XM Reception Getting Worse
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 139
Likes: 0
From: Charlotte North Carolina
XM Reception Getting Worse
I have a Kenwood Dnx-9140 Installed in my 07 C6. The XM antenna is installed on top of the air conditioning vents as where most of them are installed. On a trip today and noticed XM is cutting in and out every minute or so. Thought it may be trees affecting the reception but it is almost as bad in the wide open spaces, no trees, buildings, etc. The longest it went was about 8 minutes before it began losing signal again. Had thought about mounting the XM antenna on a post card size piece of sheetmetal and velcroing it to the carpet in the rear hatch so it may get a better signal. Anyone have any other recommendations? THANKS Mike
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 240
Likes: 191
From: Archbald Pa.
Is your car a coupe or convertible? I just installed a sirius starmate 5 in my C5. I mounted the antenna on top of the hatch glass next to the halo. It's barely noticable and blends with the dark tint on top of the hatch glass. I also intalled an FM direct adapter which prevents signal fade and interference. The sound is digital quality.
Tech Contributor
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 7,035
Likes: 134
From: North Augusta, SC
My sirius signal is usually pretty good, but every so often it won't pick up squat. It always seems to be better the next day, so I figured it has something to do with the way the satellites are in constant motion. That's why I also have 4000 songs loaded on my ipod 
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 155
Likes: 0
From: Mesa AZ
I have a Kenwood Dnx-9140 Installed in my 07 C6. The XM antenna is installed on top of the air conditioning vents as where most of them are installed. On a trip today and noticed XM is cutting in and out every minute or so. Thought it may be trees affecting the reception but it is almost as bad in the wide open spaces, no trees, buildings, etc. The longest it went was about 8 minutes before it began losing signal again. Had thought about mounting the XM antenna on a post card size piece of sheetmetal and velcroing it to the carpet in the rear hatch so it may get a better signal. Anyone have any other recommendations? THANKS Mike
Go Fast
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 1,691
Likes: 92
From: Colorado Springs CO
Although XM is a satellite system, it uses local cell towers to pass the signal from location to location as you are on the move. Do you have the issue of weakening signal in areas that previously were strong? If no, I bet it is more related to cell coverage than antenna placement.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 139
Likes: 0
From: Charlotte North Carolina
Fixed Poor XM Reception
So I finally got fed up with the XM reception cutting out all the time. I have a Kenwood DNX9140 with the XM tuner. The XM antenna was mounted on top of one of the air conditioning vents in the dash.
Bought another XM antenna off E-Bay and mounted it at the top of the rear hatch glass in the dark band of the glass. Works perfectly!!! Drove from Charlotte to Memphis and back and only lost the signal when i went through a tunnel. The antenna is hardly noticeable. If anyone else is suffering from poor satellite reception, you may want to give this a try.
Bought another XM antenna off E-Bay and mounted it at the top of the rear hatch glass in the dark band of the glass. Works perfectly!!! Drove from Charlotte to Memphis and back and only lost the signal when i went through a tunnel. The antenna is hardly noticeable. If anyone else is suffering from poor satellite reception, you may want to give this a try.
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