XM Radio

lorencherylp · 04-11-2008, 07:26 PM

Anyone have experience with XM? We just got our new Flagstaff home. LOVE IT. Anyway, went by inst. Got everything to where I think it should work but XM shows ANTENNA, meaning no signal. I have a subscription to XM and am using my old trusted unit which fits in the wall mount next to the Concertone pad. I have the little switch down below set on xm as well. Hope someone can help. THANKS, Loren

j2detroit · 04-11-2008, 08:11 PM

You need to make sure (as you know) that you need to have a line of site veiw to the south It dosen't take a lot of pin point aiming but you still need a good veiw also chances are the antena won't work through the camper It might if you have a window on the right side ,but I have found that some types of windows won't pick up a signal through them eather good luck

lorencherylp · 04-11-2008, 09:23 PM

Thank you, you bring up some good points. I will check it out. Thanks again, Loren

jmyers · 04-12-2008, 07:27 AM

Loren, I'd like to help, and as soon as I can figure out why my 8-track keeps eating tapes I'll study up on this new-fangled stuff.

wittal · 04-12-2008, 09:28 AM

Is this the same set up you use for your home or vehicle. Maybe try there website.We're waiting for our 235KS and also want to hook up our XM.

lorencherylp · 04-12-2008, 06:14 PM

Went out this morning, cranked everything up, and low and behold it was working. I am not sure where Forest River placed the XM antenna, but last night we were having wind, rain, sleet, etc. and the trailer is about 8 ft from the edge of the house. Anyway thanks for the suggestions.
Now to get back to my 4 track player mod

John · 04-12-2008, 11:28 PM

On our 2008 Rockwood, the XM antennae is roof mounted fairly close to the entertainment center. If you peek over the roof line from a step ladder I'm sure you'll locate it.

I don't know if ours works or not. It's been a year since we got the trailer with the XM (not optional) and I simply haven't figured out even one reason why I would pay anyone a monthly fee for radio stations!

To each his/her own .... but to me it's a complete waste of money.

Cheers,

John

eandsphotography · 04-13-2008, 04:02 AM

John, i thought the same thing till i got Sirius satellite. I drive a truck and am in it for 10-12 hours every night and it's WELL worth the $12 to be able to put on a station and not have static and fade out on the outskirts of an area. personally i love it,but unless your gonna be driving ALOT, i wouldnt think it's worth it either.

lorencherylp · 04-13-2008, 07:32 AM

John,
Thanks for the info on XM antenna location. Makes sense. I have had XM for over two years. I like it on the road where I can tune in to the Sixties or Fifties channels. On long boring driving, I tune in to old time radio and listen to THE SHADOW and old Comedy Radio. If I feel inclined I can hit the CNN or Fox News button and listen to that. You can buy kits, and have the ability to listen to it on your home stereo, or any radio you own. I have kits in all our vehicles, so I can take the module and drop it in whatever I am driving. I take the module into the garage and listen to it there too. I have a boom box that runs on battery or 110v that gives me another excuse to use it. BUT the main reason I like it, is I can listen to any baseball game being played. No, I dont work furem

OH, The truck came with Sirrius Radio and a free years subscription. I will let the Sirrius expire and keep the XM. They will be one company in the near future anyway. HAPPY TRAILS!!

New2ROO · 04-13-2008, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John

On our 2008 Rockwood, the XM antennae is roof mounted fairly close to the entertainment center. If you peek over the roof line from a step ladder I'm sure you'll locate it.

I don't know if ours works or not. It's been a year since we got the trailer with the XM (not optional) and I simply haven't figured out even one reason why I would pay anyone a monthly fee for radio stations!

To each his/her own .... but to me it's a complete waste of money.

Cheers,

John

Oh John, John, John. I SOOO thought the same thing. My husband was the one that wanted it... I protested and in typical fashion, he got it for ME as a gift...(he is not typically like that). But can I tell you, one year later and I cannot bare regular radio, local ads, yack, yack, yack. I LOVE IT. We cannot live without it and we pay for it 1 year at a time with a great discount. It is especially great in our new camper as we don't have to worry about tuning it in every new town. Baseball, local sports, it is awesome. Truly awesome. We even have Sirus at home with our Dish as part of it, and I love that too. Less TV, more music.

azusateach · 04-13-2008, 07:06 PM

Have XM, and apart from dealing with haphazard billing practices I love it & wouldn't be without it in my car. I've got a portable unit (my-fi) that I'd like to somehow install in my HTT -- used it in the car & had it hard-wired in until I got an in-dash unit.

At the risk of hijacking this thread, can I use the antenna that was part of the car kit? I was thinking of using silicone or some sort of adhesive to stick it to my roof. Other question -- how would I get the antenna cable to the roof? Will that mean a hole needs to be drilled, or could I use the hole that my radio antenna has?

Thanks!

schu · 04-13-2008, 07:45 PM

azusateach,

i recently added Sirius to my TT. I have a 27BH wildwood LE and was not wired with Satellite radio.
Here is what I did.

1. Buy an extra "car kit" for your sirius/XM radio. Sometimes you can just buy the pieces you need on ebay as seperate pcs.

2.Remove current radio/cd player. (The radio is running off of 12V DC).

3. Splice the Sirius Car 12v plug into the Radio power line. (Cut off the part that you plug into the car)

4. While the radio is removed, Drill a hole thru the ceiling in the cabinet where the radio sits to the roof.

5. Run a cable snake up thru the hole it is exposed thru the roof. Use duct tape and attach Car antenna plug to the cable snake.

6. pull snake thru.

7. Replace radio and leave access to the 2 cables you need for the Satellite radio.

Note: you might want to purchase an RF bypass kit. Traditionally, any Sirius radio needs two antenna based signals. first is the satellite link and the second is the a view of the Radio antenna. (standard FM) In a car, most of the time, your satellite radio has a clear shot to the FM antenna. In a camper, it is often blocked. Therefore, you can by a bypass kit that basically attaches to the camper FM antenna and then plugs into the TT FM radio jack - where you removed the FM antenna in the first place.) I foound this dramatically improves signal quality.

On a side note, another mod that I made is that my camper doesn't have outdoor speakers. There is a A-B switch. For my camper, the "A" is for front bedroom and "B" is for the rest of the unit.

I detached all of the speaker wires and spliced them together so all run on Ch A.
While the radio was removed I added two weatherproof speakers (goto West Marine) to the outside of my TT and attached them to Ch B.

hope this helps...

Jay

08newbies · 04-25-2008, 08:58 AM

New2ROO, I agree, same here, I got XM for my husband as he is on the road a lot. I thought he could listen to music of his choice, listen to Football or hockey. He was hooked within weeks. We now have a second unit that goes anywhere we go. It's a portable. We just bought a 5th wheel and we too are putting XM in it. We love it. It's worth every $12 a month. Or like you said. Pay by the year and get a great discount.

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