I have not had a car with satellite radio before, but on my car, the reception seems quite poor.

I get no signal in my garage (wood house), I loose it under trees and
on some roads with hills on the sides, is this normal, something to do
with XM, or something to do with the antenna, or what?

I can see loosing the signal when the antenna is blocked from viewing the satellite by something substantial, but trees, a wood roof?

I never would have paid for this thing except for the wife likes it,
but it seems to suck, does XM skimp on the power?

Brett

 

I only lose XM under bridges and in tunnels and fast food overhangs, etc. I also love it and would gladly pay for many more years. If all you need to listen to is top 10 garbage and rush limbaugh, then I guess AM/FM is fine! I find the music selection and shows like Ron and Fez are invaluable.

 

I have Sirius in my car (not a TL, yet!) and it pretty much does the same thing. You will definitely lose it in the garage, I lose it under lots of trees, it also skips a little if I go under a sequence of overpasses in quick succession.

Part-n-parcel of owning Satellite radio.

Regards

 

yea this is normal....i know what u mean when there are 2 hills on both sides...this is normal....not too worry.....its just how satellite radio is

 

Well, around here, we have 88.5 XPN, they dont have commercials, play
a very nice mix of (non top 10) music, and we have loads of cd's.
Both work under trees and in the garage....

I have not found an XM station that has a good music mix yet, some
play good stuff once and a while, but its mostly locked into
some catagory, not a mix of new unknowns, wierd old stuff, etc.

The only time I would put the Xm on is during long trips to places
where they have not heard of radio yet....


Brett

 

XM is probably only good on a music end if you have tastes that are not already played to death on the FM radio. For instance I like house music. XM has a channel that is almost entirely house, the Move. I also like electronic music and they've got a whole channel for that, too. The artists they feature are high quality and on the cutting edge. Another example is late 80's and early 90's hip hop. You can't find that on the radio anywhere, and you can't even buy it any more in a lot of cases. But the Rhyme channel has tons of it. So, it all depends on what you like. If the music you enjoy is already popular enough to be on a mix FM station, then maybe XM isn't as useful to you.

 

XM is great for me. I listen to the Comedy channel - so no matter how crappy traffic is in Atlanta, I'm laughing my arse off. Reception is only lost for me in parking garages underground (to be expected).

 

Brett

Have to agree that the independent stations like XPN ( and the other 3 or 4 in the US that still survive) will usually trump the robo-programming of XM. BUT... XM >>> commerical FM.
Fine Tuning, XMU and The Loft will get you close. Don't forget Hank's Place!

 

Brett,

Your reception issue is normal. Given the nature of "satellite" broadcasts you need a near perfect "line-of-sight" view from sat to antenna.

Also, depending on your location and sat location (satellite being low or high on the horizon given your position), trees, buildings etc. can be more of an issue in one location/direction vs another.



PS - Both XM and Sirius will have poor reception when you're remotely near a VW/dealership... :-)

(Just mess'n with ya... I get/got the impression you dislike VW a bit...)

:-)

Cheers

 

I love the VW cars, I dont like the fact they are broke all the time....

Yes, I think the loft, xmu, and fine tuning are the top picks we have found so far.

I am lucky I live around XPN, I also found a great station somewhere in the smokey mountans in Virgina or there abouts on my way down to New Orleans.
I was in the middle of nowhere and found a station playing great music
and it came in for quite a long time....

Brett

 

I own a 04 tl. Never had a problem with my xm until about 3 or 4 weeks ago. Now I only get a signal about 50 % of the time. Never had a problem for the past year before. Still live and drive in the same places. i don't understand. Anybody else have this problem. By the way I live in Maryland.