XM Radio - poor reception

[Victek]

Friends,

I have an in-dash XM ready CD player and a separate XM tuner (not
remembering the brand at the moment). I got my wife an external XM radio to
connect to her car radio as she didn't want to replace what was already
there. Her "Roady" is hard wired - she's not using a tape-player adapter or
rebroadcasting over FM. The upshot is the reception on her unit is far more
immune to dropouts then mine. For instance, I cannot get reception when I
drive into the garage, while her radio plays without interruption. My
reception is also interrupted whenever I drive under a freeway overpass,
etc. I wonder if I have a defective tuner? Do in-dash XM tuners generally
perform as well as the standalone XM radios?

[JEC]

Post by Victek
Friends,
I have an in-dash XM ready CD player and a separate XM tuner (not
remembering the brand at the moment). I got my wife an external XM radio
to connect to her car radio as she didn't want to replace what was already
there. Her "Roady" is hard wired - she's not using a tape-player adapter
or rebroadcasting over FM. The upshot is the reception on her unit is far
more immune to dropouts then mine. For instance, I cannot get reception
when I drive into the garage, while her radio plays without interruption.
My reception is also interrupted whenever I drive under a freeway
overpass, etc. I wonder if I have a defective tuner? Do in-dash XM
tuners generally perform as well as the standalone XM radios?

I cannot speak to the XM products but I had a Sirius receiver that went bad
and exhibited the problems you are describing.

[Bob's Backfire Burrito]

Post by Victek
Friends,
I have an in-dash XM ready CD player and a separate XM tuner (not
remembering the brand at the moment). I got my wife an external XM radio
to connect to her car radio as she didn't want to replace what was already
there. Her "Roady" is hard wired - she's not using a tape-player adapter
or rebroadcasting over FM. The upshot is the reception on her unit is far
more immune to dropouts then mine. For instance, I cannot get reception
when I drive into the garage, while her radio plays without interruption.
My reception is also interrupted whenever I drive under a freeway
overpass, etc. I wonder if I have a defective tuner? Do in-dash XM
tuners generally perform as well as the standalone XM radios?

I would think thats an antenna problem. Put the radio in the diagnostic mode
and look at the signal levels.
I would think it's seeing sat only and no local repeaters.You can sub a
spare antenna and see if that corrects the
problem.

[Victek]

Post by Bob's Backfire Burrito

Post by Victek
I have an in-dash XM ready CD player and a separate XM tuner (not
remembering the brand at the moment). I got my wife an external XM radio
to connect to her car radio as she didn't want to replace what was
already there. Her "Roady" is hard wired - she's not using a tape-player
adapter or rebroadcasting over FM. The upshot is the reception on her
unit is far more immune to dropouts then mine. For instance, I cannot
get reception when I drive into the garage, while her radio plays without
interruption. My reception is also interrupted whenever I drive under a
freeway overpass, etc. I wonder if I have a defective tuner? Do in-dash
XM tuners generally perform as well as the standalone XM radios?

I would think thats an antenna problem. Put the radio in the diagnostic
mode and look at the signal levels.
I would think it's seeing sat only and no local repeaters.You can sub a
spare antenna and see if that corrects the
problem.

Thanks for the reply. How do you "sub a spare antenna"?

[Bob's Backfire Burrito]

Post by Victek

Post by Bob's Backfire Burrito

Post by Victek
I have an in-dash XM ready CD player and a separate XM tuner (not
remembering the brand at the moment). I got my wife an external XM
radio to connect to her car radio as she didn't want to replace what was
already there. Her "Roady" is hard wired - she's not using a
tape-player adapter or rebroadcasting over FM. The upshot is the
reception on her unit is far more immune to dropouts then mine. For
instance, I cannot get reception when I drive into the garage, while her
radio plays without interruption. My reception is also interrupted
whenever I drive under a freeway overpass, etc. I wonder if I have a
defective tuner? Do in-dash XM tuners generally perform as well as the
standalone XM radios?

I would think thats an antenna problem. Put the radio in the diagnostic
mode and look at the signal levels.
I would think it's seeing sat only and no local repeaters.You can sub a
spare antenna and see if that corrects the
problem.

Thanks for the reply. How do you "sub a spare antenna"?

Without removing the factory antenna or the one currently in use, carefully
disconnect it from the existing receiver and connect a spare one to that
port.
Place that antenna on top of the car and compare readings on the same
receiver. If vastly differant, you have found the problem.
There is a Pre-Amp inside the base of these antennas, sometimes they do
fail....

[Victek]

Post by Bob's Backfire Burrito

Post by Victek

Post by Bob's Backfire Burrito

Post by Victek
I have an in-dash XM ready CD player and a separate XM tuner (not
remembering the brand at the moment). I got my wife an external XM
radio to connect to her car radio as she didn't want to replace what
was already there. Her "Roady" is hard wired - she's not using a
tape-player adapter or rebroadcasting over FM. The upshot is the
reception on her unit is far more immune to dropouts then mine. For
instance, I cannot get reception when I drive into the garage, while
her radio plays without interruption. My reception is also interrupted
whenever I drive under a freeway overpass, etc. I wonder if I have a
defective tuner? Do in-dash XM tuners generally perform as well as the
standalone XM radios?

I would think thats an antenna problem. Put the radio in the diagnostic
mode and look at the signal levels.
I would think it's seeing sat only and no local repeaters.You can sub a
spare antenna and see if that corrects the
problem.

Thanks for the reply. How do you "sub a spare antenna"?

Without removing the factory antenna or the one currently in use,
carefully disconnect it from the existing receiver and connect a spare one
to that port.
Place that antenna on top of the car and compare readings on the same
receiver. If vastly differant, you have found the problem.
There is a Pre-Amp inside the base of these antennas, sometimes they do
fail....

Thanks, that's clear now.