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XMradio is becoming more and more popular. Project Freelander has
already had a major upgrade to the original Harmon/Kardon stereo, but XM
really seemed like a good idea. A vehicle as sophisticated as the
Freelander should have all the latest gizmos. When you are out in the
mountains with your Freelander blazing a new trail, with XM radio you'll
be able to listen to all your favorite music long after leaving the
regular radio stations behind.
The search began for an XM tuner. Several trips to
various stores and a couple hours reading every specification of every
mobile unit, I decided the Delphi receiver was the way to go. My
older Alpine Minidisk head unit was not compatible with the Alpine XM
tuner because of it's age. The Delphi has an optional RF Modulator
so that my beloved vintage head unit can play the satellite channels
through the FM tuner. I won't go into how XM works, just go to their
site and there's a nice intro there. The simple explanation is that
there are two satellites in a geosynchronous orbit sending 100+ channels
of digital music. There are repeaters on the ground as well, just in case
a building is blocking the satellite signal.
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This is the display of the Delphi unit.
It's large jog-dial controls, presets and most importantly- a
large display sold me over the competition.
It can be easily moved from car to car- and there's
even a home kit and portable boombox that this unit can plug
into for a nominal additional cost.
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| This is the RF (Radio Frequency)
Modulator. It fits nicely down in the area behind the A/C
controls. The Freelander has a unique antenna plug, so an
adaptor was required to hook the antenna into this box- then the
box into the head unit. The power and ground wires were tapped
into the same wires that feed the radio. |
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The most difficult part of the installation was deciding
where the display unit will go. Greg offered some good advice on
using a phone mount- which I decided to do, although a little different
approach from Greg... His antenna is on the roof with the cable
hidden in the black trim. With my roof rack in use, I was concerned
the signal would be blocked so I put my antenna up front on the hood next
to my GPS antenna. That's the most unobstructed spot I could find.
For now, the antenna is stuck to the hood with a magnet but I might move
it to the same lip mount as the GPS. The wire from the antenna was
run down the underside of the hood to the firewall, then under the
soundproofing across to the inside of the front fender. From there,
the small wires pass underneath the weather stripping and tuck behind the
dashboard, almost completely invisible. Under the dashboard the
antenna cable joins the power and signal cables from the RF modulator
which is now tucked nicely inside the centre console.
Mounting the unit: Here's where a little creativity
pays off. I used a Panavise cellular phone pedestal that was left
over from a previous vehicle's hands-free kit. I had to cut about
1/16 inch from one corner to make it fit perfectly beside the dashboard
gauge pod after removing the rubber trim. The rubber trim will be trimmed
to fit around the pedestal to complete the installation soon.
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I removed the rear part of the mounting
cradle where there are already four holes that are made to mate
with a standard AMP style cell phone hardware. |
| Here's the cradle into which the Delphi
receiver mounts. I reattached the rear part with the
Panavise part in place. The plugs for the antenna are readily
visible here. One plug is for the satellite input, the
other plug is for an antenna that receives XM signal from
repeaters. The repeaters guarantee signal in cities where
tall buildings would block the satellites. |
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| Here's the opening in the dashboard that I
used to pass all the cables through. No cutting was done- and
the removal of the mounting arm would be invisible once the
rubber trim is put back in place. If you trim the rubber to go
around the mount, you would need to replace it if you sold the
Freelander without the Delphi. |
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The Panavise mounting arm is available
anywhere cell phones are installed- and many places online. The
right side of the base wedges tightly under the gauge pod and
the left side is held by two small self-tapping screws. |
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Here's mine from the driver's point of
view. The drawback is that it's a little more difficult to
use left-handed, but the up-side is that it was unused space.
The StreetPilot GPS goes on the right side of the pod when
traveling, so it avoids the clutter. |
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This is Greg's setup. A very handy
location, very easy to reach and read. The rear wiper
buttons are not often used but still reachable and most
importantly the air vents are not blocked. |
| Here's a side view of my installation.
The wires are barely visible and the mount is very secure. |
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Here's Greg's installation using a Profit
mount. The cup holder still works just fine and the wires are
neatly tucked through an existing gap in the gauge console. |
The installation was not difficult or all too time consuming. An
hour is about all it took. The worst part was feeding the RF
Modulator wires up and pulling the head unit for attaching the wires.
If you install your antenna on the roof and run the cables out of sight
like Greg did- be prepared to spend a good amount of time. One
option to consider is a variety of antennas that can be purchased which
would allow different mounting configurations. If you don't mind taking
the time to run the wires through the interior, a glass-mount antenna is a
very attractive way to go.
If you have any questions, either e-mail
me or post in the MuddyOval.com technical forum where Greg and I can guide
you through your installation.
XM radio and Delphi did not provide equipment for
this installation. The selection of equipment was based entirely on my
opinion. FormatC.org and FreelanderLiving.com have no affiliation,
agreements or professional relationships with either XMRadio or Delphi.
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