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[vonh]

Does anybody experience poor XM signal on their bikes...  I have a '16 Limited where the signal fades in and out when compared to my personal vehicle.
I'm a couple of hundred miles away from my first dealer service and I thought I would throw this question out there.

[fredfoot]

Yes. My signal cuts out every time I ride down a street with buildings on both sides, or under a row of low hanging trees. It just about makes having an XM radio useless. I wasn't sure if this was "normal" or not. I have ended up using my ipod almost all the time.

[grc]

Search for the other threads on the site dealing with this issue.  Try moving the XM antenna out of the fairing and into the open, just like the automotive folks do it.  Burying the antenna inside the fairing is a bad idea, especially when many aren't installed correctly and are shielded by the other metal in there. 

If your other vehicles pick up XM well in the same areas your Harley does not, that should tell you something.  It isn't an XM problem, it's a Harley problem.

Jerry

[Joel]

My understanding is antenna location and buffering time is less on the H D radio.
I'm thinking of an external antenna will help. If I find something that looks good I will post it

[CVODON]

Mine works fine, have 2 GM's with XM and recently turned in my last company Ford with Sirius, Harley works as well as any of them. No complaints. I added XM to my 05 SEEG and then to my 09 SERG, I put the antenna's on both of them inside the fairings and they also worked great. I do hear people complain alot, most of them did not realize the signal was not like a normal radio signal and required line-of-sight.

[phato1]

I found that when riding my favorite roads, which are usually in the foothills/mountains and shaded by lots of trees that the ever important line of sight for the XM antenna is compromised by the terrain. This problem was made worse by the antenna location inside the fairing.

I relocated the XM antenna out of the fairing and placed it on top of the dash pad on my 11.5, that resulted in much improved reception. I still experience signal loss but it's much less and when i do its because of the terrain I enjoy riding in.

[mjb765]

I also moved mine.....it is on top of the dash hidden by the windshield pouches. Works much better.

[Road Dad]

Moved mine but it is still inside the fiberglass fairing. Just on top of the radio instead. Works much better.

[FLSTFI Dave]

Mine works great in wide open spaces.  However in the twisty hilly greater smoky mountain area it cuts out lots, due to tree cover, and hill cover.  Cuts out in my car too in these areas just not as bad or as often.

[grc]

If the antenna can't see the satellite for more than a few seconds (most receivers buffer a certain amount of data to cover short intervals), then yes it's a normal situation for satellite radio.  But when someone's car has no problem driving in the same area that the bike does have a problem, that's what I'm calling a "Harley" problem, not an XM problem.

No matter what some say about how theirs works wonderfully, there are many more who have indicated theirs did not.  And there are some photo's around here somewhere showing the wonderful job done at the assembly plant burying the antenna instead of mounting it correctly.  So I stick by my earlier post; if people have an issue with XM in the same areas they do not have a problem with their cars, relocate the factory antenna outside the fairing (or at least above the radio chassis, not next to or under it) and there will be a definite difference.  As I've said many times before on this subject, if hiding the antenna in the dash was such a great idea, the automotive folks would have done it many years ago to save the money they spend running cables up to the roof mounted sat antenna.

Jerry

[Billdoe]

If the antenna was mounted wrong on my Road Glide it could certainly be wrong on your scooter. This flat fixed my XM reception issues.                                                      http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=103029.msg1329914#msg1329914