xm reception

[devanator]

Just wondering if anybody is having this issue also. I have a roady xt on a cyclegadget mount.I love the set up and compactiness, but the reception with the antenna on the back plate is terrible. 1 bar or no reception at all. maybe in certain settings i can have better but will come and go quite often. When I put the antenna on my dash it is much better, will be at 2-3 bars consistently. It's not a huge deal if the antenna sites on the dash but kind of defeats the purpose of having the antenna mount if the reception is so bad.

The antenna does sit a little lower than the reciever on the back side of it, I was thinking that might have a little to do with it still the reception isn't quite what I was thinking it would be for being in an open setting. Just was wondering if anybody was having the same issue.

Mike

 

[twowheelnut]

Just wondering if anybody is having this issue also. I have a roady xt on a cyclegadget mount.I love the set up and compactiness, but the reception with the antenna on the back plate is terrible. 1 bar or no reception at all. maybe in certain settings i can have better but will come and go quite often. When I put the antenna on my dash it is much better, will be at 2-3 bars consistently. It's not a huge deal if the antenna sites on the dash but kind of defeats the purpose of having the antenna mount if the reception is so bad.
The antenna does sit a little lower than the reciever on the back side of it, I was thinking that might have a little to do with it still the reception isn't quite what I was thinking it would be for being in an open setting. Just was wondering if anybody was having the same issue.

Mike

RTFM. My Sirius units all say to keep the antenna min. 12" away from anything... Now, having said that, my new Accord came with XM and reception is killer. Even works under bridges where my Sirius does not...

 

[Groo]

Which Cyclegadget mount is it? The one that sits over the clutch or brake reservoir covers, with the little shelf for the magnet to cling to? I've got that one and get great reception... only lose it in REALLY wooded areas, or next to mountain cliffs and such. How tall are you? Maybe you're blocking the sun/signal?

 

[TheAxeman]

My Sirius units all say to keep the antenna min. 12" away from anything... Now, having said that, my new Accord came with XM and reception is killer. Even works under bridges where my Sirius does not...


So this would account for the poorer reception on the bike than in my truck. I ran the Sirius antenna to the back of the bike and have it mounted on the tail rack. I took a wafer thin 3/4" magnet and stuck it on the rack and the antenna attaches to that. When I am carrying gear I have a magnet sewed into the top of the tail bag. Great spot for it as far as it being out of the way but occasionally I will lose reception. I was attributing it to the fact that there is still about 147' of antenna cable coiled up under the seat. 12" hmmmmm.....might have to rethink this. No I don't want to put it on top of the clutch reservoir....

 

[HIGHLANDER]

The antenna does sit a little lower than the reciever on the back side of it, I was thinking that might have a little to do with it still the reception isn't quite what I was thinking it would be for being in an open setting. Just was wondering if anybody was having the same issue.
Mike

My XM mount is the front of the gas tank.. no problems with it being in a low location. Some guys have it under the rear tail / seat area with no problem either :dntknw:

 

[Charlie Hoss]

Just wondering if anybody is having this issue also. I have a roady xt on a cyclegadget mount.I love the set up and compactiness, but the reception with the antenna on the back plate is terrible. 1 bar or no reception at all. maybe in certain settings i can have better but will come and go quite often. When I put the antenna on my dash it is much better, will be at 2-3 bars consistently. It's not a huge deal if the antenna sites on the dash but kind of defeats the purpose of having the antenna mount if the reception is so bad.
The antenna does sit a little lower than the reciever on the back side of it, I was thinking that might have a little to do with it still the reception isn't quite what I was thinking it would be for being in an open setting. Just was wondering if anybody was having the same issue.

Mike

I have the Roady2 mounted on a Hoon Roadyholder bracket on the clutch master cylinder. I get generally good reception except, like GROO said, when riding near real tall woods, big hills, or city buildings. I noticed that when in Tennessee for the EOM last year the reception was much better than here in Maine. Must be due to the higher angle of the satellite the further south you are.

Charlie

 

[devanator]

Which Cyclegadget mount is it? The one that sits over the clutch or brake reservoir covers, with the little shelf for the magnet to cling to? I've got that one and get great reception... only lose it in REALLY wooded areas, or next to mountain cliffs and such. How tall are you? Maybe you're blocking the sun/signal?

Its on the clutch reservoir. I appreciate the feedback. I'll just fiddle with it and see if I can make it work on the little shelf better than it is. I have xm capabilities with my new MAP 478 GPS unit that I may use instead of the roady but i like just having the small reciever and being able to take that with me in my other vehicles. I'd like to keep my gps on the bike for summer being that I will use it for that almost exclusively.

Thanks for the input

 

[OhioFJR1300]

Just was wondering if anybody was having the same issue.Mike

Mike,

you didn't say what part of the country you are in,but I can tell you that it does make a difference. I live in Ohio, and had an XM set up on my Goldwing. It worked well if I was driving north, but if I was going south, it was terrible. moving the antenna did help, but it was never as good as I thought it could be. The antenna needs a large metal surface to work well ( like a car roof). On a bike you do not have that , so its always going to be less than perfect. It also has to do with the location of the transmitting Sats. XM Sats are in a high orbit and what happens is your body blocks the signal at times. Sirius Sats are in a different orbit so the angle of the signal is different and at least for me in Ohio, Sirius works much better on a bike. Now in a car, both XM and Sirius work well. I solved my problem by changing from XM to Sirius. You could look into an aftermarket antenna, that may help your signal.

