BMW4Me
Well-known member
Notice occasional dropouts in reception. Not something I experienced very often in my other BMWs. Live in the greater DC Metro area. Any others with similar reception problems?
SirriusXM occasional dropouts
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kevinb61
Well-known member
BMW4Me said:
Lately.....yep...in my Z4, i3, and my Chevy P/U. Not sure if it is atmospheric or satellite position (vs. me on the west coast)...really annoying lately
jadnashuanh
Well-known member
I've noticed it since the first day I bought the thing...I don't normally listen to things not available locally, and since I don't drive the thing long distances, I won't renew the subscription once the free trial runs out in a year. Heavy tree coverage and even a short underpass will cause a dropout. Probably worse in an urban canyon, but I don't get into those very often, and haven't yet with the i3.
Boatguy
Well-known member
I've experienced them in all my cars that have had Sirius, which is why I'm not a subscriber. I found it maddening to go under an overpass, under some trees, etc. etc and have the sound drop out.jadnashuanh said:
BMW4Me
Well-known member
I love my SirriusXM and have used it since it was first offered to me by BMW! Only on the i3 do I get the occasional dropout. I've noticed this happening more under trees recently. It may be related to the satellite...
jadnashuanh
Well-known member
IMHO, Sirius is great on a cross-country trip, but given the shorter range of the i3, probably not that big of a deal unless you really want to listen to that sports announcer for a game that is not in your local market. You don't have as much of an issue with trees on say the interstate, but underpasses could be an issue (but you may be traveling faster, and the buffer may be big enough). There's always an implementation decision on how big of a buffer to maintain - not having dealt with it in other vehicles, I can't say if the i3's buffer is different than those, but with the antenna on the roof, it should get as good of a signal as any.
jadnashuanh
Well-known member
There are lots of ways to design an antenna - they do not require a metal ground plane to work well.
kevinb61
Well-known member
jadnashuanh said:
Yep. I have noticed more dropouts recently even in my Chevy P/U. Certainly more than enough metal there
tiburonh
Well-known member
BMW4Me said:
I've had Sirius (and then Sirius XM) in every car I've owned since they launched. Unfortunately, the problem with drop outs has grown rather than "dropped" over the years. I'm not sure what the reasons for this are, but I am confident that the issue is NOT vehicle dependent. The service currently drops out in the same spots for my wife's X3 and my daughter's Q5 as it does for my i3
That said, I still love Sirius!!!
ultraturtle
Well-known member
Antennae for carbon fiber shell aircraft actually need a very thin ~ 1 sq. ft. aluminum ground plane for decent transmission and reception for all of their comm and nav radios. The i3 roof would be no different. If BMW skipped it, that might explain the iffy satellite radio reception. It would reduce the capability to that of a hand-held, which is pretty bad.i3Alan said:
That said, I've had no reception problems to date.
