Remove Shark Fin Antenna

N52753 · February 6, 2020

New guy here. 2020 Silverado with the Tuscany Badlander edition. Of course with the 6” lift, it won’t fit in the garage by about an inch. That shark fin satellite/nav antenna needs to be gone, or reduced to a puck style. I searched the forum and Google before posting here, but is it possible to remove the fin, or other options? I’m ok with losing some functionality. I’d rather use pandora via my phone, as well as nav, so that I would be able to park in the garage during hail storms, etc. If not, I’ll deal with the risk as I love the truck. But there has to be a way. I may find a reputable radio shop that might be able to fabricate something.

nolte · February 6, 2020

I found this:

https://www.gmfullsize.com/threads/xm-shark-fin-antenna-options.249730/

...and several other threads on various forums asking same question for various trucks.

edit: obviously those are older trucks but you'd really be approaching it the same way in principle.

Edited February 6, 2020 by nolte

nolte · February 6, 2020

...another thing I would be concerned about regarding removing it is that I think that shark fin may be the antenna for cellular as well.

There is a valley that I have to drive through when I leave home that in the past has always killed my cell phone connection when I drove through it in my old 04' Avalanche.

No data and calls would get garbled and dropped pretty quickly. Had never ever held a connection in that dead valley.

In new truck it frikkin works in the valley with cell phone plugged in autoandroid and cell crammed down in between the cushions of the folded down jumpseat.

My assumption was that the truck was using the roof antenna for all that.

I could be wrong, but if not then you might reduce reception for all cellular comm if you remove it.

aseibel · February 6, 2020

40 minutes ago, nolte said:

...another thing I would be concerned about regarding removing it is that I think that shark fin may be the antenna for cellular as well.

There is a valley that I have to drive through when I leave home that in the past has always killed my cell phone connection when I drove through it in my old 04' Avalanche.

No data and calls would get garbled and dropped pretty quickly. Had never ever held a connection in that dead valley.

In new truck it frikkin works in the valley with cell phone plugged in autoandroid and cell crammed down in between the cushions of the folded down jumpseat.

My assumption was that the truck was using the roof antenna for all that.

I could be wrong, but if not then you might reduce reception for all cellular comm if you remove it.

The on-star antenna connects to AT&T towers. So you would be correct if you had a Verizon (or similar network) phone.

Otherwise its still connecting to the same towers as your phone, so its irrelevant. The technology is quickly moving towards each carrier/tower accepting a variety of frequencies from roaming devices, so it is less and less likely that the truck's antenna will get any better service than the device in your pocket.

Donstar · February 6, 2020

Wow, you're talking close! I assume that it is your garage door that is restricting access. Are there options to gain an inch or two at the top of your door frame? I don't know your situation but in my case, I'd modify my garage before my truck.

nolte · February 6, 2020

14 minutes ago, aseibel said:

The on-star antenna connects to AT&T towers. So you would be correct if you had a Verizon (or similar network) phone.

Otherwise its still connecting to the same towers as your phone, so its irrelevant. The technology is quickly moving towards each carrier/tower accepting a variety of frequencies from roaming devices, so it is less and less likely that the truck's antenna will get any better service than the device in your pocket.

I've got an ATT phone. So you're saying that my truck is using the onstar antennae (which is not located in this sharkfin cluster?) to connect?

aseibel · February 6, 2020

9 minutes ago, nolte said:

I've got an ATT phone. So you're saying that my truck is using the onstar antennae (which is not located in this sharkfin cluster?) to connect?

The sharkfin is the onstar antenna.

nolte · February 6, 2020

3 minutes ago, aseibel said:

The sharkfin is the onstar antenna.

OK that was my understanding. My assumption was that it was just doing a better job of reception than my cellphone. It's an undeniable improvement.

Thanks for the info!

Didnt mean to derail sorry.

Edited February 6, 2020 by nolte

snork · February 6, 2020

53 minutes ago, nolte said:

OK that was my understanding. My assumption was that it was just doing a better job of reception than my cellphone. It's an undeniable improvement.

Thanks for the info!

Didnt mean to derail sorry.

Edited February 6, 2020 by snork

snork · February 6, 2020

5 hours ago, N52753 said:

New guy here. 2020 Silverado with the Tuscany Badlander edition. Of course with the 6” lift, it won’t fit in the garage by about an inch. That shark fin satellite/nav antenna needs to be gone, or reduced to a puck style. I searched the forum and Google before posting here, but is it possible to remove the fin, or other options? I’m ok with losing some functionality. I’d rather use pandora via my phone, as well as nav, so that I would be able to park in the garage during hail storms, etc. If not, I’ll deal with the risk as I love the truck. But there has to be a way. I may find a reputable radio shop that might be able to fabricate something.

I'd like to know more about your truck build, looks awesome from the front

N52753 · February 6, 2020

5 hours ago, Donstar said:

Wow, you're talking close! I assume that it is your garage door that is restricting access. Are there options to gain an inch or two at the top of your door frame? I don't know your situation but in my case, I'd modify my garage before my truck.

It’s the very top of the header of the garage. To mod the garage would probably cost >$5,000. It’s so close to fitting it’s ridiculous!

N52753 · February 6, 2020

4 hours ago, snork said:

I'd like to know more about your truck build, looks awesome from the front

Thank you! It’s the Tuscany Badlander build. Here’s a pic of what it adds to the truck.

Edited February 6, 2020 by N52753

Dmouton · February 6, 2020

9 hours ago, N52753 said:

New guy here. 2020 Silverado with the Tuscany Badlander edition. Of course with the 6” lift, it won’t fit in the garage by about an inch. That shark fin satellite/nav antenna needs to be gone, or reduced to a puck style. I searched the forum and Google before posting here, but is it possible to remove the fin, or other options? I’m ok with losing some functionality. I’d rather use pandora via my phone, as well as nav, so that I would be able to park in the garage during hail storms, etc. If not, I’ll deal with the risk as I love the truck. But there has to be a way. I may find a reputable radio shop that might be able to fabricate something.

I love that hood.

Edited February 6, 2020 by Dmouton