What's with the XM reception???

[greenhummer]

So I am new to XM but wanted to check that it is *just* not my car...

When driving through wooded areas or even driving out in the open but with clouds, the XM reception is not good. It will continually cut out during the "wooded area" drives and occasionally cuts out when the day is pretty cloudy.

Is this normal? If so, is there a better antenna that can be had? I know that in the 2.4 GHz band that a good antenna can make a difference of 2 dB or so. Don't know the characteristics of XM.

thanks,

Greenhummer '05 H2 Lux/'00 BMW M5

[greenhummer]

So I am new to XM but wanted to check that it is *just* not my car...

When driving through wooded areas or even driving out in the open but with clouds, the XM reception is not good. It will continually cut out during the "wooded area" drives and occasionally cuts out when the day is pretty cloudy.

Is this normal? If so, is there a better antenna that can be had? I know that in the 2.4 GHz band that a good antenna can make a difference of 2 dB or so. Don't know the characteristics of XM.

thanks,

Greenhummer '05 H2 Lux/'00 BMW M5

[LasVegas]

Clouds should have nothing to do with it. Trees yes as they can block the signal. I have the Xmicro antenna (size of a quarter) sitting on my dash and get great reception. Sounds like you have a problem.

[greenhummer]

hi LasVegas,

Is the Xmicro antenna the factory default?

thanks,

Greenhummer

[VTSTOMPER]

yeah XM is not what it is cracked up to be in Vermont either.

[DRTYFN]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by greenhummer:
So I am new to XM but wanted to check that it is *just* not my car...

When driving through wooded areas or even driving out in the open but with clouds, the XM reception is not good. It will continually cut out during the "wooded area" drives and occasionally cuts out when the day is pretty cloudy.

Is this normal? If so, is there a better antenna that can be had? I know that in the 2.4 GHz band that a good antenna can make a difference of 2 dB or so. Don't know the characteristics of XM.

thanks,

Greenhummer '05 H2 Lux/'00 BMW M5 </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Maybe it's because you need to deflate your blow-up sheep so the antenna has an unobstructed view of the sky.

[greenhummer]

sorry Drtyfn we cannot compare models of blow-up sheep. wifey did not allow me to get that option... :-)

Where is the antenna anyways?? Maybe my radar detector is blocking it's reception.

Greenhummer

[LasVegas]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by greenhummer:
hi LasVegas,

Is the Xmicro antenna the factory default?

thanks,

Greenhummer </div></BLOCKQUOTE>No, it's not the factory antenna. The factory antenna is located on your roof. Here's the XMicro

[hyperion78]

if it's been crummy the past couple of days this might be the problem....stupid sun ****in everything up

http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/eit_171/

[greenhummer]

Cool. Thanks guys. I may investigate getting a better antenna replacement for the roof. Perhaps GM scrimped a bit and got a lousy antenna for the roof. I'll let you know what I find.

Las Vegas - nice antenna. Was XM an add-on for you?

Greenhummer