Sirius / XM Antenna - Interference & Stealth SAT + 2m Antenna - 5th Gen Material

[Ryan1975]

Hi Guys (and probably one or two gals) -

Lately it seems like my Satellite Radio Reception has been complete crap. Yesterday it was really bad so I chalked it up to my antenna being bad. Last night I lost Direct TV during the football game so after checking space weather I realized there was a pretty big sunspot a day ago so, I'm wondering if that was the culperate for both service interuptions?

Not discounting the sharkfin being bad though, I've been having spotty coverage for awhile. If that is the case, what are the odds of getting the sharkfin replaced under an extended warranty?

Lastly, I thought I'd share this 2M antenna with everyone:

Disguised undercover covert license plate antenna,fender,cowel,bumper antennas

No real point to sharing it other than that I could.

Hope all is well.

 

[deejayshag]

I've been seeing worse and worse reception as welll, of late

Hi Guys (and probably one or two gals) -

Lately it seems like my Satellite Radio Reception has been complete crap. Yesterday it was really bad so I chalked it up to my antenna being bad. Last night I lost Direct TV during the football game so after checking space weather I realized there was a pretty big sunspot a day ago so, I'm wondering if that was the culperate for both service interuptions?

Not discounting the sharkfin being bad though, I've been having spotty coverage for awhile. If that is the case, what are the odds of getting the sharkfin replaced under an extended warranty?

Lastly, I thought I'd share this 2M antenna with everyone:

Disguised undercover covert license plate antenna,fender,cowel,bumper antennas

No real point to sharing it other than that I could.

Hope all is well.

Over the past few months, my xm reception has also been getting worse and worse. Large bridges have always caused dropouts, but within the last year or so, I started getting dropouts when traveling on roads with lots of trees south of the road- no canopy over the road, mind you, just oak/cedar trees within 30-50 feet of the road was enough to cause problems.

Within the past month or two it's gotten to the point where I will be on open stretches of road with no tree cover, and no trees/buildings/whatever within 50 yards of the road and will see the signal dropout-- since I think you know the area (Cedar Park/Round Rock), 1 specific area I see this problem, consistently is on 1431, near the HEB/Home Depot at Parmer Lane. Driving on that nice, wide section of road, XM will completely drop out for a minute or more, before it comes back to me.
[MENTION=62425]Ryan1975[/MENTION] Are you still having reception problems with XM, or did you manage to get things worked out?

My wife's Kia has Sirius, and she hasn't seen any of the dropouts I've been seeing with XM, but I don't know of anyone else with XM in the area to see if they see the same problems in the same areas I do, so I have no idea if this is an XM satellite/repeater problem (in which case, there's not much I can do), or if there's something wrong with the factory antenna/radio in my 4R.

Any one else seeing similar behavior, that's getting progressively worse, or is it just me?

 

[Ryan1975]

Over the past few months, my xm reception has also been getting worse and worse. Large bridges have always caused dropouts, but within the last year or so, I started getting dropouts when traveling on roads with lots of trees south of the road- no canopy over the road, mind you, just oak/cedar trees within 30-50 feet of the road was enough to cause problems.

Within the past month or two it's gotten to the point where I will be on open stretches of road with no tree cover, and no trees/buildings/whatever within 50 yards of the road and will see the signal dropout-- since I think you know the area (Cedar Park/Round Rock), 1 specific area I see this problem, consistently is on 1431, near the HEB/Home Depot at Parmer Lane. Driving on that nice, wide section of road, XM will completely drop out for a minute or more, before it comes back to me.

[MENTION=62425]Ryan1975[/MENTION] Are you still having reception problems with XM, or did you manage to get things worked out?

My wife's Kia has Sirius, and she hasn't seen any of the dropouts I've been seeing with XM, but I don't know of anyone else with XM in the area to see if they see the same problems in the same areas I do, so I have no idea if this is an XM satellite/repeater problem (in which case, there's not much I can do), or if there's something wrong with the factory antenna/radio in my 4R.

Any one else seeing similar behavior, that's getting progressively worse, or is it just me?

It's getting much worse. Odd...my reception is horrible around HEB in Copperas Cove. Is this a frequency interference issue with HEB?

I'm almost to the point of ordering the disguised ham radio / integrated XM fin to see if that solves the problem. I don't think my extended warranty would cover a bad shark fin from the factory.

 

[deejayshag]

My reception has also continued to deteriorate significantly. It's gotten to the point where I won't even bother trying XM at all, unless I know I'm going to be in the car a while. Short trips to school with the kids, etcetera are simply unbearable.

I've heard that satellite reception is significantly better without without the sharkfin cover in place, so I am planning on testing that theory out by pulling the sharkfin cover off and driving around a bit to see how much, if any, difference that makes.

I just need to find a time where my work schedule and weather will cooperate enough for me to do it, since having the sharkfin off means weather can come in, and that would be bad.