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Sirius/XM reception issues???

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Is anyone having issues with fade out or a weak signal with their XM radio? I transferred my account from my BMW M3 a couple weeks ago, and I can't drive anywhere there are trees without the radio going out for a couple seconds. This NEVER happened in my BMW, doesn't happen now in my wife's Ford Expedition, and hasn't happened with any other car we've ever had around here. I'm hoping it's a lose wire or bad connection. Can't believe this $100k car wouldn't have a good antenna for satellite radio (being that the owner of the company owns SpaceX).

Please let me know if I am missing something.

Also - anyone else think it's kinda cheap that the album art is simply a music symbol for XM? I know they transmit album art, because I get it in other cars. Maybe it's just my S, I hope. Something that can be fixed?
 
Is anyone having issues with fade out or a weak signal with their XM radio? I transferred my account from my BMW M3 a couple weeks ago, and I can't drive anywhere there are trees without the radio going out for a couple seconds. This NEVER happened in my BMW, doesn't happen now in my wife's Ford Expedition, and hasn't happened with any other car we've ever had around here. I'm hoping it's a lose wire or bad connection. Can't believe this $100k car wouldn't have a good antenna for satellite radio (being that the owner of the company owns SpaceX).

Please let me know if I am missing something.

Also - anyone else think it's kinda cheap that the album art is simply a music symbol for XM? I know they transmit album art, because I get it in other cars. Maybe it's just my S, I hope. Something that can be fixed?

I agree with you. The reception for xm is much worse than my other cars. I live in a fairly wooded area. fm reception and am reception are lousy too. I am having the service center take my car for the day to put on the spoiler and check into the reception issues.
 
Works perfectly in my car. Having said that, I've decided not to renew when my annual subscription runs out next month. The audio is not nearly as good as I get from other sources (phone, Slacker etc.) due to how much compression XM uses in the signal (noticed this on my other XM-equipped cars too).
 
I'm having significant drop out of the XM signal when under even modest tree cover. I would have periodic dropout in my Toyota Highlander when under heavy foliage, but nothing like this. I've made the excuse that since the MS is much lower than the SUV, the problem may be inherent to the design. I'm heartened to know that others have had good reception in comparable sedans. So, the question now is where is the XM antenna in the car? And, what can be done to improve reception?
 
Important to differentiate between XM and Sirius because of the different ways they transmit. Some parts of the country have more issues with XM, and we had issues with XM in previous cars. Funnily enough reception in the Model S is better than anything else we experienced previously.
 
My P85 has terrible XM reception. I have a street I drive down with a clear view of the sky and it constantly drops out. It works fine when I drive my wife's Prius. I brought it up to my service person and they implied there was an adjustment they could make. The car is in service today, so I'll report back if it improves.
 
I to am having more drops outs of signal. I knew of 3 spots in my Acura and Prius that had consistent drop outs in the south bay, 87/85 interchange, Hillsdale Almaden underpass and 101/85 interchange. Now it occurs under most large interchanges and tunnels, hardly ever dropped in tunnels before. I think its related to the antenna placement. I'm going to write XM Customer Service as noted in a post below.
 
I have Sirius on my 2007 Toyota and (IIRC) XM on the Model S. The sound and reception are much better on the Model S. The only downside with the Model S is that we get a slight static sound when we lose reception, whereas on the Toyota, it is dead silent when there is no reception.
 
The only downside with the Model S is that we get a slight static sound when we lose reception, whereas on the Toyota, it is dead silent when there is no reception.

The "static" is fake. It's just an audible cue to let you know the signal has weakened to the point where the data stream cannot be recovered, and if I recall correctly (haven't listened to XM since Sirius bought them) it also plays the "static" when the signal comes back. Some brands of receivers do that, some don't.
 
The "static" is fake. It's just an audible cue to let you know the signal has weakened to the point where the data stream cannot be recovered, and if I recall correctly (haven't listened to XM since Sirius bought them) it also plays the "static" when the signal comes back. Some brands of receivers do that, some don't.

Thanks for the tip. The static is very annoying. Perhaps this can be changed in a future firmware.
 
Although Sirius and XM have merged into one company, the satellite orbital locations and how they work are totally different. XM uses geostationary satellites (3) located above the equator. Sirius has non-stationary satellites that orbit over the United States and their paths converge over the northern Midwest. Therefore, XM works much better in the southern latitudes and Sirius works best in the northern latitudes. If you have a fixed antenna, XM wants you to point it south, Sirius wants you to point it towards Minnesota. East-west roads in northern latitudes are a problem for XM because the elevation of the satellites are very low. Any trees on the side of the road will block the signal---not so bad with Sirius. It's too bad there isn't an option to choose which receiver to have installed in your vehicle when you purchase it.