Any solutions to XM Signal Fade?

Discussion in 'Prius c Audio and Electronics' started by rjparker, Nov 3, 2015.

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  1. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    #1 rjparker, Nov 3, 2015
  2. Chris92057

    Chris92057 Junior Member

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    do you have the whip or the shark antenna. In this case, the whip (the stubby one) would be a better choice.
     
    #2 Chris92057, Nov 4, 2015
  3. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    You do not need either for xm. It is all in the base that those pieces screw into.
     
    #3 rjparker, Nov 4, 2015
  4. Chris92057

    Chris92057 Junior Member

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    Interesting, RJParker. I confirmed with an electronic engineer; you are correct. It is in the base of the antenna. It goes back to wavelength.
     
    #4 Chris92057, Nov 9, 2015
  5. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    I have had a few of those EE courses myself along with 30 years of experience. The dealer won't fix it until it fails totally because they think trees and clouds can cause dropouts (which I have not had for almost 3 years on the same routes). And the dropouts are sometimes 15 minutes while I am driving!

    So I have two game plans:

    First I have an old portable XM receiver (XM2go) that I am connecting to the car with a separate magnetic antenna with it's audio wired into the car's AUX jack. I can then check audio with the built in and the portable on the road. The portable has an added advantage in that it has an "Antenna Aiming" function that allows realtime signal strength of both the satellite and the land based terrestrial transmitters (one in Austin and one in San Antonio in my area, both low power 8kw).

    Second I ordered an $11 adapter cable for the Display Audio's XM antenna input (a GT5-1s to SMB Male Bulkhead cable). This, if necessary will allow my $20 XM magnetic antenna to plug in to the Display Audio. However this requires pulling the Display Audio unit and running the antenna wiring cleanly to the roof, not the most desired solution.

    Meanwhile the existing antenna/cable/head unit problem on XM seems to be getting progressively worse. Maybe it will fail completely.
     
    #5 rjparker, Nov 9, 2015
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