 

[HIGHLANDER]

, it was terrible. moving the antenna did help, but it was never as good as I thought it could be. The antenna needs a large metal surface to work well ( like a car roof).

Which is why I run my mag on the fuel tank !

 

[devanator]

Just was wondering if anybody was having the same issue.

Mike

Mike,

you didn't say what part of the country you are in,but I can tell you that it does make a difference.

I live in Alexandria MN. Yes that will make a difference. I've had xm in my car with roof mounted antenna and the reception was good. But not so on bike.

 

[DN325Ci]

...It worked well if I was driving north, but if I was going south, it was terrible...

This makes sense, as the satellites are in the southern sky. Therefore your body would be blocking the antenna to some extent if you're travelling south. You also get the same effect if you drive by on the north side of a tall building.

Don

 

[HIGHLANDER]

Looks like some of us may be picking up direct feed from the sat's , others from repeater stations....

FROM WIKIPEDIA...

XM provides digital programming directly from three high-powered satellites in geostationary orbit above the equator. XM-1 ("Roll") and XM-2 ("Rock") are co-located at 115° west longitude and XM-3 ("Rhythm") is located 85° west longitude in addition to a network of ground-based repeaters. The combination of three satellites and a ground-based repeater network is designed to provide gap-free coverage anywhere within the continental U.S., the southern tip of Alaska, and the southern provinces of Canada. The signal can also be received in the Caribbean Islands and most of Mexico, however XM is not yet licensed for reception by paid subscribers living in these areas.

Unfortunately, XM-1 and XM-2 are suffering from a generic design fault on the Boeing 702 series of satellites (fogging of the solar panels), which means that their lifetimes will be shortened to approximately six years (instead of the design goal of 15 years). To compensate for this flaw, XM-3 was launched on February 28, 2005 and moved into XM-1's previous location of 85° WL. XM-1 was then moved to be co-located with XM-2, where each satellite operates only one transponder (thus broadcasting half the bandwidth each) to conserve energy and cut the power consumption in half. XM has current plans to launch XM-4 ("Blues") as early as September 2006 into the 85° WL location to complete their satellite replacement program. Provided the launch and handover of the satellite are successful, XM-1 will then be powered down and drifted back to nearby its original location at 85° WL, where it will remain as a backup to XM-3. While XM-2 will be powered down as well and remain as a backup to XM-4.

XM Satellite Radio headquarters in Washington, D.C., near the New York Avenue metro station.In American and Canadian metropolitan areas, XM and its Canadian Licensee known as Canadian Satellite Radio (CSR), own and operate a network of approximately 900 terrestrial repeater stations, meant to compensate for satellite signal blockage by buildings, tunnels, and bridges. In the United States XM owns and operates approximately 800 repeater sites covering 60 markets; in Canada CSR is installing approximately 80 to 100 repeaters that will be owned and operated by CSR in the 16 largest Canadian cities. The actual number of repeater sites varies as the signal is regularly tested and monitored for optimal performance. The actual number of sites in the United States has dropped from the original 1,000 installed when the service first launched in 2001. The repeaters transmit in the same frequency band as the satellites. A typical city contains 20 or more terrestrial stations. Typically the receiver owner is unaware when a terrestrial station is being used, unless he or she checks antenna information from the receiver being used.

 

[PapaUtah]

XM is isgnificantly more dependent on repeaters than Sirius. XM is in fact the largest terrestrial broadcaster in the US. XM's birds are geostationary over the equator. Hence the susceptability to trees, buildings and other bodies to interfere with the signal. To compensate they have installed over 900 repeaters and are adding more!

Sirius uses Loral birds in a unique orbit. Two birds are overhead at all times. Pull out a map and draw a figure eight with a small top and a large bottom right over the center of the US. They peak over central Canada through Minnesota in the north and enter and exit the country in the south though Arizona and the panhandle of Florida. The Sirius birds are overhead while the XM birds are at the same declination that your Dish or DirecTV birds are at.

In downtown Mpls we get Sirius reception off the birds INSIDE our building. XM is quiet. Even driving around up here most of the XM reception is repeater based. Better in the winter when the leaves are off the trees. I bought an S50 and a Roady and tried them both out. Up here in the northland the Sirius reception was far better hands down.

Besides, I like the NHL, the NFL, NASCAR, etc. And after this year all XM will have is Oprah! Oprah! is not real high an my list.

 

[OhioFJR1300]

I found a web page that shows the orbits of the Xm and Sirius Sats. Check out this link

Clicky here

scroll down the page a little bit and you can see a screen shot of the orbit paths of both providers. This is not an issue with installs in cars, but it seems to be an issue when these receivers are mounted on a bike. Just another reason to do some homework before deciding on which service to buy into.