GXM30 Antenna?

I just sit mine on the dash. I take the extra cable and tie it up so if it moved it does not have to far to go before it stops. I have not had any problem with it going anywhere because of the weight, I guess if you are in a crash that could change things.

If it's going to be inside the cabin, it has to be out-of-sight. Real estate on the Forester dash is at a premium. I'd have to have it front-and-center, and that would reduce the efficiency of the winshield defroster. In the corners, it would just fall back. Plus, I DESPISE wires running throughout the cabin. That's one of the reasons I got the Kenwood. iPod integration so I can leave the cables tucked away and keep my iPod in the arm-rest.

Hi Jamahosky.

Do you subscribe to the XM NavTraffic ?

If so... what is your opinion of the Traffic service ?

I have tried it several times and fin dit pretty much useless.. not to mention EXPENSIVE.

Tim

You DO need a line-of-sight location for the antenna. If anything gets in the way of the XM signal, you'll lose the signal. Even the thin sheet metal of your car will block the signal.

I have mine mounted on the box of my truck. When I had it on the roof of the cab, whenever I traveled NE, I lost the signal. The box was blocking it. So, in general, anywhere the antenna can "see" a full 360 deg is the place to put it.

And yes, it is a pretty large unit. Get the right location for it and you'll enjoy the features it has to offer.

What makes you say it's worthless? Do you live in an area where they offer coverage? Thankfully, I don't HAVE to subscribe to the traffic service, so if it doesn't work well, I can always cancel it.

I live outside of Washington DC and commute within DC, Baltimore, and Frederick almost exclusively. XM's headquarters was a few blocks from my old apartment. Plus, with the Kenwood, it will re-route around traffic. It's only a few bucks more a month.

The box vs. the roof?

I'm not sure where to mount it. If I put it on the roof, I still have a big basket and spare tire above it. My current antenna provides fine service, though it goes out sometimes under short bridges and such.

What features does it have to offer? I got it because it's the only nav-traffic/XM/GPS antenna that is compatible with my headunit.

Can you disassemble the unit? I really dislike how the Garmin/XM logo isn't centered on the wire. It needs to turn 90 degrees.

Are you testing us?

Picture...Big Truck

Why do you carry your tire on the roof?

All XM radios lose signal when going under a bridge or tunnel unless you're in a large metro area that has ground-based repeaters.

It offers XM radio, XM traffic nav and basic weather. Just go to the Garmin website and it'll tell you all about it.

Sure you can disassemble it. Might have to use a screwdriver and hammer. But I'll guarantee it won't work again! It's a sealed unit.

As far as the Garmin logo...you'll have to get with Garmin on that!

...No?

Gotcha. A tractor. Not up to date on tractor terminology.

Because the spare tire well is full of an amp, off-road recovery gear, and an air compressor. The only logical location to put it is on the roof.

I feel like my XM cuts out a little more than it should. For example, my mom's Buick has XM and it cuts out far less under the same bridges. Short overpasses and it kills it in my car. When I had Sirrius, the receiver would buffer 30 seconds of radio for brief losses in signal.

I haven't used the Kenwood yet, so I don't know. I do know that I can monitor satellites tracked and the signal from each, so I'll experiment.

I briefly leafed through the included booklet and it appears that there are a lot of options, mostly nautical with relatively detailed weather and tidal capability. I'll have to fiddle around with it.

Hmm, a brief inspection through the clear cover shows a few standoffs that have screws threaded into them. I haven't tried, and I might not try, but I was hoping that you could unscrew those screws, pull the top off and rotate it 90 degrees. I'll look into it.

Hopefully I can find a location that won't look too funny and still work well. Security is key though. The magnet on the bottom isn't too strong, so I need a flat surface to put it, which means mounting it further back... under the basket.

On the contrary. I've had mine on the truck and have traveled over 50,000 miles without it ever moving. And believe me, trucks don't ride nearly as smoothly as cars do!

Good to hear. Compared to my current antenna, the magnets is weaker and it's got significantly more mass. As long as it'll handle 90mph and bumpy off-road stuff then it's all gravy.

Still don't know where to mount it though.

I have the traffic, it works well depending where I am. I find that some areas do not offer traffic flow, which is a pain. I have the gtm20 cable and that works well too, but will all traffic reporting, they are not 100%. I use the gtm20 for traffic in Baltimore since it gives traffic flow. The gxm30 I use on the road in areas I know that is gives traffic flow and areas not covered by the gtm20 fm service.

I've used mine a couple of times for some real long trips from Baltimore to Florida and I would end up in jams on I95 for which there were no alerts. Or it would show an alert and indicate a 20 minute delay and it ended up onyl being a slight slowdown.

I know it's not an exact science and it relies on the human factor, but it's just too far off to make it worthwhile for me.

It's not just a "few" dollars extra per month.

It costs me $9.95/month.

I have OEM Built-in XM Radio in my Honda and I use a Garmin 2730 GPS which has the GXM30 antenna.

But XM refuses to let me receive "just" the NavTraffic on my GXM30 for $3.95/month.

It's crazy to pay for Full blown XM service on the GXM30 when I already subscribe to XM on my Car Radio.

If XM would let me get just the NavTraffic as an XM subscriber for the $3.95, I would consider it.

But not for $120/year when I only use it two or three times the entire year anyway.

Tim

They won't let you combine your car radio XM with the NAVTraffic?

For me, it would be $9.95/month for radio AND traffic as I already have XM radio. Just need to add traffic.

I'll try it out. I've got a 6 hour road trip coming up in May, so I'll give it a shot and we'll see how it goes.

I confirmed it with some of the Guru's at MP3Car.com

According to them, plastic won't hamper performance. I will have to try it out to see if they are right.

The unit DOES kill the performance of my dash-top compass though. Hopefully that won't be there for long though.

Well, I got it all setup and it does work under the plastic. That's a relief!

I have a Land Rover LR3 and when the attenna was first installed it was recessed under the dash. I lost a lot of XM signals. I moved it up to on top of the dash...just 2 inches and it improved reception at least 50 percent. I still have some signal loss but it is now acceptable.

I have the same antenna for my Garmin 396 aviation GPS. I use it in my car to receive XM radio and in the air to receive XM weather. I've stuck it on my dash and it will lose signal in the hills and valleys I drive in MD. In my airplane, it works fine in the window and never loses signal.

It seems to want to "look" about SW for satellite(s?). If I am driving east or north, it will lose the signal more easily than heading south or west. In my 4Runner, I put it just under the moon roof glass, on top of the sun shade and it almost never lost signal, but it will on the dash.

The XM antenna is a lot more sensitive to losing signal than the GPS. I guess because there is only one, or maybe two XM satellites, where the GPS has to lock onto 4 out of 24 satellites.

The signal is also MUCH weaker.