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[1jeep]

yesterday i activated my XM that came on the bike and noticed in the first 15 minutes how poor the reception was. I currently have Sirius in my car and truck and had a portable on my previous street glide and never have seen this lack of good reception.
Has anyone else noticed this? was it the placement of the antena's being inside the fairing? on my glide two way tapped the antena to the windshield bag so it was exposed.

[Georgehjr]

I had to move my antenna out side the fairing

[1jeep]

ill give that a try, i suspected it might be due to its placement in the fairing.

Where did you put it?

[igofar]

Sirius is a much stronger signal.
Not sure why that is but I was told the Sirius "birds" fly further north than the XM variety

Brad

[rheiner]

I'm in Utah and have never had a problem getting excellent XM reception on my SECU4 with no antenna mods.

Randall

[captain_jeb]

I had sirius (sportster model) on my 05 Ultra and never had a problem with it's reception. Also have it in my truck with no problems. The 07 SE Ultra had the XM so I had it activated. It had issues with reception so I moved the antenna from its factory location to the top of the radio (where the sirius antenna was on my old motor) and it has improved reception although it still has issues at times. Not sure yet but it seems to usually have issues traveling east or west. Will track that further for reference.
Maybe Sirius will correct whatever is wrong at least I hope so. Already added the Zumo because of user issues the the moco gps and I don't really want another piece hanging on the handlebars.

[Georgehjr]

Here is a photo

[aushog]

Recption on my 08 is good 99% of the time, with no mods.  Not as good as the XM in my truck which is 100%.

[woode]

I have XM on my CUSE4, and I also have the XM antenna for my Zumo 550.  The Zumo XM antenna is on the outside of the fairing, attached to the Zumo mount.  I have found the reception to be nearly identical on both radios, and in fact, the HD XM loses reception less frequently.

Ed

[1jeep]

Thanks for the info, i am going to try moving the antena to the outside of the fairing like george did.
I have sirius in my truck and also had it on my previous bike with zero issues, i dont doubt the xm signal is weaker, but do believe the antena placement might be the issue.
If this holds true when the free subscription to xm runs out i will be getting another portable sirius unit for the bike, Honestly will be better fo me as i can just add it as a second unit for a redueced rate.

[1abastarsmda]

My reception was poor on the free channels so how could the reception be better after activation? When I called the XM people to activate the free trial offer I got through to a call center in Asia and the person demanded a credit card number and wanted payment for a full year in advance. To which I declined. The free 90 day trial seems to be a hard sell to try and get the consumer to pay for services in advance. They really want the cash.     

When I activated my free trial, I was given the option of settiing up for monthly payments to start after the trial or to wait and see if I liked it before setting up the regular plan.  I told them I would like to wait to see if I like it or not, and they didn't even ask me for a credit card number.  I was shocked and asked...you don't want a credit card number?  He told me that they will contact me days before my trial runs out to set up an account or I can call them if I decide before that.  I talked to someone here in the US.

As far as reception goes, I lose the signal intermittently when I'm riding on country roads and there are hillsides on the sides of the roads.  As soon as I get past the hills, my reception is back.  I think my FM radio comes in stronger, or at least a bit louder than the XM, and neither compare with listening to CD's though.

[greglyon]

On my Road Glide I put the xm antenna between the fairing and windscreen.  Works perfect and is sheltered from the elements

[1abastarsmda]

On my Road Glide I put the xm antenna between the fairing and windscreen.  Works perfect and is sheltered from the elements

What do you mean by "between the fairing and windscreen"?

[1jeep]

I will move the antena, i really didnt want to stick things to the nice new shiny inner fairing...lol

The reception is very poor, i have had sirius for years and am used to loosing reception on back roads with a lot of tree coverage or when sitting under things such as an underpass.

When i called to activate it i spoke to a southern lady and didnt have any issues with the setup, they are supposed to email me when the service is about to expire.

[greglyon]

What do you mean by "between the fairing and windscreen"?

On the Road glide there is a space between the dash and the windscreen.  Mount the antenna in the center of the dash using velcro as close to the windscreen as you can get but do not touch it.  The windscreen will chafe if the antenna stays in contact with the screen.  The antenna is black, dash is black and at that location you can't see it while riding.  Reception has been perfect. 

[copout221]

Another issue I have with the XM is the sound quality. It is not as clean and clear as MP3's from my Zumo or CD player. In addition, the volume is not the same as running a CD or MP3's. However, it is still nice to have 200 plus channels of programming when on the road.

[1jeep]

i noticed this also, i guess i really expected more from a built in unit that came from the factory.

Its still better than no music and humming to myself while sitting in traffic.