got the 6.5 infomat system on board and the reception for xm is pretty bad. have read that this a pretty common problem. dealership says all like this and that they recommend to customers to not buy x m radios for their bikes due to antenna is under fairing. have read of some solutions and am looking for more ideas. hate to have something on anything I own to be not working correctly. have contacted MOCO and am waiting for response. also get a popping noise in FM, also read that is seems to common, will contact HD on this issue also. personally I think they could come up with a stubby antenna that mounts to one side of the fairing vent within the frame work of the vent itself. I see it to be no worse than the ones that are mounted to the roof of cars. thanks in advance for any feed back and ideas

 

You need to take the vehicle back to the dealer and have them update the software to get rid of the popping/snapping noise. That solved it for me and my 14 SG. My FM radio reception sucks too......

 

A question: have you had XM on another bike or in a car before this? I ask because we have it in our 2012 GMC Terrain, & I have a Zumo GPS that has XM which was mounted on my previous bike - a Yamaha Venture - and I had the XM antenna mounted inside the fairing. On both the GMC & my bike, the XM signal would cut out from time to time. On our trips from NE Ohio to SW Pennsylvania, about 125 miles, it looses signal in maybe 6 places along the turnpike. It is worse as we get into the hills of PA. The Zumo lost the signal more. However, when I rode that bike to California & back, it hardly ever went out as I rode through the center of the country. Once we get out of the hilly & congested NE area, the factory unit in the GMC works better too.

I guess I'm saying that the 2 XM radios I have experience with, one a factory automotive unit with the antenna on the roof & another I mounted on my last bike with the antenna in the fairing, I've come away believing occasional signal losses are normal. Hope you get yours worked out!

 

I had XM radio reception issues on my '13 Road Glide Utra with the XM antenna puck mounted on the bracket on the side of the radio. I pulled the fairing off and mounted the XM antenna puck on top of the radio and that corrected all reception issues. I just ordered the XM module for my '14 Limited and plan to mount the XM antenna puck on top of the radio like I did the Road Glide. Hopefully I won't have any reception issues by doing this.

 

I had Xm on my 12 FLHTK with a stubby mount on my handlebar. It worked pretty well (Under the fairing factory mount was bad)
I've since installed a module on my 14 FLHTK and it is terrible, even with the stubby mounted in the same place.
I'm thinking this module has no data buffer in it and the other older one may have. It cuts out in the stupidest places too.
Smitty

 

I have the XM module on my SGS, first attempt at antenna mount was where the Install directions indicated, no good.... Second attempt was the highest point inside the fairing upper left side, no good... Now I made a very small groove and relocated it opposite the fairing vent button on the inner fairing right behind the windshield, there is just enough cable to do this, slightly better.... Bottom line I, I have to agree with Switty, not enough bufffer.. Hope HD can improve that with a software update.

 

The XM reception in my 14 FLHTK is awful. I've pulled the puck out of the fairing and mounted it on the top of the fairing. The signal is better, but it cuts out on almost every back road that has tree cover. I've gone as far as getting a windshield mount and put the puck at the top of the windshield. I just did that tonight and will be trying it out, but I'm not expecting much.

Overall I think it's XM itself and their satellite system. Prior to this I had a Quadzilla fairing on my 06 Road King that had a Sirius radio installed. I had that puck installed on a handlbar mount and no matter where I rode I never lost that signal.

Even though XM and Sirius are the same company now, they still use the separate satellite systems. It's pretty obvious to me that Sirius is a much better signal. I actually going to start looking at whether I can add a Sirius receiver in my bike and junk the XM one.

 

Wow, just for comparison, my Sirius/XM is flawless. It does have a smallish buffer like when going under a bridge, but over all it works great.

On the other hand (though I rarely listen to it) FM really is poor. By poor I mean signal strength over a long distance. Close to a station and no problem and sounds great (no popping etc.), but start getting some miles away and it REALLY fades quickly.

 

What version software is currently on your infotainment system? If it isn't the latest, that would explain the popping on FM since current versions seem to have fixed that. Also, no need to take to a dealer to update, just read the instructions on HD site (or numerous threads here on software updating) and get current with your software. Doesn't take but a few minutes. Of course, if you have the latest (1.17.4 or 1.17.5) I got nothing else for ya.

 

The Harley XM module has a data buffer of about 1 second. Most others have at least a 6 second buffer. That makes a big difference in actual use. But the motor company's view on this along with the crappy CB function is that they manufacture motorcycles first and luxuries like navigation, CB radio and satellite radio are only available to keep up with the competition.