Interesting response from your dealer. You should call other dealers and see if they have similar responses. I and others on this board have done the XM install and have had no issues. Maybe others that live in the northeast can pipe in and cite their Sat Rad experience.

 

I had XM installed the week after I got the car (May 10, 2006). I have had absolutely no problems or issues what so ever, except for the truncating of the readout to ten characters, because of a poor engineering decision on Toyota's part. The installer did not want to mount the antenna on the window. He said the window molding did not lend itself to that application. He mounted the antenna between the trunk & the rear window. It has always been my understanding, that the antenna works best when mounted on metal. The Pioneer receiver is mounted behind the convential battery in the trunk.

 

Was this the "official" XM equipment from Toyota? If so, I didn't realize that the receiver box in the trunk was made by Pioneer...

 

My dealer (Morristown, NJ) did not have the capability to install XM, so he referred me to a Toyota approved installer. The installer said that the Pioneer unit was the only one that would work with the nav system & the controls on the steering wheel. After the installation, it worked with both, just like it if it had been done at the factory.

 

Hi,

I just picked up my '07 TCH on Sept 26. I had the xm radio kit installed (well, not really but the dealer traded cars and as it turns out, the camry we ended up getting had the xm radio kit installed in it.. Since we didn't really want it, the dealer charged me 1/2 price for it)

Anyways, since it comes with a free 3 month trial, I activated it. I live in Washington state and I noticed when I'm driving east or west and have large, tall trees on either side, I get major signal loss - to the point where I switch to FM.

Anyways, like all other TCH's I read about, my XM Antenna is mounted on the rear shelf next to the battery vent. I have a feeling that if the antenna was mounted outside, perhaps on the rear trunk, I might get better location. I say this because when I get loaner cars from other dealers that have an xm radio antenna mounted on the outside, I get no signal loss on the same stretches of road.

Has anyone taken their TCH back to the dealer to have the antenna moved to the rear trunk lid? If so, did the dealer put up a fuss? How is your reception now?

Thanks to all!

 

Isn't brake control power supply also mounted in the trunk, on the side of the battery facing front of the car? Originally I thought it was my Sirius receiver and it even has Panasonic name printed on the side but after looking closer it came out to be backup power supply for brakes.

 

I live in Washington state and I noticed when I'm driving east or west and have large, tall trees on either side, I get major signal loss - to the point where I switch to FM.
Essentially both XM and Sirius rely on the satellites and a network of ground repeaters for coverage across the US. For urban areas there are more repeaters to get around buildings, tunnels etc that disrupt line of sight. I'm in the So. California region and possibly benefit from a slightly higher elevation angle from the satellites as well as more repeaters. The XM satellites are transmitting 23,000 miles directly above the equator so folks in the upper part of the US have to contend with a more shallow elevation signal (and thus more prone to 'blockage' from buildings, trees). Ground repeaters should compensate for this but I'm not sure how many they deploy in more rural areas.

My setup is the same as yours and I only get rare dropouts when large trees (+30 foot) or buildings are directly (within 1 or 2 car lane width) to the south. Since you bought the TCH with XM as a Toyota dealer accessory, and it is not performing to your satisfaction, insist the dealer correct the situation. Suggest to the dealer that having a larger ground plane (ala the trunk lid or roof) for the antenna and mounted at an unobstructed view to the sky is recommended by XM (for all their retail plug-n-play units) for best reception. Good luck!

 

I just installed XM Radio myself in my new TCH. The sound is supurb (except for the road and new channel sound like in a tunnel?). I'm not a bid Classical fan but with the XM and the quiet car it's pretty nice. .

Installation in not for the timid, you really need to yank on some of the plastic to get out. The cover under the glove box is kinda tricky.

If anyone wants a copy of the factory installation instructions, see the attachedment.

My local dealer charged my $100 for install kit (includes the special cable) and $150 for the reciever.

 

Since I bought my car from a Toyota dealer that is 120+ miles away, I called a local Toyota dealer and asked about having the antenna moved to the outside. Their reply? They told me that they dont work with the XM Kits at all and that no one in their service area would know what to do. Then they said that since the location of the antenna is where "it should be" they wouldn't be able to do it anyway. wtf?

I'm checking with Toyota customer service now to see what my options are.

 

I did a self-install of my old Delphi XM unit sitting on its base intended for home stereo connection. It sits in the compartment in front of the shifter, plugs into the cig. lighter plug and the 1/8" AUX input jack located in the same compartment. I bought a $30 magmount XM antenna and it sits on the car's roof just behind the windshield above the mirror.

I get no more XM signal loss in the Camry than I do in our Dodge Caravan with its professionally installed aftermarket (also Delphi) XM tuner. I would guess that the Toyota XM tuner has a standard XM antenna jack and you can probably bypass the car's built-in antenna and use an external one like I did.