And before anyone tries - I made a bracket for the antenna to mount in between the sunshade and the glass on the aft sunroof; didn't work well for me.

I don't know if it was the fact that I didn't have enough metal for the antenna (book calls for 6" around it) or some interference from the OEM glass tint or that I'm living in "Motoring County" and have all these hills around me

I also had limited luck with dashboard placement - lots of signal dropout

OT - Webini, where in NE? Raised in VT myself, many years ago.

Good luck all

 

Central Maine.

 

Cool

No pun intended

 

Just an FYI in case some of you haven't seen this thread regarding mounting the XM antenna inside the FM Antenna base (only works without NAV). This works on Cabrio's also as I have shown here.

Granted, this method is a little more difficult then just routing the antenna wire out the grommet and placing the XM antenna next to the OEM FM antenna, but is is much cleaner looking.

Phil

 

OK, I finally got the XM Direct installed last night, using the weight-on-a-string method to get it down the C-pillar. It still took a lot of effort--the weight kept getting hung up one something when it was almost to the bottom. But with enough jiggling, it eventually broke free and dropped down. I'm very pleased with the installation, now that it's done. Right now the XM Direct and Blitzsafe are just crammed in the bay next to the HK amp... we'll see if I need to do anything better in the long term.

BTW, my hand is covered in fine scratches and feels prickly, like I'd been handling fiberglas insulation. I think it must be from reaching above the headliner. People might want to try wearing Mechanix gloves or something.

 

Cone,

I haven't done mine yet, but the parts are all in house and I've poked around a little. I agree that there's almost no space left with the HK amp in there. If I reach UP there is a lot of space on top of the plastic side panel. If you can work either the XM Direct or Blitzsafe up there with some double sided tape to mount it in place it might be an option.

 

Has anyone else had difficulty getting the serial number to display on channel 0 using the HK head unit? I test ran everything, got the XM Preview Channel, but when I try change from channel 1 to channel 0, it just goes right back to 1. What am I missing here?

hopper

 

Hm, I know I got mine to display at some point. But when I called in to activate it, I read the radio ID from the label that's on the XM Direct unit.

 

After a few minutes to test the components the other night without installing and a few more minutes to read this thread.... I was able to install xm direct and the blitzsafe into my hk equipped mcs in a total time of under 30 minutes. Using the weight and string method of fishing the wire requires some jiggling, but is pretty simple if you go in from the side of the pillar by peeling back the door seal. There is a broad flat bracket behind the hk amp that is just made for holding the blitzsafe using double-sided sticky tape. Piece 'a cake!

Thanks to all!!!!

Richard

 

Anyone have trouble getting sound using the Blitzsafe and XM radio?

 

Did you just install or is this a general question?

When you first connect the XM Direct & Blitzsafe to the MINI wiring loom, the XM module needs to be registered with XM either by phone or online, and then you wait for the module to be 'unlocked' via satellite.

At that point you only hear the demo channel on the radio.

Of course, all this assumes that the XM antenna is plugged in, and can 'see' the sky to get a signal.

 

Cooperb -

Saw this thread & located a webvendor ("LOGJAM"). Easy install, registered with XM, worked great. Was gone for awhile & the car sat. Got back, car's fine & unchanged, but now the radio alternates between (very) brief bursts of operation followed by dead air & a "No Signal" msg on the HU screen nearly all the time. Antenna tested ok. Any clue?
Thanks -

 

How did you test the antenna?

It's usually an antenna problem - either it's faulty, or more likely the cable is crimped or cut somewhere in the car.

Could also be a poor antenna connection to the XM receiver unit, like a loose plug where it connects to the XM box.

So check the cable along it's length, and the purple connection to the XM box - might be worth pulling it out all together and checking it outside of the car.

I have seen this once before, and in the end an antenna swap under warranty fixed it - fault was not obvious.

 

I was near a shop that installed XM radios so I stopped & asked about the problem. The installer swapped my antenna for one from his shop that he knew was working. No Go.

 

Hope you're right. I went down each line to each connection to verify all was well. Did the same with the test antenna that worked. Seemed like maybe it was a system problem

 

The No signal message is generated by the XM Receiver, when it can't see the signal from the antenna.

So could be a damaged antenna connector on the XM unit, or just an internal fault in the XM receiver.

 

I pulled it all out today & laid it on the floor of the trunk, unplugged everything, inspected each wire, then re-connected all plugs solidly. Turned on the stereo & voila, perfect working order. A little while later & before I'd crammed it all back into it's cubby-hole, I was re-arranging some other stuff in the boot & when I did the HU went "No Signal" again after something else I was fiddling with nudged the parts. Something about the blitzsafe box or the xm box is sensitive to position

 

I'd return the XM box for a replacement. My son had the direct box professionally (hah) installed on his Mustang a while back and it worked for about a week then he kept getting that no signal message w/o any obvious breaks in connection.. .was a defective unit.

 

Usually the BTZ device would give a NO SDARS message when this happens, but it sounds like something is bad within the chain.

We have the plenty of XM Direct kits in stock, ready to ship:

XM Direct Satellite Radio Package for BMW & Mini
http://www.europeanautosource.com/pr...roducts_id=267

 

I guess I'm screwed since my car car has factory nav plus the CD changer, huh? I currently have a Roady2 in thru the aux jack...

 

I wouldn't say that! For many reasons I've gone back to my Roady and love it over the xm direct And with the extra antenna and mount I can easily move it from vehicle to vehicle

Latest install method involves a molested cupholder, inverted and mounted on the driver's side.

 

Not a bad solution, but it does make coffee fall out of your cupholder.

 

Please instruct us how to molest our cupholders??? I'd love to do that for my cell phone.

 

I'll work something up for tomorrow

 

thankee!