XM Radio

[BlueMoto]

I have been using an XM Delphi MyFi radio in my car and home for several months. I decided to buy a mount and cradle for my FJR. I bought an antenna with a 12" lead. The first one wouldn't get a signal on my bike. I tried both my old antenna and both cradles and decided the short cord antenna was not getting a steady signal. It was replaced by the vendor even thought they said it checked OK. The new one gets some signal but not very good. I rode south of Austin yesterday and the signal would come and go. This was on a open road, no trees or anything to block signal. A friend with me did not have this problem on his XM. He uses a long lead standard antenna on his tank bag. I have a mount on the handlebars. I put the short antenna and bike cradle in my car this morning and drove around hill and valleys with out a problem. Could the bike be causing a problem?

Any suggestions for testing?

Thanks,

Bob

 

[Groo]

I've got a Roady 2, mounted on top of my clutch cover with a metal bracket sold by Hoon hardware. The multiple miles of antenna are velcroed to the back of the plate. I rarely have any signal dropout.... except in my garage.

 

[zzkenoman]

I have a Roady also, first I had my antenna mounted in my tankbag which worked fairly well, then I moved it to my handlebars and got terrible reception. Now I have in on my luggage rack, and it works fine now.

 

[FJrider1]

My signal only drops in the mountains, you need a metal base to mount the antenna.

I have the SkyFi 2 mounted to my handlebar mirror hole on a ram mount.

When I lose signal just plug in the MP3...

 

[GunMD]

I've got a Roady 2, mounted on top of my clutch cover with a metal bracket sold by Hoon hardware. The multiple miles of antenna are velcroed to the back of the plate. I rarely have any signal dropout.... except in my garage.

I have the same setup...I've only lost signal a couple of times and each time I was on the North side of some big ass mountain / cliff. I also found that the farther north I travel (Montana was still bearable) the more often I lose a signal for just a split second when I "hide" my self on the north side of some large object (such as big building or dense trees, mountain, etc.)

Having said all of that, I am VERY happy with the signal strength that I get 99.75% of the time. Sometimes it even works in my garage.

 

[Rogue]

I have the Pioneer version of the MyFi mounted on my right bar. I epoxied a small piece of steel to my brake reservoir and shortened the antenna cable.

I only have problems in the mountains and canyons. I just make sure I have music recorded on it and use that when I'm in mountains and canyons.

 

[Bike Effects]

I have the Garmin 2730 with the antenna on top of the tank, UNDER the GPS. So far the reception has been pretty good, with a few breakups as I ride in the hill and trees.

 

[sgoat]

Same setup as Groo (Hoon mnt./long antenna) and have only lost reception when in tunnels.

 

[BlueMoto]

I have the radio mounted on a RAM handlebar mount with antenna mount attached. After posting this morning I took the bike cradle and short antenna and went for a ride in the car without problems. The antenna was on the dash. I went in valleys surrounded with houses and trees with no problem. I have no skips or drops in my car with antenna mounted on roof unless I go into a parking garage and sometimes it still works.

Yesteday we road down a large 4 lane state Hwy with 50' or more grass divider and fields on each side. There was nothing to block a signal.

So the only problem is when the XM and antenna are on the bike.

I worder if the FJR is putting out some sort of EM or FM that causes the problem on the bike? Does the extra length of cable make the antenna signal stronger? I am trying to Call Delphi to see if they can give me a clue.

I tried to post picture but couldn't figure out how.

Thanks for the help/suggestions.

Bob

 

[Grumpy]

Try mounting the antenna solidly to a piece of steel to make sure you have a good ground plane.......I'll bet it makes a difference. Mine is mounted to the brake reservoir like the one GunMD is showing. The only time I have a problem is back in the mountains and underneath heavy tree growth.

jim

 

[Ric in Sac]

Same setup as Groo. No problems with reception whatsoever.

 

[fj2fjr]

I too use the HOON but I cut and spliced my antenna lead down to 6" using a technique I found on XM411 site. Works great!

 

[dobias]

Recently I installed a new Xact Sirius. When I installed the antenna on the dashboard I kept losing the signal.

I relocated the antenna back to the luggage rack with velcro and also wound the excess wire in a figure "8" instead of the oval it was in.

The signal is now very strong & I haven't encountered any drop outs yet.

The velcro allows the antenna to be easily relocated to the trunk top. I haven't had to resort to any steel ground plane.

dobias <_<

 

[bikemonster]

I too use the HOON but I cut and spliced my antenna lead down to 6" using a technique I found on XM411 site. Works great!

The XM411 site? Checked out the XM radio site and could not find information about splicing this small coaxial. Where is the site? Thanks

 

[PapaUtah]

XM satellite reception is generally VERY good in the lower tiers of states. In the northern U.S., Rock and Roll are pretty low in the sky and thats where XM's 800 terrestrial repeaters take over(XM is technically the largest terrestrial radio provider.) I don't think it would be the bike unless you are in a northern tier area with line of sight blocked by trees/hills/etc. and you are in an area remote enough that the repeater can't cover the dead zone. (Repeaters operate much like cell towers for cell phone networks.)

Sirius has 3 birds orbiting over the U.S. with 2 directly overhead at any time. they get by with far fewer repeaters. XM is building 300 repeaters for their foray into Canada, Sirius is there already with fewer than 30. Perhaps if they would merge we would have nirvana for reception.

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