I just got XM and I must say I love and hate it at the same time. When in the city, I hate it. It cuts out all the time. When driving in the country with large trees next to the road I hate it. It cuts out all the time. The only time I love it is on the highway. I am really undecided about this whole satellite radio stuff. Anyone else having this same problem or is there something wrong with mine. The little antennae is mounted on the front part of the roof.

 

I feel you man! I have had mine for about 3, maybe 4 months. It worked great until about a month or so ago. I started this thread in the General Discussion forum.

My reception is about the same as yours. Starting to really **** me off. I now know the trouble spots and just hit the CD button until I get through it. The trouble spots/bad reception areas used to not be there.

I pulled the radio/dash control panel out and checked all of the connections (it's that bad sometimes) and everything is connected.

 

I guess it has everything to do with were you live. The only time mine cuts out is when I pull into my garage. With it being Sat., line off site is everything. The only thing that can be done is for the Sat. Co. to increase their sig. or you can move.

 

I was considering XM but I think that I'll go with an MP3 CD player instead, or maybe (in my dreams), one of those digital music keg set ups.

 

Hmmm, poor satellite radio reception or live in LA...

 

I used to install these things professionally, and RARELY did I come across poor reception. Granted we don't have those big city skyscrapers here but tons of bluffs and forests. You shouldn't be having a problem with trees! Are all of you that have trouble have a GOOD ground plane for the roof mount antennas? I don't remember the exact measurements, but I believe it was at least 6 inches of metal on ALL sides of the antenna body. And those with the Delphi and Sony units, have you tried experimenting with the built in signal strength meters?

 

I live in MT. Big Skys and no real tall buildings to speak of. The reception even cuts out when I go by huge trees next to the road.

 

I'll have to check the antenna. Mine sits on top of the cab, right in front of the rear brake light. Are you saying that if I move it forward and have a 6" radius of metal around the base of the antenna that I should get better reception? If I remember correctly, there was no separate ground wire. Does the antenna ground itself to the cab via the magnet that attaches it?

 

Thats LA as in Louisiana not LA, CA.

 

Because of line of site, it's all in how strong the sig. is. My nav. system as never skipped a beat, no matter where I am, even in the garage.

 

Oh. I was raised in Gulfport, Mississippi, we're practically neighbors!

Doesn't get much flatter than MS or LA! No wonder the reception is good.

 

Yep, the Hwy overpasses are the biggest hills around here.

 

In the day... Antennas had two wires, they were both coaxial. One of the wires pickup up the signal for the terran based transmitters and the other was for the satellite. Power is also on these wires, but I am not a RF guy, the signal was strongest with a "reference" which is your metal roof, trunk lid etc., but all I know was we'd have semi drivers put these antennas on their rigs and have trouble - some worked ok too, but the trucks are fiberglass - XM and serius told us NEVER to install roof mount antennas on semis because they didn't have a metal ground plane. same story with corvettes! We would have to use the "donkey ****" antennas for the semis' on their mirrors, and the glass mounts on vettes if they weren't convertibles, otherwise we would take a sheet of the Dynamat Extreme(metal foil over rubber) kind and stick it under the antenna.

The best place for the roof mount antenna's for IDEAL reception is at least 6inches(roughly) on ALL sides.

And there's always those people who "do it wrong" and get really lucky.

And also follow the car stereo rules for running your antenna cables. Keep em away from high current wiring. Heater, ignition, accessory, lights... Coiling the wires can cause trouble too - but that would be the last thing I'd worry about.

 

one more thing. These XM units are supposed to have a buffer (pioneer for sure) (similar to anti-skip in cd players) So the signal would have to be missing for several seconds to loose it. That's why I would never expect a tree to stop the audio. I suspect theres something more to your troubles.

 

Makes sense to me. Good info.