OK all you XM experts, help me out!

[savedbyzero]

My Commander keeps dropping signal. It's been doing this for about 4 days now. Just out of the blue. Could it be my anteanna? Any suggestions?

[ragingfish]

Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the commander at all.Since I haven't been in my car for over a week, I haven't used XM for over a week, so i can't tell you if it's a service issue, though I doubt it is.I know on my skyfi you can check signal strength...can you do that on the commander? If so, and it shows a weak signal, there's your answer. BUt if it shows a full signal, and it's still dropping, that sounds like hardware to me.

[nismo]

Where is your antenna located? Just wondering b/c I don't have the XM feature in my car. Inder Singh

[savedbyzero]

The antenna is located on top in front on the outside. The signal indicator goes from no bars, to full, then drops, then 2, and so on....I can hardly live wihtout my channel 43 XMU!

[Jahntassa]

No, you're not crazy. The XM sats are definitely dropping in power. They're going to be launching a third satellite to make up for the power drop in Rock 'n Roll, but I'm not sure when.If your antenna has a problem, it'll clearly say "ANTENNA" on the display.There is a "hidden" way to check signal strength. On the commander, turn the car on, and turn off the unit with the power button on the controller. Hit "2-0-7-XM (button)" Then hit display until you see BER and three numbers on the bottom. The first number is Rock (east coast), Second is Roll (West coast), and the third is a terrestrial repeater (if one near you)Watch these numbers to see which satellite is dropping out. The first two should be at or near 0. The higher the number, the worse the signal. If you see them at 500 or higher, then it's definitely bad signal.How long ago did you get the unit? If you got it with warranty from CC or BB, you might be able to get it switched out. I have seen a few unit/antennas suddenly start acting wierd, but only once with a commander.

[ragingfish]

I just tried the 2-0-7-XM trick...I got zeros on both satellites, and a 100 on terrestrial.WOOOOOO!

[Jahntassa]

Lookit you go with that crazy terrestrial signal, Mike!I've found with my Roady that I have to use the remote to do the 2-0-7 trick..for any Roady users that have issues..

[ragingfish]

I thought 0 meant perfect signal, 100 meant none?

[savedbyzero]

Sweet! thanks guys! I'll try it out. I got it at Best Buy in Indiana. I'll see if on the road trip next weekend to Indy does anything. If so, I'll take it in while I'm there.

[Jahntassa]

Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »I thought 0 meant perfect signal, 100 meant none?Nono..it's wierder than that.For the satellites, 5440 means no signal, 6800 for the terrestrial. Should've explained that the first time, heh!

[ragingfish]

Ok, I'm confused now.Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »Watch these numbers to see which satellite is dropping out. The first two should be at or near 0. The higher the number, the worse the signal. If you see them at 500 or higher, then it's definitely bad signal.

[cdFxer]

Sun spots high? Atmospheric conditions around you?

[Jahntassa]

Quote, originally posted by silverawd26 »Do the Satellites send music to towers to the ground and then bounce the signals off of towers (Terrestrial signals/Repeater) and then your devices pick them up or does XM grap radio from the Terrestrial/Repeaters and them the satellites send them to the units? Could the repeater be bad or down?XM units pull in both satellites, as well as any terrestrial repeaters that might be in your area. You'll only have a repeater if you're in an area that XM determines is "hard to get to" via satellite. The repeaters, however, do pull signal off the satellites.The main signal is broadcast from XM Studios in Washington DC, hits the two Sats, then is rebroadcast direct to units and repeaters.The numbers you're looking at are the Bit Error Rate. The smaller the number, the less errors. So 0 = Good 5440= Bad. If none of the numbers are below 400-500, you'll get dropouts, or no sound at all. (The third number, repeater, goes from 0 to 6880.)And yes, sunspots and other atmospheric conditions can affect it!

[savedbyzero]

OK, just did the 2-0-7 trick...here's the results:first number: kept flucuating from 7 upto about 27, this is with car standing stillsecond number: 100third number: 0so what does all of this mean? Is my problem lie somewhere in there?

[ragingfish]

Quote, originally posted by savedbyzero »OK, just did the 2-0-7 trick...here's the results:first number: kept flucuating from 7 upto about 27, this is with car standing stillsecond number: 100third number: 0so what does all of this mean? Is my problem lie somewhere in there?If I interpret correctly, that means you're getting a somewhat weak signal from the satellite "Rock," an even weaker signal from the satellite "Roll," and a strong terrestrial signal.Perhaps a problem with the local repeater?

[satur9]

i didnt bother with the little trick, i havent had a problem with mine yet,except when i parked in my garage and opened the rear hatch while cleaning my car for tommorrow. its still dirty but the xm works so michigan here i come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[savedbyzero]

Why so weak? Is it my hardware? Or just some random problem?

[ragingfish]

Try finding a wide open space with no trees around...If you still have screwy signal, I'd start suspecting the hardware...

[Jahntassa]

Actually..such low numbers is a pretty strong signal. Did you have any trees around at the time?If you want, you can try doing the "XM Dance". Call up XM and say you're having significant dropouts suddenly. They'll probably turn you over to Terk, who might end up replacing the unit. Or, if you got it with an extended warranty, they'll swap it out wherever you got it.Unfortunately, it's kinda hard to diagnose this stuff.. The reason I had you do the 2-0-7 thing was to see what kinda signals you're getting. If you have a strong terrestrial a good portion of the time, you shouldn't be having so many dropout problems, because the terrestrial generally doesn't get ground interference (wet leaves, overpasses, etc)