[cband]

Wanted to transfer my old 2006 E90's lifetime sub subscription SDAR (siruis) to my newer 2011 E90. My newer head unit has the sirius built in and needs MOST coding activation and on top of that sirius doesn't let the life sub to transfer.

So although I sold the car years ago I kept the external SDAR module and tried to activate it with the 2011 radio but if would never work and there is no way to force the head-unit to use the external sat radio when it knows it already has one.

So what I did was buy a 2008 Professional HIFI head unit. Plugged it in and FM, AUX, CD worked right away. I had to code it to enable USB and Sirius. I installed the SDAR in the trunk, I looped it into the MOST bus right next to the Combox with a extra fiber cable I had acquired. Since my new car wasn't rewired for it I also had to tap 12V from the combox to power my external sirius tuner.

Now after getting it in the MOST loop, 12Volts power I changed input on the radio and I see SAT tuner! For the first test I used another external antenna I had laying around and it worked just fine.

So right now I have Sirius, USB, AUX, AM/FM, CD all working in my 2011. Head unit before and after was Professional HiFI.

Things I noticed I have lost:

• HD-FM Radio
• Gongs (no gongs when I forget to turn off my headlights, no gongs at all actually)
• no easy way to use built in shark fin antenna because its cable goes all the way to the front and my tuner is in the back.
• 2007 LCD screen dispaly is way worse than 2011

Anyone know how to get the sat antenna to the trunk again for 2010+ and onwards E90s?

Anyone know how to get my GONG back?

[orangedawg]

I'm not quite sure what you are asking, but if you are talking about running an antenna lead from the rear to the front, I just ran mine along the passenger side. It's pretty easy. See this video for help running that cable:

[cband]

yeah thanks for that video on how to run a cable from the back to the front.

To clarify I'm actually wanting to run a cable from the front to the back.

Looks like I'm going to install anther sirius antenna because the sharkfin doesn't provide enough gain as I'm a sirius user in central Alaska. I'll report back on how the install of the Shakespeare SRA-50 Galaxy SiriusXM Satellite Antenna goes.

The only other issue I have is the lack of GONG, I get reverse sensor beeps in my audio system but no GONG anymore. Not a huge deal but I did like the reminder when I was about to exit and my parking lights were still on.

[ptpending]

you need to get 2007/10+ radio to get gong back

[techwhiz]

Originally Posted by cband

Wanted to transfer my old 2006 E90's lifetime sub subscription SDAR (siruis) to my newer 2011 E90. My newer head unit has the sirius built in and needs MOST coding activation and on top of that sirius doesn't let the life sub to transfer.

So although I sold the car years ago I kept the external SDAR module and tried to activate it with the 2011 radio but if would never work and there is no way to force the head-unit to use the external sat radio when it knows it already has one.

So what I did was buy a 2008 Professional HIFI head unit. Plugged it in and FM, AUX, CD worked right away. I had to code it to enable USB and Sirius. I installed the SDAR in the trunk, I looped it into the MOST bus right next to the Combox with a extra fiber cable I had acquired. Since my new car wasn't rewired for it I also had to tap 12V from the combox to power my external sirius tuner.

Now after getting it in the MOST loop, 12Volts power I changed input on the radio and I see SAT tuner! For the first test I used another external antenna I had laying around and it worked just fine.

So right now I have Sirius, USB, AUX, AM/FM, CD all working in my 2011. Head unit before and after was Professional HiFI.

Things I noticed I have lost:

• HD-FM Radio
• Gongs (no gongs when I forget to turn off my headlights, no gongs at all actually)
• no easy way to use built in shark fin antenna because its cable goes all the way to the front and my tuner is in the back.
• 2007 LCD screen dispaly is way worse than 2011

Anyone know how to get the sat antenna to the trunk again for 2010+ and onwards E90s?

Anyone know how to get my GONG back?

I thought that to transfer you only needed to pay the $75 fee.
My account indicates a $75 fee to transfer lifetime to another head unit.

[ewicky]

Originally Posted by techwhiz

I thought that to transfer you only needed to pay the $75 fee.
My account indicates a $75 fee to transfer lifetime to another head unit.

I have heard that, especially when transferring a lifetime sub from Sirius to XM, you don't get to keep the same channel lineup. A lot of people lost channel 100 that way without realizing until it was too late (whatever that edgy guy's name is). Though this is all in the context of SiriusXM USA. Everything north of the border sucks. Not sure if OP is subbed to USA or Canadian service.

That being said, XM has significantly better sound quality than Sirius. I cringe at the thought of actually paying money to downgrade your radio to get the older, inferior compression codec.

SiriusXM has even planned/threated in the past to shut off the old Sirius network to reuse the spectrum to expand and improve XM. The vast majority of new receivers are XM, including BMW around 2009-on. But the only (large) exception is Ford, who for no apparent reason, are still installing Sirius receivers in new cars.

As for the RF, it isn't that hard to pop open your center brake light area to get access to the underside of the sharkfin. From there, just remove the interior panel of the C pillar, loosen the oh-shit handle, and the rear seat's shoulder bolster, and you can route an RF cable however you want. I did this for my HD Radio (IBOC) retrofit. I moved the existing FM from the rear windscreen down to the amp area/left rear quarter panel. Then I ran a new eBay FAKRA cable from the windscreen down to the amp area. In the amp area sits the IBOC tuner and the RF splitter that sends FM on up to the CCC for free traffic data.

I also ran a new cable for my SureCall cell phone repeater, which works wonders. It takes my phone's signal, amplifies it, and blasts it out of the sharkfin. Same thing in reverse for Tx/Rx. Allowed me to get rid of the ugly magnet-mount antenna and cord that comes with the SureCall. And it is universal and multi-user, and actually amplifies the signal quite a lot, unlike the center console snap in adapters

[cband]

my lifetime sub is of unknown status as I bought the sirius module on ebay and its been working since 2010. Also I do prefer the sirius network because XM has worse coverage for alaska. Alaska really doesn't have coverage, but it works all the time when parked, sometimes when on the road. No repeaters here. I also ended up mounting Shakespeare SRA-50 on top of my ski rack for better reception but improvement gains are minimal at best.