XM signal issues

I have the Road Tech Garmin Zumo 665 on the upper left dash. The Zumo works great, I have navigation and the voice prompts thru the speakers. The problem is the XM does not receive a signal. It works for a minute then goes off with no signal and may not come back on for days. Then out of the blue I can turn it on and its there for a short time then off again. I looked at the instructions and it states to mount the antenna on top of the radio. Others on the net have said they moved theirs to that position and it receives very well, no problems. The mechanic said mine is mounted on top fo the radio. With a process of elimination, the antenna could be bad, a connection not secure, or the placement of the antenna. I did find that with the lighted windshield/fairing trim piece, that could stop the signal. But I do not have the lighted trim piece, mine is just steel. Could that simply stop the signal?

I spoke with Hd today and they upgraded the NIME cable to help out with the volume control. That part number is 76000024A. Has anyone used this for reception issues or just to get the volume better?

When the parts guy gets back off vacation, we may order the smaller antenna that comes with the XM module for the HK radio and mount it up on top of the dash between the windshield bags. But will that be too close to the Garmin and not allow signal? This and my tweeked fairing is driving me crazy.

I have the old handle bar mounted XM Radio the family purchased for me from Harley. The Antenna head is very small and I used to stick it on the fairing. Now that I have the 10 inch bars it is magnetic mount and just sits on top of the Handle Bar. Even at that XM signal is very directional so I lose signal going through tree covered roads or if I going a particular direction. I hope they can fix your internal antenna, but if you can't maybe the cheap external one will work for you better. Ride Safe!

I canceled my XM today... they wanted $160 bucks to renew for a year for just the music package... Nope, I can whistle just fine.

After fighting mine for a while I cancelled my subscription during the trial period. I had the same problems with signal loss and directionality.:Shrug:

Mine is still the 3 free months. I have XM in my truck and it works just fine. Two friends of mine use a standard, Sportster (something like that) Sirius radio that you would use in your vehicle mounted with a Ram mount on the handlebars. Both of the guys use a baggie to cover it up when it rains. Both of them have no issues with a Sirius mounted that way. Never lose a signal, however, I do not know where they mount their antennas. The Zumo antenna is about as big as the palm of my hand, since its that large it should have no trouble with a signal. I spoke with HD today and they recommend a updated NIME cable. It will help on the volume and reception. Ok, now, the CVO's come with the NIME cable, and the Zumo mounted on the dash. Why doesn't the box Zumo off the shelf have the NIME cable, mo money, mo money, its $149.99.

Mr.Wizard said:

I canceled my XM today... they wanted $160 bucks to renew for a year for just the music package... Nope, I can whistle just fine.

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In march mine was going to be renewed. They quoted me that similar price and I said nope...got it for $93.26...don't know what that number meant, but they can charge what they want. If you cancel on them, they will call back in a short period of time and offer six months for $25.00.

Skeet7373 said:

In march mine was going to be renewed. They quoted me that similar price and I said nope...got it for $93.26...don't know what that number meant, but they can charge what they want. If you cancel on them, they will call back in a short period of time and offer six months for $25.00.

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My CVO didn't have the NIM or the second radio plug so I had to buy all of mine. The hockey puck antenna fit nicely on top of the radio under the fairing and I don't... should I say didn't... have any reception issues.

I also opened up the radio and installed an AUX in the back then removed the transducer so the handle bar switch would stop at the AUX position without having anything plugged in the front AUX port.

Not hard.. just takes time.... OK... it was a b*tch but well worth it.

If they call back and they have before, I still won't pay 90 bucks for it. I had it for 77 a year and really didn't listen to it very much so I put a 32 gig storage card in the RoadTech and filled it will tunes.

Skeet7373 said:

In march mine was going to be renewed. They quoted me that similar price and I said nope...got it for $93.26...don't know what that number meant, but they can charge what they want. If you cancel on them, they will call back in a short period of time and offer six months for $25.00.

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I pay $9.99 a month for music only for my XM ...have the XM installed in my radio. Service dept specifically told me that I cannot run a GPS unit after they install the XM. Conflict of signals I suspect...that may be an issue Skeet?

