo. I hid the old shark fin in there and put the dash back together. I now have XM from my new remote hood antenna and FM/AM reception from my old shark fin located above the stereo under the dash. I'm sure the FM reception may not be as good quality as stock, but it works!

 

Sweet, I'm in the same boat and was looking for this very adapter, thank you!

 

I have a 2019 tacoma. Non jbl. I have found over the years that SXM reception sucks, with the factory toyota antenna. I have acquired an extra SXM antenna and would like to use it. Is it as simple as buying the adapter listed above from Amazon and hook my SXM antenna to it or do I need to do the swapping of wires on the fm side? I want to keep fm reception. I'm not looking to relocate the shark fin. Just want better reception on xm and the SXM antennas are much better than the factory toyota ones. I lose service in the tacoma on my ride home and in my other vehicle with the SXM antenna it works fine the whole ride. My 2nd gen tacoma was the same way with low profile shark fin would cutout in the same location.

 

Ok, think I answered my own questions. It is like the other post above. I just pulled my head unit and unhooked the factory xm antenna. FM still works. So I'll buy the adapter and hook up the sxm antenna I have, to replace the toyota xm antenna.

 

I just pulled my shark fin off my 2018 Tacoma today, was a slight pain in the ass. I replaced it with the MVT delete kit. Tomorrow I hope to add the new XM antenna I purchased on Amazon.

 

Are you retaining fm, somehow, or just xm?

 

Is there any other antennas in the shark fin other than SXM and AM/FM? Is GPS for the head unit in their as well? If so, how did anyone deal with it?

 

I think later models have the GPS or something else in there. To the best of my knowledge early models are just AM/FM and XM. I haven't taken mine apart yet. Putting sirius antenna on the dash and ride around for a while and see how service is before going that route

 

When I have my Yakima cargo box mounted on my roof rack, next to, not over, the shark fin, my Siriusxm reception becomes spotty. It doesn't seem as good since I installed the OEM roof rack, but without the cargo box, it's good enough. AM, FM, & GPS all fine with or without the cargo box. Thoughts?

 

Only one, the antenna in your 2021 also has the cellular antenna to Toyota corporate.

 

If that works as well as the Toyota app than corporate knows nothing, but I was hoping for a fix. I'm really surprised that I can't find anything about this being an issue for anyone else.