Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Chief]

I've had no problems with the reception on my '06 SE Ultra.  Only time it faded out was in the mountains with tall pines lining the road.  I am even able to get reception when the bike is parked in the garage.

Talked to a guy the other day about reception and his was fine also.  In fact he was telling me he never signed up for XM service after the 3 month free-bee and he is still getting it.  His 3 months ran out last fall.  One lucky guy!!

Has he checked his credir card statement? As I understand the way it works, they start billing you unless you call them and turn it off. If you do nothing, they bill you automatically.

[DakotaZeb]

I asked him about that and he said no.  I assume he must have slipped through the cracks with XM.  I was wishing it had been me!

[VAZHOG]

I asked him about that and he said no.  I assume he must have slipped through the cracks with XM.  I was wishing it had been me!

I hope he doesn't slip to long as they will (just like the cable co) get a judgement for lost revenue when they (XM) discover there over sight.

[hard10]

Yeah, it HUAGE alright.  I've seen a pic of the Garmin XM mounted to a GPS mount on a bike...the tacky part of it is all the extra wire.  To have on-board, live weather radar images would be awesome though.

TC, I keep mine inside the lower fairing glove box and get weather recption fine. You are right that the wire is a little ugly but I usually disconnect it from the unit anyway and store it n the TP. As fr as regular XM recption though, I kept loosing signal ("no signal or loading") while travling down I95. There should have beed signal with a view of the southern sky and NO trees around.

[REGGAB]

TC, I keep mine inside the lower fairing glove box and get weather recption fine. You are right that the wire is a little ugly but I usually disconnect it from the unit anyway and store it n the TP. As fr as regular XM recption though, I kept loosing signal ("no signal or loading") while travling down I95. There should have beed signal with a view of the southern sky and NO trees around.

Been watching this thread relatively close.  Appears this challenge is peculiar to different bikes.  I rarely lose reception, and my antenna is where HD put it; in the fairing.  I traveled I-95 from DC to Richmond last month and never lost signal.  Tree canopy backroads will do it as will pulling straight into my garage.  If I back in and turn my handbars to the right, I maintain reception.  I'm wondering if this will change once I replace my stock wind screen with the Clearview?

Anyone know when the merger will happen?

[Midnight Rider]

Been watching this thread relatively close.  Appears this challenge is peculiar to different bikes.  I rarely lose reception, and my antenna is where HD put it; in the fairing.  I traveled I-95 from DC to Richmond last month and never lost signal.  Tree canopy backroads will do it as will pulling straight into my garage.  If I back in and turn my handbars to the right, I maintain reception.  I'm wondering if this will change once I replace my stock wind screen with the Clearview?

Anyone know when the merger will happen?

Henry...since I moved mine outside the fairing, I very rarely lose the signal, even on heavily forested backroads where I used to always lose signal.  Used to be so frustrating that I'd just put it on CD and never go back...now I rarely run the CD.

[Chief]

Got to ride today with the new location. Better, but trees are still the enemy. A good canopy and the signal will fade. Damn trees!

[Midnight Rider]

Got to ride today with the new location. Better, but trees are still the enemy. A good canopy and the signal will fade. Damn trees!

Just for grins, have you tried it in these same areas with the pod totally exposed to the sky?  When in my driveway, mine is pretty marginal, though it does pick up now, but even a towel put on top of it makes a difference, I promise.

[Chief]

Just for grins, have you tried it in these same areas with the pod totally exposed to the sky?  When in my driveway, mine is pretty marginal, though it does pick up now, but even a towel put on top of it makes a difference, I promise.

No, I haven't. I don't want to have to stick it o the paint or other cosmetic finish, so the best I can do is between the pouches. I would say I've got reception 99% of the time, but if we get back in under the trees, it will disappear. I can live with that.

[REGGAB]

Henry...since I moved mine outside the fairing, I very rarely lose the signal, even on heavily forested backroads where I used to always lose signal.  Used to be so frustrating that I'd just put it on CD and never go back...now I rarely run the CD.

I'm just wondering if when I install the Clearview, am I gonna have reception challenges.  That thing is tucked up under the wind screen as it is.  I guess I'll find out soon enough.

[Rhino]

I dont' know if this was mentioned yet, but in one of my vehicles, with XM factory stock, I never seem to lose the signal, even under short bridges. Why, becasue the signal is buffered. For how long or how much in kb I do not know, but that would be a nice feature when Harley moves into the 21st century, ya think?

Rhino(notexactlyhappywithharleyxmreceptionbutlovetherestofit)

[Midnight Rider]

I'm just wondering if when I install the Clearview, am I gonna have reception challenges.  That thing is tucked up under the wind screen as it is.  I guess I'll find out soon enough.

On the stock metal mount under the fairing, it looks to me as it is shooting through the part of the faring where top and windshield meet.  I had read somewhere that the thing didn't need to be close to "edges" of material, so tried to stick it on top of the radio so it would shoot through at least a part of the fairing that is just plain plastic and paint.  It sucked there too.

[REGGAB]

On the stock metal mount under the fairing, it looks to me as it is shooting through the part of the faring where top and windshield meet.  I had read somewhere that the thing didn't need to be close to "edges" of material, so tried to stick it on top of the radio so it would shoot through at least a part of the fairing that is just plain plastic and paint.  It sucked there too.

OK, well, my system works very well as is.  So, with what you've described, things "shouldn't" change after I install the Clearview.  As mentioned earlier, looks like I'm gonna find out soon enough.

[Chief]

I dont' know if this was mentioned yet, but in one of my vehicles, with XM factory stock, I never seem to lose the signal, even under short bridges. Why, becasue the signal is buffered. For how long or how much in kb I do not know, but that would be a nice feature when Harley moves into the 21st century, ya think?

Rhino(notexactlyhappywithharleyxmreceptionbutlovetherestofit)

I don't know about that Rhino. A buffered signal would require a re-send to fill in the gaps, and that would require 2-way communication with the satellite to request the re-send. There is definitely a lag, but buffering is a whole different ballgame.

[Twolanerider]

I don't know about that Rhino. A buffered signal would require a re-send to fill in the gaps, and that would require 2-way communication with the satellite to request the re-send. There is definitely a lag, but buffering is a whole different ballgame.

Not just two-way data streams.  But I think we knew they did that anyway as they recognize IFF from individual radios to know whether to let them play or not.  So that doesn't surprise me.  What does, however, is that the radio sats would have to send redundant delayed data streams.  That's a surprise (and a lot of bandwidth).