iviuzzy Posted August 23, 2008 Report Share Posted August 23, 2008 i just installed the D3 in my 2006 audi a4 that has a factory sharkfin antenna. i was able to get the xm to work with just a fakra extension cable purchased from the dealer. they were able to tell me that which fakra connection is for the gps(blue). I guess all i would nees is a fakra extension cable for the nav. antenna as well and find an adapter that would connect the fakra wire to a smb male(which is beleive what the pioneer gps antenna is right?). Has anybody done this before? and am i making sense? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest astrobill Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Actually, no, you're not making a lot of sense. What exactly are you trying to ask??? Are you asking if you can use the 2006 Audi A4 factory sharkfin antenna for something OTHER than what it's designed for (AM/FM)? The answer is no. Antennas are specific to the application and RF frequencies. An AM/FM antenna designed to receive VHF/UHF radio signals will not receive L-band GPS or XM signals well enough to be useful. On the other hand, are you asking if the GPS and/or XM antennas will physically fit under the sharkfin cover IN ADDITION to the AM/FM? The answer is no. There's not enough room for both....maybe one, but it's just not a good idea and is a pain in the neck to route the cables up there. Anyway, in my 2008 A4 (not 2006, like yours, so be careful with this advice), I had to use the METRA-40EU55 antenna adapter. It powered the Audi factory AM/FM antenna and gave decent (not great) FM reception in the AVIC D3 I had. There was only one input into the METRA, so I chose FM. Couldn't find a splitter or other METRA kit to give both AM and FM. Note that the factory antenna cable in my Audi ends in a little cream-colored plug with *two* RF plugs on it.... Soon after all of this, I realized how much Pioneer sucks, and replaced the AVIC with a Kenwood. I think Pioneer is going to get out of the in-dash business soon...they're just way behind the product quality and feature curve. And they don't properly support their products. Seriously...over two-year-old data with no D3 update disks ever coming? My neighbor's Tom Tom gets map and POI updates every other month, seemingly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
skicrave Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Be careful giving advice when you don't really know what you're talking about. iviuzzy, as long as you don't have an Avant, your sharkfin has AM/FM, XM, Sirius and GPS antennas built in (which you already know). You just need to get the correct adapters. Take a look at this post for some information on Fakra connectors, and you should be able to get all of the information you need to adapt your factory fittings to your aftermarket hardware (of any brand). Quote Link to post Share on other sites
iviuzzy Posted September 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2008 i got it to work. for the gps i cut my d3 antenna and i spliced into the fakra wire to go to my sharkfin. my xm antenna plugged right in to the tuner once i ripped the fakra connection off Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest astrobill Posted September 21, 2008 Report Share Posted September 21, 2008 Hey skicrave: What the heck are you talking about? iviuzzy's original post did not state whether or not his Audi came with factory GPS and/or satellite radio options. Therefore, it was unclear if he had any GPS or sat-radio antennas at all. ((For example, my Audi did not have factory navigation or satellite radio, and therefore did NOT have either type of antenna built into the sharkfin already.)) Therefore, without knowing for sure if he actually HAD any GPS or satellite radio antennas, it sounded to me like he was asking if one can use an FM/AM antenna to get GPS or satellite radio signals. And the answer to THAT question is definitely NO. By the way, even if he DID have the antennas (and it now appears that he did), splicing into the cables is a bad idea, because anytime one splices into a signal wire, one is adding noise to the system, which decreases the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the antenna, making it work less well. By the way, I've actually built GPS antennas and also taken apart VHF/UHF (i.e., FM/AM radio) antennas -- one time while in South America for my job where there were no readily-available parts, so I actually do know what I'm talking about. Do you know anything at all about the signal structure, modulation techniques, ground-plane requirements, or atmospheric propagation losses in L-band/GPS/XM signals? Likely no, since you're probably a high-school car enthusiast destined for vocational school or flipping burgers... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wonderdiva Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 Hey skicrave: Likely no, since you're probably a high-school car enthusiast destined for vocational school or flipping burgers... No need to be an a$$ about it... people come on here for help and to share their experiences and your last comment was totally uncalled for... good for you that you have worked on satellites, etc but it doesn't make you Einstein. Spread your negativity elsewhere. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
iviuzzy Posted November 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 4, 2008 i just installed the D3 in my 2006 audi a4 that has a factory sharkfin antenna. i did state that i had a sharkfin antenna. being in south america you probably forgot how to read english. splicing into antenna will not add noise to a system. it will add resistance to the system though. skicrave's link and a buch of other reading helped me get a clean install. the xm and nav work great with perfect signal. even living in the mountians. you can be a burger flipper...but atleast you are not an ass. you still tried to help me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
soccermeister2 Posted November 5, 2008 Report Share Posted November 5, 2008 seems like a lot of extra work... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
eheisig Posted November 6, 2008 Report Share Posted November 6, 2008 Can someone re-title this thread "Pissing Contest" please. We all need more piss and vinegar in our lives. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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