Switching. Can I use the same extension cable??

[blue2noise]

I will be switching from XM to Sirius this month for Howard Stern. When I got my XM i purchased an antenna extension cable, mounted the home kit antenna to my roof and ran the extension cable into the house and up to my stereo.

Will i be able to use the same extension cable, or will I have to buy and re-run a new one all the way?

Rob

 

[minorthr]

you may have to reaim it a tad and as long as the antenna connector fits what ever sirius unit you get I think it will work.

 

[rkrenicki]

I believe that both Sirius and XM use the same connector, otherwise, the wire is the same.

 

[blue2noise]

great! Am I getting greedy by asking if I can use the same XM antenna too?

 

[rkrenicki]

AFIAK, No. The antennas are tuned to the carrier.

It MAY work, but I have been told it wont. It really cant hurt to try however as they are electrically identical, just tuned differently.

I am curious to find out from someone who tried, as one of my sirius radios has a broken antenna, and my local best buy has XM antennas in stock, but no sirius ones..

 

[angiodan]

I have a question that maybe you guys can help me out with. We are going to build a brand new hospital and are in the final planning stages right now. I would like to have Sirius or XM available in the angiography procedure rooms. I highly doubt an indoor antenna will work since there are no windows nearby.

Can you use RG6 cable from the rooms to the roof be used for the outdoor antenna feed, or do you have to use the actual extension length antennas from XM or Sirius? I'm not sure if 50 feet will reach.

Thanks.

 

[rkrenicki]

I believe that the antenna cable is a 50 ohm type, not a 75 ohm.. so you may need to use RG-8 or LMR-250 or better

Depending on the length of the run, you may want to use LMR-400 which is a semi-rigid very low loss 50ohm cable.

 

[StevenD]

Interesting product:

http://www.thesiriusstore.com/product_info.php?pName=sirius-dbs-combinersplitter&cName=satellite-radio-accessories

 

[rkrenicki]

it mentions an RG-58 cable, so it is 50 ohm..

that looks like a powered diplexer and balun.

 

[StevenD]

Even better: http://www.datacraft.tv/adapter.pdf

 

[angiodan]

Appreciate the info. The adapter looks perfect. They will already be running RG6 throughout the hospital for televisions, now I'll just get them to run a line to the roof!

Thanks guys!

 

[blue2noise]

Okay, I was able to plus my XM standard home hit antenna in to my Sportster Replay Sirius reciever and it worked perfectly with full signal strength.

whew!

 

[rkrenicki]

awesome.. I guess I will be visiting Best Buy for a new antenna for my other reciever

 

[angiodan]

This worked great at my house! I already had plenty of RG6 lines running outside, and for the same price as the Terk extension cable, I was up and running in less than 5 minutes, without having to fish a line out. Looks like I'll hopefully be able to use this at our new hospital. I'm trying to figure out how I can run some RG6 to the outside now at our old building!

Thanks again for the link.

Even better: http://www.datacraft.tv/adapter.pdf