sredmyer Posted March 15, 2009 Report Share Posted March 15, 2009 Just recently got my F700BT and have a few question before I begin the instal. 1) How do I connect the attenna to both the F700 and the HD reciever (GEX-P10HD)? It looks like some type of "Y" adaptor would be needed but neither installation guide (the one that came with the head unit or the one that came with the HD reciever) shows such a connection. Is it possible that the head unit passes the RF signal to the HD reciever through the IP-Bus connection? 2) I would like to check my GPS antenna instal prior to final mounting. Caqn anyone tell me how to see the signal strength. 3) Can anyone provide any insight as to the best place to put the mic for optimal performance. I have a factory voice command system in the wifes Caddy and it is horrible at understanding what command has been spoken. I have heard that this is due to the placement of the mic and I hope to avoid this issue when installing my F700BT in my truck. BTW, my instal will be in a 2004 F-250 SuperDuty truck. If anybody as any specific experience with installing the F700BT in this truck I would love to hear any insight you may have on positioning of the GPS atenna or the mic. Also any instal specific tricks you may be aware of for this truck would also be appreciated. Thanks for the help and the wonderful site...lot of really good info here. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
noxguy83 Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 Should be a simple straight forward installation. Im an installer for best buy and have done a few of these vehicles. 1. You dont need and antenna splitter for this. Run your factory antenna into the Hd tuner. Then run the P-Bus cable from the Tuner to the Avic. Select HD as your source and youll get all your stations that way, even the ones not broadcast in HD. You will still be able to selsct am or fm on the unit but there will be static cause the antenna isnt plugged in. 2. Gps antenna can go on th top of your front dash. You could do what I did in my car and run it to the top center of the windshield and double sided tape it to the windshiled above the rearview mirror. Or you could run it to the back and out of the third brake light if you have one. Just make sure theres enough room for the wire to fit and maybe put some silicon around it to prevent water from leaking in. 3. The Mic I always install above the rearview mirror and a bit to the left(closer to the driver) Never had any issues at all and thats where it is in my personal vehicle. Great sound quality so ive been told by people on the other end. The voice commands are very touchy on the F-series though so be warned. Hope this helps a bit Quote Link to post Share on other sites
1loudls Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 to check gps signal, turn unit on, press SETTINGS button, press NAVI SETTINGS, then press GPS AND TIME SETTINGS. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
wmitch927 Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 I installed my F700BT in a '06 F150, and I just put the GPS transponder directly behind the HU UNDER the dash. My signal strength is fine and it hides the transponder quite nicely. There are some guys over at f150online.com doing this, hence that's where I got the idea. In the F150's, there a large steel support that is part of the body frame that runs the entire width of the truck, but don't know for sure if it's there for the F250. I also used the metal backing that came with the unit too. Hope that helps... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Z06PSI Posted March 16, 2009 Report Share Posted March 16, 2009 1. You dont need and antenna splitter for this. Run your factory antenna into the Hd tuner. Then run the P-Bus cable from the Tuner to the Avic. Select HD as your source and youll get all your stations that way, even the ones not broadcast in HD. You will still be able to selsct am or fm on the unit but there will be static cause the antenna isnt plugged in. I have a 2005 Navigator and this is bad advice. Actually to receive AM he needs to split the antenna. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_12040UV44/ ... ml?tp=3351 Isn't it an installers responsibility to re-install all functions of a radio when they give it back to the customer? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rareform Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 Yes use the antenna splitter, its nice to have am available if you want it. Top center towards driver for the mic. Top center of dash for nav antenna. Reception is great. It only needs 4 sats out of almost 30 available at any one given time to locate you and give elevation. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sredmyer Posted March 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 Thanks for all the information. So let me see if I understand this correctly. If I want to listen to AM I will need the Y splitter for the antenna. I get that. However what I am unclear on is the HD vs FM thing. I do not have any HD reciever at this time so I am unfamiliar with them. I had assumed they worked something like my HD channels with DirecTV. In this senario some channels (not all) broadcast multiple feeds. The HD feed is just one of the feeds alnog with alternate programming on the other feeds (possibly). The key here is that not all channels broadcast these "extra" feeds. If infact HD radio works similarly then I would also need the antenna to listen to those FM stations which did not broadcast an HD feed. Is this understanding of HD radio true? Or is it some how different? If it is different could somebody please explain it to me. Thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rareform Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 The HD radio tuner is a separate box with an IP bus and antenna input. It can tune in analog and digital FM broadcast including the multiple channels on a single frequency. So if you want the easiest method of using the HD get the antenna splitter and you can tune in on AM, FM, or HD source selections on the Avics... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Z06PSI Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 The HD radio tuner is a separate box with an IP bus and antenna input. It can tune in analog and digital FM broadcast including the multiple channels on a single frequency. So if you want the easiest method of using the HD get the antenna splitter and you can tune in on AM, FM, or HD source selections on the Avics... This is correct. I bought my HD box off of ebay for 75.00 and put the splitter in and all is good. I can't believe I went to 4 car audio shops and always got "we don't hook the antenna up to the head unit just the HD unit when we install them. No one listens to AM anymore"..... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
noxguy83 Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 1. You dont need and antenna splitter for this. Run your factory antenna into the Hd tuner. Then run the P-Bus cable from the Tuner to the Avic. Select HD as your source and youll get all your stations that way, even the ones not broadcast in HD. You will still be able to selsct am or fm on the unit but there will be static cause the antenna isnt plugged in. I have a 2005 Navigator and this is bad advice. Actually to receive AM he needs to split the antenna. http://www.crutchfield.com/p_12040UV44/ ... ml?tp=3351 Isn't it an installers responsibility to re-install all functions of a radio when they give it back to the customer? Actually I have an Hd tuner installed with my 700bt and get am just fine. no splitter. Seems funny that you would say you can only get am through the radio when am is being brodcast in hd as well.(at least in my area) and the only way to get am in hd is with an hd tuner. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rareform Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 You can get AM/FM/AM HD & FM HD through the HD tuner, but why would you not use the splitter. That way atleast all three source buttons would work properly. Plus you could atleast tune in regular AM/FM if the HD box decides to take a crap! LOL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
1loudls Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 the HD tuner does not get the same reception as the standerd tuner, i have installed quite a few pioneer hd tuners and we use splitters every time, there have been plenty of times a customer has not been able to tune in a station on the hd tuner but it was able to be tuned in on the standerd tuner Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jeff782500 Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 You may already know this, but you will have to grind the top and bottom lips on the radio opening smooth to get the unit to fit. I have a 2001 Ford F-250 and had to do this. Leave the sides because that is what the dash kit clips to. And also if you ever want to put your stock radio back in that is what it clips to as well. I have my mic clipped to the headliner between the driver's visor and the rearview mirror. Seems to work fine there, although I have heard some complaints of engine noise, I have a diesel. I have my GPS antenna mounted on the top left corner of the windshield. Works fine there. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sredmyer Posted March 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 Thanks for all the help guys. I ordered the splitter cable and will be installing my unit as soon as the cable gets here...I will post pictures of the install when complete. Thanks again for the help, Steve Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sredmyer Posted March 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2009 Ok, here are some pictures of my install so far. I tried to annotate the pictures with points which need to be paid attention to. You may need to scroll each image to see the annotations. Here is a shot of the Dash Kit mounted on the HU. This kit can be purchased (with wiring harness adaptor) on Ebay here (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/9696969696_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1713Q2em153Q2el1262QQcategoryZ38636QQihZ022QQitemZ350179815667QQtcZphoto) [attachment=6]Dash Kit.JPG[/attachment] Here are some shots of a modification to the kit I had to do. [attachment=4]Rear Clip.JPG[/attachment] [attachment=3]Rear Clip2.JPG[/attachment] [attachment=2]Rear Clip3.JPG[/attachment] Now in the truck [attachment=5]Dash.JPG[/attachment] [attachment=1]Screws.JPG[/attachment] [attachment=0]Frame Piece.JPG[/attachment] [attachment=7]Bend.JPG[/attachment] Hope others find this useful. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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