XM In The Car: What can be Done to Improve Reception (1 Viewer)

I was driving home on a long trip so I got the Delphi
Ski-Fi and the car adaptor. I was loving it on the way home, but as soon as I got off my exit the signal dropped out big time as I live in a pretty forested area and I am hoping this thing is not going to be virtually useless around where I live, does anyone have any tips about how to get a better signal?

Well, to start, the antenna will work best on a large flat metal area like the roof, the trunk lid is probably the second choice.

On the Skyfi, hit the following button sequence when the radio is off. . The radio should turn on, hit the button a couple of times and you will see a screen different that usual with SAT1, SAT2 and TERR across the top. This will give you info about the satellites and also show whether you get any terrestrial repeater signal. Using this screen, you can find out where the best reception is. The data is arranged in columns under the SAT1, SAT2, and TERR headers. Look at the BER % number, this should be low, under 5% for Sat and under 7% for TERR, also, the AGC should be high negative, the higher it is the better the signal, although it is not really a signal strength measure. I think -128 is the max.

Once you are done moving the antenna around, turn the unit off and then on again to restore it to regular operation or just hit the Display button a few time to see the song titles as normal, until you turn the radio off, you can always go back to the hidden menu.

Will,

I had the SkyFi antenna and just switched to the Tirk.. It is much flatter and doesn't stick out as much as the supplied unit..

I live in a semi rural area, with lots of trees, and was getting some drops when passing by thick forrest patches.... I don't think there is much you can do on that... The new antenna seems to work a tad better....

Lee, I tried doing that but it did not work. I hit 2,0,7 is there more specific instructions

hit 2,0,7, then the XM button, the one in the center of the rotating selector ring or whatever it is called. The radio must be off as well.

I found a page someone made up describing what the various parameters mean with some pictures.

http://216.221.100.123/~arostad/XM%2...eering%20Menu/