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I live in what could be called a mountainous area, but I really can't get over how often the signal fades out for XM/Sirius radio while driving around. Is this normal?
Possibly the Antenna or the Antenna Location, Sirron . . .
Otherwise, it must be the environment as I've had Sirius in both vehicles for more than ten years and the only "fading" or lost signal is when I drive under an overpass or into a tunnel which should be expected.
Same issue here. Underpasses, tunnels, being in a drive thru & and even heavy tree cover. On my drive to work I have 3-4 flat spots. Same places every time.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Yes. We recently road road trip down into Oregon and some of it was off road in a heavily wooded area and the trees blocked the XM signal frequently, while it was fine everywhere else. Pretty much matched the "searching for satellite" on the GPS.
What car do you have? I've had Sirius/XM in 5 different vehicles and only on my '12 Sonata do I have the signal fade in/out in a few select areas in my town. I live at 8,500' in a mountain community. Does it at the same block almost every time. But only in the Sonata, very strange. Never lose signal in the same area in my previous '06 Magnum, '06 TrailBlazer, '11 Optima, and '07 Durango.
XM and Sirius need a good view of a satellite. I used to live in Alaska and the view of the bird was low on the horizon it barely functioned. Where it was good it was very good but where it was bad, fergiddiboutit.
XM should be worse than Sirius in this regard, because XM is broadcast from two satellites in geosynchronous orbit around the equator, while Sirius is broadcast from two satellites more directly above the continental US (Sirius Satellite Radio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). So tall buildings should be less of an issue with Sirius.
However, on my two Sirius car radios I lose the signal when driving down streets lined with tall (10+) story buildings, and around freeway underpasses. And this is in an area that has terrestrial repeaters for Sirius. My wife has XM in her Lexus but I don't drive her car enough to notice how often it drops out.
XM should be worse than Sirius in this regard, because XM is broadcast from two satellites in geosynchronous orbit around the equator, while Sirius is broadcast from two satellites more directly above the continental US (Sirius Satellite Radio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). So tall buildings should be less of an issue with Sirius.
However, on my two Sirius car radios I lose the signal when driving down streets lined with tall (10+) story buildings, and around freeway underpasses. And this is in an area that has terrestrial repeaters for Sirius. My wife has XM in her Lexus but I don't drive her car enough to notice how often it drops out.
Ive had everything from dedicated tuners, to factory units, to portables. XM has always given me better signal. I use to get signal in parking garages, now that I have SXM in my VW, I get signals drops all the time, under overpasses, in my garage, and under tree cover. In the same spots, when I didnt have issues before
I think I read some where that XM had/s more ground repeaters which help with signal
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