Serious / XM Radio antenna

I'm new to the satellite radio deal and have an antenna question.

I'm currently using the little magnetic antenna that's about the size of a box of matches that came with my radio. It seems to work OK except when going under an overpass.

I have seen the antennas that look like an inverted shot glass on the top of a stick about 12-18" long that the sell at the truck stops. (About $60 if I remember correctly). I have seen them mounted on some trucks but have never had the opportunity to talk to the driver of said trucks. (Seems nobody has or uses a CB anymore...).

My question is do these antennas really work any better than the small magnetic one that came with my radio or is it just another way to pry $$ out of my itty bitty wallet?

 

Correct, it is on the cab roof, left front corner right behind where the visor mounts. Clear 360° view of the sky.

Like I said it seems to work OK but I would like to fix the overpass issue IF it can indeed be fixed at all. I totally get it if I'm sitting under one at a light or whatever, but for the brief time I'm under it while driving and it goes out that just bugs me... By the way, highway speeds don't seem to bother it much, city speeds yes.

Lastly, your 100% right about any inside (dash?) Mounting. That would just be stupid. Unless only ever drive headding South... LOL.

 

Now that you say that I seem to remember something about buffer or something like that. I'll pull out my manual and see if there is a setting that needs attention. Even a buffer of only 5 seconds should be enough to fix my bridge issue assuming it is available to my unit.

Thanks!

 

As I sad initially, I'm new to the radio portion of satellite reception, but I do have some experience with using satellite for TV so part of my answer here is based on my experience with that. I'm just guessing here (somewhat educated guess but in no way expert!) but it sounds like you may have 1 of 2 different problems.

1) Defective equipment: You may have an internal problem with the antenna, antenna wire, antenna to radio connection or the radio itself.

2) Signal reception: The other problem might be either the antenna is not mounted flat so that the top (the "antenna" part of the antenna) is not pointed up but is instead at an angle. Or with the way the roof of the truck is so much taller than the antenna mounting location, depending on which direction your truck is pointed, I suppose it is possible that the truck itself is interfering with a clear direct unobstructed view of the satellite, (especially if the antenna is not mounted flat)

Assuming that your problem is not the radio itself (which is of course possible but most likely not the problem) replacing the antenna with a properly located one should fix all of the other issues at the same time so if your willing to just go replace it trying to figuring out exactly what the problem is should not be necessary, (unless of course it actually is a problem with the radio itself, then replacing/relocating the antenna 100x will not make any difference).

That said, I'm not sure a mirror mount would not still be blocked from proper unobstructed view of the right part of the sky depending on direction of travel. Assuming the provided wire is long enough, mounting behind the sleeper on the back wall sticking up slightly above the roof should be ideal as it would give 100% clear view of the correct part of the sky no matter what direction the truck was pointed.

Perhaps another Cascadia owner can chime in with what they did and report on how is working for them...