Opinion on xm antenna placement

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05-12-2018, 10:16 PM
STRaider

Opinion on xm antenna placement

So I purchased a Garmin Zumo 665 GPS with xm built in, and ran the wires today. It came with a ram mount so the gps is on a clutch bolt mount. The cables allow for an antenna plug in near the battery, so I velcroed the round antenna under the rear luggage rack in plain sight. I love the pkacement for functionality, but now I started thinking about it being left exposed 100% of the time, and now I'm concerned with someone messing with it. There is no way to quick disconnect, at least not how I installed it. I tend to be a bit paranoid about this type of thing. I don't even like leaving my jackets and helmets on the bike when I ride to lunch with friends, but they all do it and most everyone else does. It seems many people are more trusting than myself.

Where do most place their antennas? In plain sight or hidden somewhere? For the record, I've not had any problems like this while riding/traveling.
05-13-2018, 01:19 PM
edgeman55

Mine is placed up on the dash between it and the lower portion of my M-----d windshield.Antenna is black,dash is black and lower portion of shield is dark black so it can only be seen if one looks at it from the riding position.Works great there with no reception fades at all.
05-13-2018, 02:35 PM
Kokomo Kevin

I have mine mounted right next to rear rack, used a small piece of steel for a magnetic mount right behind rear passenger back rest and ran it under seat and through the fairing right next to info panel.
Leave it on all the time.
05-13-2018, 02:46 PM
STRaider

That's my set up, minus the magnetic mount. Just used some velcro squares. Glad to hear you've had no issues. I'm probably just over thinking it.
05-14-2018, 07:13 PM
ghost

I placed the antenna hocky puck underneath the front cowling plastic, just below the bottom edge of the windshield. No one can see it and gets signals without a problem.
05-14-2018, 07:32 PM
shortleg0521

Ghost has it right.
Harley has done it for years, it worked on my
Street Glide very well.
Works fine in the fairing on the F6B as well.
05-15-2018, 06:59 AM
STRaider

Quote:

Originally Posted by shortleg0521

Ghost has it right.
Harley has done it for years, it worked on my
Street Glide very well.
Works fine in the fairing on the F6B as well.

I actually got on a VTwin forum the other day while reviewing ideas on placement, and a lot of Harley guys were actually complaining about the interference, and many were looking for a new place for their hockey pucks. More that I read were complaining, but some said they had few issues. Almost all said they had issues on roads in valleys near mountains and/or trees, which might be true regardless of placement location.