The Starmate comes with the standard Sirius magnetic antenna, but no matter how I tried there is just no good way of getting that thing onto the top of a Clubman that is aesthetically pleasing (at least in my mind). Here's the standard magnetic antenna:
Fortunately the conversations over at NAM came to the rescue. It seems that the newer models R55 Clubman and the R56 come pre-wired for Sirius - that is, you can tap into the satellite radio connection in the car's antenna - it's there even if you don't have the Sirius radio modules installed in the car. Cool......
So I ordered a special cable to allow me to connect my radio to the car's antenna.I ordered the cable from www.cdint.com for $28. Here's what it looks like:
The satellite antenna connector is located under the passenger seat (of all places). If you slide the seat all the way forward, it exposes a plastic cover over the under-seat cables (early R56's may not have the cover - just carpet which you may have to cut). If you unscrew the two back screws on the plate, you can lift it up enough to get your hand underneath to the connector:
the red arrows point to the screws you need to remove. Here's the purple plastic connector to the satellite antenna:
I threaded the cable under the seat and attached it to the connector ( I had to lay on the back seat from the left side of the car and look under the lifted plastic plate upside-down), here it is connected:
.I then brought the cable out about midway down the seat and pushed it up under the edge of the console and ran it all the way up under the edge to the point where I could stuff the extra cable up under the dash and bring the end out in the little cubby hole under the climate controls.
the blue arrow points to where the cable is stuffed up under the center console and the red arrow to where the excess cable is stuffed up under the dash;
Easy as pie. One word of caution, DO NOT START YOUR CAR WHILE MESSING AROUND UNDER THE SEATS AND DO NOT MESS AROUND WITH THE BIG YELLOW CONNECTOR. if you, do you can inadvertently set off the airbag warning light and the only way to turn it off again is to take it back in to the dealership to have it turned off. In fact, to be on the safe side just leave the keys in the house until you are done.
Here is my Sirius set up, I am using the lighter plug for power right now (still deciding on a better permanent power source) and I am just keeping the radio loose in the cubby with the ipod.
I am transmitting to the FM band and I have to say that both the satellite reception and the FM transmission seem better now using the car's default antenna.
This DOES NOT allow you to control the radio with the car's system, you have to buy MINI's overpriced solution to do that. It only allows you to tap into the antenna system for better reception on the portable radio. I control my radio with the little remote it came with.
Jeff