BinIdaho said:

I pay $9.99 a month for music only for my XM ...have the XM installed in my radio. Service dept specifically told me that I cannot run a GPS unit after they install the XM. Conflict of signals I suspect...that may be an issue Skeet?

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I just don't know, but we will figure this out. The HK radio works fine, the GPS works fine with the voice prompts, but the XM will not stay on, get a signal. We will start out with the antenna and see what happends.

I have the Zumo 665 and the XM module and both work fine together. You just have to purchase the wiring harness and install.

No problems hearing the GPS or the XM radio no either ..I went with the Hoggtunes amp and sound even better than stock.

Is it the signal you are losing or could it be the module or plugs inside the fairing??

I went with the lifetime subscription also..

I'm an XM junky, have it in the home and both the bike and trike. I'm using the HK XM module for my 06 Ultra and the Xm unit for my Garmin Zumo 550 is on the trike. If the antenna for the 665 is like my 550 there is no other antenna for the XM, that little round puck is the reciever and antenna all in one unit. I have the one for my 550 Zumo mounted on top of the radio under the fairing and get good reception.

I have the Road Tech Fairing mount on my 2011 TG and use a Garmin Zumo 660 on it with negative results. The Garmin is only visual even the dealer can't figure it out. I also use it on my Triumph Rocket III through a JM CB setup and it works fine through the headset as navigation & as mp3 player. Guess Harley had Garmin set the mount up to only work with the HD Garmin Roadtech. I had XM on other trike too many issues now just use my Iphone as an mp3 player works fine charging plug in cigarette lighter and the other pluged into front of radio.

I was totally surprised at the size of the XM antenna. The Garmin works great, no isues just the XM not receiving a signal. I called Garmin and they said it could be a bad NIME cable. But the Garmin 665 off the shelf in the box, does not some with one. Only with the preinstalled set up on the CVO's is there a NIME cable. HD said this cable will help with the volume. On mine you have to crank up the speaker volum to hear it, but when you switch back to FM be ready to almost bust your ears the radio is so loud. That cable is $149.99, should be with the boxed Garmin as with the CVO's

With the lack of room I have now under my fairing I stuffed the XM antenna any place I could and works just fine.

Just wondering if you see the signal strength bars on the stereo in the right corner whens its working or not working??

I am sure you know about the two volume settings one for the radio and one for the GPS..Which I think it states phone when chaging the settings..

On the face of the Garmin upper right corner shows the signal strength. When not working the Garmin will show "no signal", when its working, I see what channel its on and the song its playing, then it will all go off again and not come back on showing any signal strength, ie, no bars

I have both a Sirius and a XM. The Sirius is a car mount real small antenna and it very rarely loses signal. The xm is on my 550 Garmin and will drop signal in places my Sirius will not the reason i was told is that the xm uses separate satellites from Sirius even tho they are one company now which i have to believe might be the case. all in all i m OK with the reception i get on the xm but the Sirius still works better but thru the Garmin the only option out there is xm so will have to tolerate it i guess.

I would start checking connections or the module in the fairing..may have a loose connection??

I fought with this and other problems associated with the radio, GPS and XM radio on my Garmin 665,
The NIMH or whatever cable, is a piece of trash and HD knows about it but so far has refused to correct the problem. I finally took charge of the situation and removed the cable.
Just plug the connecting cable from your GPS into the front of the radio in the AUX and tune the radio to AUX when you need to use the GPS, its XM or other niceties,MP3 etc.
Good luck,
Morpheus

You just picked up that bike a couple of months ago, who installed the XM and GPS. I'd take it back and tell them to fix it or refund. Makes no sense to pay for something that doesn't work.

I have a Pioneer Inno XM receiver velcro'd to my dash, no external antenna. Works great, no signal loss.

I agree Steve, a parts guy at the dealer was told today by Garmin, that the antenna either works or it doesn't work...not get a signal for a little while. So, when I take it back in next week for the regulator recall, they will have to take off the fairing and check the connections, maybe move the antenna around. With all the issues I'm having with this trike, really makes me discouraged.