Gobi Rack XM Radio Signal - Possible Problem

[bigbillyt]

I had my Gobi Rack professionally installed and ever since my XM Radio signal has been weak. Just lately it has become significantly weaker. I am not sure if they loosened a wire for the antenna or what. Has anybody else experienced any issues with XM radio signal from their Gobi rack?

I am not too concerned since my XM subscription will be up soon and I am not likely to renew with their crooked billing practices. But I am just curious in case, or for future use.

 

[K O]

There's no compatibility issue, however having installed my Gobi rack myself, I can tell you it's pretty easy to smack the hell out of the XM antenna while installing the rack. My bet would be that they damaged it.

 

[bigbillyt]

Thanks, this is what I suspected

Since I read a lot of threads regarding the Gobi Stealth rack and hadn't read anything like this, I assumed they either loosened the wiring or whacked and damaged the antenna. It's cool, I am pretty much switching to a paid Pandora or Spotify subscription to replace XM anyway since I abhor their business practices. But, at least now I know what to troubleshoot if I ever want to get that functionality back. Heck, I could pretty much just listen to either the Frank Zappa or Miles Davis radio channels on the free version of Pandora most of the time and be pretty happy.

 

[jonhackley]

Gobi Rack

A little of the subject,, who installed your Gobi rack? I also reside in Central Florida and I am looking for a shop to install a Gobi. Thanks for any info..

 

[bruindave]

A little of the subject,, who installed your Gobi rack? I also reside in Central Florida and I am looking for a shop to install a Gobi. Thanks for any info..

No offense Jon... but if the OP is stating that they screwed up by breaking his XM antenna... would you want to use the same shop? Maybe the OP can provide a list of shops that he was checking out other than this one.

 

[tamerunner]

No offense guys but two monkeys drinking beer could install the rack.

 

[bigbillyt]

I am sure installation is easy enough

However, I did not have a good way to get the rack situated up there very easily and I didn't want to risk scratching up the top of my 4Runner. I took it to Cap World on East Colonial Drive. I had them install a topper on a previous Tacoma years ago and that was a very good experience. I think they did a great job on the install and I am sure, if I cared enough to take it back, they would fix the XM radio antenna issue no problem. I did have to talk them into it a bit since they mainly just want to install parts that you purchase through them.

It doesn't matter about the antenna anyway because I really do hate Sirius/XM a lot. Also, since then I went ahead and paid for a Pandora subscription. Between that, the 32gb card in my Samsung Note 2 phone, and a 32gb stick full of music occupying the USB port in the glove box I will never pay for Sirius/XM again. Maybe one day if I ever thought about trading it in I might get it fixed for any future owners, but that will be a very long time from now.

 

[Ryan1975]

However, I did not have a good way to get the rack situated up there very easily and I didn't want to risk scratching up the top of my 4Runner. I took it to Cap World on East Colonial Drive. I had them install a topper on a previous Tacoma years ago and that was a very good experience. I think they did a great job on the install and I am sure, if I cared enough to take it back, they would fix the XM radio antenna issue no problem. I did have to talk them into it a bit since they mainly just want to install parts that you purchase through them.

It doesn't matter about the antenna anyway because I really do hate Sirius/XM a lot. Also, since then I went ahead and paid for a Pandora subscription. Between that, the 32gb card in my Samsung Note 2 phone, and a 32gb stick full of music occupying the USB port in the glove box I will never pay for Sirius/XM again. Maybe one day if I ever thought about trading it in I might get it fixed for any future owners, but that will be a very long time from now.

I'm just renewing for two months at a time using fake email addresses. lol

 

[BigredTEX]

For me, satellite reception sucks in general. On a trip to Ouray last year I moved my rear cross bar all the way back, just marginally covering the antenna and had lousy reception all the way across New Mexico and southern Colorado. When I got back to town the reception was still bad. I moved the cross bar forward a couple of inches and it improved significantly, but it still sucks outside of major metropolitan areas. Sirius/XM has repeaters in most big cities (I know because I installed most of them), but when relying on just pure satellite reception, any line-of-site interference will cause signal drops.

 

[classic72]

I just installed my Gobi over the weekend. Signal is fine... just a good as before. I second the fact they definitely could have whacked it though.

That said... you do need some help lifting it up there (especially on a lifted truck like mine). If you don't have an extra hand I could see why he had someone else do it. I read a post somewhere on here where someone did it all alone... they must be hulk! :bigok:

Totally easy install with lift assistance though.

**UPDATE** .... didn't look at the dates on this... looks like it had been resurrected!

 

[bigbillyt]

Exactly, but I am a lone monkey drinking beer. I don't have time to hang out with friends as it is, much less putting them to work. The Cap World folks were the only ones I could find who would tackle it in my area.