SIRIUS cuts out, any adjustment possible
#1
12-15-2018, 05:19 AM
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Ottawa, Ontario Canada
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SIRIUS cuts out, any adjustment possible
I am noticing some fairly regular 2 second no music blips with SIRIUS while driving in unobstructed areas. This has never happened here in several previous trucks, only in mountains when traveling. So do I have a winter weather related issue, a radio that is failing or a bad antenna? Anyone else noticing this? Hate going to the dealer where it probably wont misbehave.
#2
12-15-2018, 05:54 AM
#3
12-15-2018, 06:01 AM
Mine would cut out like that a lot locally here due to lots of ledges and around tall buildings in the city. I had the same results with my 2011, 2014 and 2017. It worked good on the open road when I'd take a rare road trip. I'm usually close to home and it drove me bonkers cutting out all of the time. Needless to say I only renewed Sirius once on my 2011 and haven't renewed the subscription on my last 2 trucks.
#6
12-15-2018, 09:14 AM
Yep, that’s normal. My first Sirius/XM truck had a nice shark fin antenna. That was a ‘03 GMC. About the only thing reliable on that truck was the XM signal. It only cut out next to tall buildings or mountains. Each subsequent truck I’ve owned with satellite radio (say 3-4 since then) has gotten noticeably worse. Sound quality is still good, but the signal strength is getting worse. Overall it’s still decent, but no where near as reliable. Clear sky or not, there are areas in my city with service “gaps”
Personally, I think we are suffering from a combination of smaller antennas and degraded satellite service. If you travel to the same areas and it always cuts out, then my guess is it’s the service. If the cutouts are random and not repeatable by region, then it might be somthing with the antenna
Personally, I think we are suffering from a combination of smaller antennas and degraded satellite service. If you travel to the same areas and it always cuts out, then my guess is it’s the service. If the cutouts are random and not repeatable by region, then it might be somthing with the antenna
#7
12-15-2018, 02:36 PM
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#8
12-15-2018, 04:32 PM
I am noticing some fairly regular 2 second no music blips with SIRIUS while driving in unobstructed areas. This has never happened here in several previous trucks, only in mountains when traveling. So do I have a winter weather related issue, a radio that is failing or a bad antenna? Anyone else noticing this? Hate going to the dealer where it probably wont misbehave.
#9
12-16-2018, 05:47 AM
When this current generation F150 came out in 2015, there were some but not all people having SIRIUS reception issues with the stations just cutting out for no reason at all and it turned out that some but not all of the SIRIUS antennas in our F150`s were bad a needed to be replaced. There is a TSB on this.
#10
12-16-2018, 02:36 PM
Elder User
#11
12-16-2018, 03:33 PM
Fleet Mechanic
I have the shark fin on my Edge and 2018 F150 and they both cut out at the same place going OVER a overpass here in Abilene. the same place every time and for the same amount of time. the 2015 F150, without sharkfin, and the 2016 Escape, with sharkfin, did as well. My 2012 never cut out there! The answer I got was there must be a cell tower close buy, which there is but it was there when I had the 2012, which never cut out there. It just did the standard places, tall buildings, trees or very close large hills, we have a lot of roads cut into hills creating canyons, to the south. I think there have been some other changes by Ford or with Sirrus since they merged with XM.
#12
12-16-2018, 08:22 PM
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Ottawa, Ontario Canada
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When this current generation F150 came out in 2015, there were some but not all people having SIRIUS reception issues with the stations just cutting out for no reason at all and it turned out that some but not all of the SIRIUS antennas in our F150`s were bad a needed to be replaced. There is a TSB on this.
#15
12-20-2018, 09:32 AM
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Ottawa, Ontario Canada
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Sirius antenna
Dealer says I need to bring the truck in to see the part number on the antenna before they can swap it out under the TSB. I find this strange, most if not all other parts eg. mirrors, headlight etc. can be ordered in advance just by giving them the VIN number. Has anyone had their bad old antenna changed and did it fix the cutting out issue? Am afraid they might bugger up the headliner and cause a leak after warranty runs out.