Bad Sirius reception

13401 Views 29 Replies 14 Participants Last post by johnny.reb, May 11, 2016

johnny.reb

Discussion Starter · Nov 30, 2015

I live on the East Coast of Canada and took delivery of my Rebel on the 27th of November. I traded in a 2010 Laramie for this.

Other than missing the auto climate control, I find the SiriusXM reception in this new truck to be absolutely horrible. There were a few consistent places around town that the old RER radio in the Laramie would drop, but this 8.4AN drops everywhere. I haven't listened to an entire, uninterrupted song since picking the truck up, regardless of where I am.

Does anyone else have this issue, or am I the lucky one with a bad antenna or head unit?

1 - 20 of 30 Posts

johnj

· #2 · Nov 30, 2015

Looks like 2013-2015 antennas in some models have had issues. This doesn't appear to apply to the Rebels, but who knows? What if they ran out of the current stock of antennas (like black headlights) and started using other stock?

http://www.wk2jeeps.com/Misc/Cherokee/KL_TSB/KL_08_016_15.pdf

NOTYALC

· #3 · Nov 30, 2015

That's gotta get annoying pretty quick. I'd be asking the dealership about that and hopefully they could replace the antenna. I have a '15 Rebel and never had that problem and my 14' sport didn't have that issue neither.

VaderRebel

· #4 · Nov 30, 2015

First 3 weeks I had zero issues, then last night a couple channels started breaking up. Could be coincidence or I might have the same problem.

travelinman

· #5 · Jan 21, 2016

I had a 2015 Ram 1500 that had horrible reception, Traded it on a 2016 Rebel with the 8.4 and have a noticeable improvement.
On the 2015 I complained to my dealer and they suggested a possible update which never happenned

raindog

· #6 · Jan 24, 2016

I live on the West Coast of Canada, and the reception is pretty bad here too. Cuts in and out all the time because of the mountains and our Northern location.

The dealer warned me that SiriusXM radio was not going to work well here, and I will not be renewing my subscription when it lapses.

Maverick

· #7 · Jan 28, 2016

Do you think it's the location or is it simply the antenna?

johnny.reb

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jan 28, 2016

Pretty sure our trucks are built with XM radios, which have stationary satellites off South America and closer to Europe than North America. They also employ ground-based repeaters.

Sirius has a pair of satellites that move in a figure 8 over North America.

Gotta wonder what genius would put XM radios in vehicles that are in North America and expect good (or any) reception worth listening to. I guess they need to setup more ground-based repeaters in more areas to improve things.

Based on having to add more ground equipment, you would have thought they would choose Sirius over XM for NA.

They must have been given the radios or this was a colossal screw up that someone probably got promoted over.... lol.

raindog

· #9 · Jan 29, 2016

Maverick said:
Do you think it's the location or is it simply the antenna?

I think it is the location, as I was warned when I first purchased the truck not to expect great reception here. I got the impression that this issue is common where I live.

Pitajr

· #10 · Mar 16, 2016

I think its the truck. I traded in my 2013 dart for this 2015 rebel, and the dart never lost connection. My truck loses sirius if i stop in a certain part of my driveway, if I take a corner next to some tall trees that i frequently travel by, and anytime I drive near 3 story or taller buildings.
Car never lost connection

varnerme

· #11 · Mar 16, 2016

Pitajr said:
I think its the truck. I traded in my 2013 dart for this 2015 rebel, and the dart never lost connection. My truck loses sirius if i stop in a certain part of my driveway, if I take a corner next to some tall trees that i frequently travel by, and anytime I drive near 3 story or taller buildings.
Car never lost connection

Only buildings on the passenger side? Just curious...that's when mine acts up.

Circuitjc

· #12 · Mar 16, 2016

Think of the satellite signal as a flashlight shining from orbit. Their satellites are not always overhead so their signal can be blocked from different directions depending on where they are.

If you want to know where their satellites are here is a neat link: LIVE REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING AND PREDICTIONS: SIRIUS FM-6 XM-5 SIRIUS FM-5 XM-3 XM-1 XM-2 SIRIUS 3 SIRIUS 1

TheGreatRam

· #13 · Mar 17, 2016

I'm guessing the highlighted areas are where the signal is the strongest and outside of that is pretty iffy?

johnj

· #14 · Mar 17, 2016

On the main map shown on the link, the highlighted lighter blue area means daytime/sunlight. Not seeing any other highlights, just the satellite orbits. Did you change to a different map or options?

Circuitjc

· #15 · Mar 18, 2016

If you select a satellite it shows its current coverage in red/orange if you select "draw footprint" at the bottom of the map.

johnj

· #16 · Mar 18, 2016

Circuitjc said:
If you select a satellite it shows its current coverage in red/orange if you select "draw footprint" at the bottom of the map.

Ah. I wanted to be sure that I was seeing exactly what he was, so I didn't want to click anything. And yes, that's "general" coverage. Signal strength is going to be best directly "under" the satellite or centered in its coverage area, but that's a pretty wide circle because the satellite is so high up - nearly 30,000 miles. That's about 4x the earth's diameter. Hold a basketball in one hand, and the satellite's a dust mote 4' away.

But, all that said, the signal is a fairly weak one, and it's combined with "terrestrial" signals from local towers. The XM system actually is designed to combine multiple signals from satellite and tower to "build" a clean signal. This also helps with sitting in building shadows, under overpasses, etc. Some cities have several XM towers around them.

Circuitjc

· #17 · Mar 18, 2016

Using that map you can see where the satellites are, see what angle you would be at and figure out what is in your way, if anything.

canuckrebel

· #18 · Mar 19, 2016

same here, my sxm drops a lot around town and is annoying af

Pitajr

· #19 · Apr 10, 2016

varnerme said:
Only buildings on the passenger side? Just curious...that's when mine acts up.

It's done it going through drive thru's and the hill/mountain is on my right. depends on what side of the continent you're on, I'm mid-east, for the satellites

johnny.reb

Discussion Starter · #20 · May 4, 2016

Thought I would update this thread.

Last night I checked UConnect and there was an update available. I have a 2016 with 8.4AN.

The new version is 16.09.09. I bit the bullet and downloaded the update and flashed it this afternoon. It updated 3 modules, rebooted, then updated 14 more modules.

During the flash I noted 2 unexpected updates for XM Satellite in the 14 module lot somewhere near the last few. Now, I have only driven around since updating for a few hours, but I have to say the reception "seems" much better now. I will know on the way to work tomorrow as I barely got reception on that route enough to listen to an entire song.

A word of caution for those going to update their own unit: the instructions state for push-button start vehicles to place it in the Run position without touching the brake to start the truck. Make sure you sit in the truck while it's updating - it takes 30 minutes or so - because the battery run-down protection kicks in before it finishes updating and turns off the power. Lucky I was in there and noticed when the evic went blank and immediately pushed the button twice to get it back into Run before the radio lost power. It could have hosed the head unit if I wasn't watching. If FCA doesn't amend their updating instructions to warn people about this, they're going to get a bunch of bricked units back for warranty.

Other than that, there isn't any noticeable change to any Apps or icons or anything that would indicate an update other than the version under System Information. I've heard that Siri works better (don't have an iPhone, so I can't say), VR is better (which would be a huge improvement) and the unit seems more responsive. Your mileage may vary I suppose.

Time will tell, I guess. Happy updating!!

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