Sirius Satelite Radio Configuration

jaksel · #1 01-24-2007, 01:07 AM

My Caliber came with the 6 disk changer and tailgate music system. .... I love the sound. My son gave me a Sirius Radio box for Christmas and I am attempting to hook this in to the radio on the car. Before gettting all involved, I figured I'd call the dealer and also check the owner's manual.

There are three types of radios that come with the car: singleCD (Type REF), 6pack CD (Type RAQ), and CD/Tape Player (Type I-dunno). I have the RAQ radio. On the left side of the radio is the mode button. Since I do not have a factory installed satellite antenna, my mode button only had CD as an option. Howerver, according to the owner's manual, it should toggle through CD/SAT/VES (vehicle entertainment system). The dealer told me the radio *should* have a rear input for Satellite. This implies (at least to me) that somehow there must be satellite already in that radio, I just need to get it to wake up. They say there are only three types of radio ... there is no mention that type RAQ comes with or without the satellite or VES options. So, it should be in there someplace (or do I have a fatal flaw in my logic?)

In the owners manual, it says to learn the Electronic Serial Number (ESN) of the radio to press the CD Eject Button and the Time Button simultaneously for three seconds and the ESN will appear. Not so for me. Of course, I need the ESN to call Sirius.

Is anyone aware of a way to wake up this radio to recognize the Satellite? In my world, it would be as simple as plugging in the antenna and perhaps changine a jumper on the radio.

Does anyone have any guidance for me? My fall back is to install the separate Sirius device and use an adapter.
By the way, if anyone out there goes that route, there is a Caliber specific adapter plate available for hooking in portable electronics. You can visit this iste and specify your Caliber (or Jeep): http://www.proclipusa.com

bigtsr · #2 01-24-2007, 11:26 PM

The Sirius radio receiver is not part of the head unit or radio.
The sattelite radio rcvr when factory installed is located drivers side rear
in the cargo area under the floor right behind the wheel well protrusion.
It wired into a cable up the driver side to the radio.

jaksel · #3 01-25-2007, 12:44 PM

This is potentially good news. Would Dodge be smart enough to have a harness there even if I did not have the factory installed option?
Also, I noted on the aftermarket MOPAR kit that there are two wires coming from the antenna that would go on top of the Caliber. Would one wire be for Sirius and the othe for Navigation?

bigtsr · #4 01-25-2007, 01:05 PM

Posts on different forums would indicate that if it's not factory
installed the wiring harness for any periferials i.e. Sirius radio,
Musicgate,Uconnect will not be in the vehicle.
I know that seems stupid when your planning work stratergies
but I guess if you multiply the added cost of full blown wiring
harness to a bare essentials wiring harness times the number
of vehicles mfg'd it makes sense to have more than one
cable layout.

moautophd · #5 01-31-2007, 03:58 AM

The ESN procedure outlined in the owners manual only applies to factory installed radios that have Sirius but are not activated. The ESN is stored in the unit itself and must be pulled out of the unit in order to activate the sattelite radio service via Sirius.

If you are installing a non-factorySirius reciever, then you should not have to wire anything as most of the units are FM transmitters that operate over anormal FM radio station. In this case, the ESN is in the Sirius reciever unit not the factory radio.

vatzman · #6 07-26-2007, 08:08 PM

I have a caliber with ref radio and sirius satellite. I would like to get an taq radio in hope it will display the sirius channel info, song, artist, etc. If I plug in the raq radio will it immediately recognize the sirius satellite? Does it have to be coded somehow by a dealer of some sort?