SiriusXm reception problem

[Henderson]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this. I just brought a new 2017 Ram 3500 to carry my Truck camper. The problem is when the camper is loaded it blocks the Sirius signal. I want to add an magnetic antenna and I am looking for a point to hook into the system. I read a post that indicated that in the 2010 ram the connection was accessed thru a kick panel on the passengers side. But my 2017 doesn't have an access panel on the passenger side. Thanks in advanced for your help.

 

[robroy17]

I don't know about kick-panel but I do know that the factory antenna connects to the back of the factory radio, and I believe that is called a "FAKRA" connection. In an older truck, I wanted to use the factory antenna with an aftermarket satellite radio, so that required the use of a custom adapter cable as the typical mag mount satellite antenna uses a threaded connector if I recall correctly.

You might check with a shop like: http://www.tss-radio.com/ and see if they can get you what you need. I am fairly sure you are going to need an adapter to run a different antenna.

 

[Dieselnerd]

This may help unless they changed it again.
http://www.rambodybuilder.com/2014/docs/cc/dddpsrca.pdf

 

[MJWenrich]

I just made the above conversion on my truck after trying to use the magnet type and connecting to the back of the radio. When I did that with a Sirous/XM antenna, the 8.4 screen gave me a message to contact the dealer due to an antenna malfunction. Plus, my phone connection was disabled. I used the remedy posted on another thread to purchase a factory jumper wire that goes from the stock antenna location to the passenger pillar connection and purchase a stock antenna which I mounted on the hood after running the cable under the dash and through the kick panel rubber grommet. It works perfect now with my camper on board. I first mounted it with magnets installed in a wood block but after one trip I noticed the wire scuffing the paint a little. So knowing it works, I made the hard decision to drill a hole in the hood and ran the wire under the hood insulation back to the jumper.

 

[dogbreath650]

I changed over to the small magnetic puck xm antenna and the shop connected it to the back of the factory radio, not sure what connector they used. This apparently disabled the gps antenna but since I don't use the NAV, it didn't bother me. I get good reception and didn't get any error messages. I ran the antenna thru the firewall, under the hood insulation and mounted it in the center front of the hood. Then I mounted a bug deflector on the front of the hood which completely hides and protects the XM puck.