bad reception recently?

[m***@yahoo.com]

I am in the RTP, NC area. I have an XM Roady XT. Lately (after 2 years
with XM) I've been getting lots of "ANTENNA" displays, audio cut-out, etc.
I don't think it's my antenna but I haven't inspected it closely yet. It
happens on any channel.

Anyone else in RTP area of NC getting bad reception recently? Just
wondering before I start messing around with antenna placement, etc.

Thanks

[carlkeehn]

Post by m***@yahoo.com
I am in the RTP, NC area. I have an XM Roady XT. Lately (after 2 years
with XM) I've been getting lots of "ANTENNA" displays, audio cut-out, etc.
I don't think it's my antenna but I haven't inspected it closely yet. It
happens on any channel.
Anyone else in RTP area of NC getting bad reception recently? Just
wondering before I start messing around with antenna placement, etc.
Thanks
--
Doug Appleyard
To reply, my-name (in e-mail address) is dougappleyard
-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------

Usenet Newsgroup Service

I'm in North Raleigh, with the same issue. Yesterday evening was
particularly severe near my house, with cutouts every few seconds. We live
within a few blocks of a terrestrial repeater so it is possible that the
repeater was acting up. Right now I'm listening to XM on my skyfi 2 and it
seems to be fine. My antenna display is showing 2 bars for satellite and
full bars for the terrestrial repeater.

Carl

[carlkeehn]

Post by m***@yahoo.com

Post by m***@yahoo.com
I am in the RTP, NC area. I have an XM Roady XT. Lately (after 2 years
with XM) I've been getting lots of "ANTENNA" displays, audio cut-out, etc.
I don't think it's my antenna but I haven't inspected it closely yet. It
happens on any channel.
Anyone else in RTP area of NC getting bad reception recently? Just
wondering before I start messing around with antenna placement, etc.
Thanks
--
Doug Appleyard
To reply, my-name (in e-mail address) is dougappleyard
-------------------- http://NewsReader.Com/ --------------------

Usenet Newsgroup Service
I'm in North Raleigh, with the same issue. Yesterday evening was
particularly severe near my house, with cutouts every few seconds. We
live within a few blocks of a terrestrial repeater so it is possible that
the repeater was acting up. Right now I'm listening to XM on my skyfi 2
and it seems to be fine. My antenna display is showing 2 bars for
satellite and full bars for the terrestrial repeater.
Carl

Yesterday everything seemed to be fine with XM reception, no cutouts at all.
Carl

[m***@yahoo.com]

Post by carlkeehn
Yesterday everything seemed to be fine with XM reception, no cutouts at
all. Carl

Thanks for the info. I think I'll give my hardware a look-see. I'm still
getting cutouts and I often have less than 3 bars.

[Mark S.]

If the display is showing the word "ANTENNA" that almost always
indicates a hardware failure. The radio can sense when the LNA built
into the antenna is not drawing the appropriate amount of current and
will display ANTENNA in such case. If there is just a bad signal or
no signal, it won't say antenna, it'd just show you no signal on the
meter. These antennas do have a tendency to go bad after some years.
Usually some water manages to get inside the antenna and rust the
components. Some installs are also poorly done in which the coax is
subjected to repeated stresses crimping the cable like from having a
trunk lid closed on it or a door closed on it.

[m***@yahoo.com]

Post by Mark S.
If the display is showing the word "ANTENNA" that almost always
indicates a hardware failure. The radio can sense when the LNA built
into the antenna is not drawing the appropriate amount of current and
will display ANTENNA in such case. If there is just a bad signal or
no signal, it won't say antenna, it'd just show you no signal on the
meter. These antennas do have a tendency to go bad after some years.
Usually some water manages to get inside the antenna and rust the
components. Some installs are also poorly done in which the coax is
subjected to repeated stresses crimping the cable like from having a
trunk lid closed on it or a door closed on it.

Thanks! I'll investigate the antenna. It is a few years old.

[Joel Koltner]

Post by Mark S.
If the display is showing the word "ANTENNA" that almost always
indicates a hardware failure.

One wonders why, with a full color dot-matrix display, the error messages
couldn't be a little more, um, verbose?

Note that certain head units -- such as those from Alpine -- display "ANTENNA"
regardless of whether the satellite tuner just isn't getting any signal
strength or if the antenna is physically disconnected/broken.