2021 R1250RT XM WORTHLESS - reception issues

eplerd said:

OH connecting a NEW antenna is easy as the radio connectors are all readily seen under pillion seat.
Moving existing antenna (as suggested above) is much more difficult as it is inside that mushroom like plastic now.
Given that an antenna is only $20 or so it's FAR EASIER to buy new than move....I think the suggestion to move it was for older bikes as it was under side or front plastic..

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eplerd said:

Can someone who has the radio tell me if their radio connectors are in the same order as mine?
Wondering if the mixed up the install

Where are you seeing these connectors? I don't see any pink connectors under the driver's seat on my 2022 R1250RT. They all seem to be black and don't look like these.

View attachment 176649

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eplerd said:

Well on your bike (older but can't tell what year) the antenna was buried under the fairing - on the 21's and beyond (so far) they are in a mushroom sort of enclosure just behind the big TFT.
I was thinking of putting one on the top trunk as I'll likely not remove it and if I mount it with 3m Velcro Dual-Lok super-duty stuff it can be removed from top box and moved to luggage rack.

As for looping cable tightly - yeah I've seen people do that and wonder why bad signal. Ummm its called an inductor LOL. Kinda like the traffic signal trigger wires.
I try to watch what I run wires next to as well....

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SBA said:

Dave, where do I connect the pink connector on the cable attached to the new XM antenna I ordered on Amazon? Is that connection under the passenger's seat? I want to mount it via two-sided tape just below the auxiliary outlet on the right side of my 2022 R1250RT's fairing.

Thanks,

Steve

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SBA said:

Dave, where do I connect the pink connector on the cable attached to the new XM antenna I ordered on Amazon? Is that connection under the passenger's seat? I want to mount it via two-sided tape just below the auxiliary outlet on the right side of my 2022 R1250RT's fairing.

Thanks,

Steve

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SBA said:

Thanks Dave. Question. Do Satellite and HD Radio use the same antenna? When I unplug the XM antenna and plug in my new one, will I then have no HD Radio antenna? Not sure my new XM puck and cable is also an FM/AM antenna. I'm guessing that the BWM factory antenna is an XM/FM/AM antenna combo. Not sure about the cheap one from Amazon.

Thanks and as others have already stated, I can't believe BWM did this and they and the dealerships are not readily offering a solution vs. telling everyone they've never heard or seen this before.

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SBA said:

Thanks Jono! I've never tried AM on my 2022 R 1250RT, but the HD Radio reception is terrible and the HD drops out often and within 20 miles of home I have no FM Radio at all, except static. In my 8 years car, I can listen to HD FM for hundreds of miles in all directions. Also, I juts confirmed yesterday that my SXM reception is stellar as long as I don't raise my windscreen more than a few inches. If I do, no SXM Reception. I'm tall, so I ride with the windscreen all the way up, so no SXM reception. Aside from no radio, a vibration right side mirror and TPMS that displayed pressure that are 2-3 psi lower than actual, this bike is awesome! Hoping the dealership can resolve these troublesome issues soon, as they've already had the bike twice for two days each to no avail, other than updating the software to version 013...

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jono said:

I have to say the electronics on the RT are baffling. I did a survey on a FB group and 50% responded saying their AM radio has zero reception. But 50% said it works fine. My FM HD works pretty well, I've ridden for 30-40 miles tuned to one station without any dropouts. My dealer doesn't want anything to do with the radio problems.

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dpickens said:

I'm in the 50% with ZERO AM reception.

For the FM-side of things, my issue is that it finds false stations (locks on to something, but then it's just a buzz or hum) and only finds the strongest signals... nothing in between.

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eplerd said:

So I went ahead and spent the extra $500+ to get the Alpine radio module for my RT to have XM as an option for music.
However the RECEPTION IS HORRIBLE - I get 2-3 seconds of music followed by 15 seconds or more of silence as it loses signal CONSTANTLY.

Does anyone know of a BMW fix for this?
I know I can go SPEND MORE money to get an aftermarket antenna and relocate it to the top box, but I'd rather it be integrated like BMW meant it to be.

GS911 scan info of bike and that module is as follows (need 2112.04 GS911 software) :

Bike Information : -
VIN : WB10L0302M6E68754
Model : R 1250 RT (K52)
Factory I-Level : K001-21-03-505
Actual I-Level : K001-21-11-500
Backup I-Level : K001-21-03-505



UNKNOWN : -
Controller Type : Unknown
Controller Name : UNKNOWN
Controller : 0x0F8910
Serial Number : 0000611508
Manufacturer : Alpine GmbH
Manufacture Date (YY/MM/DD) : 21/06/01
Firmware Date (YY/MM/DD) : 21/06/01
Kilometers when programmed : 0.00
Number of FW configurations : 7
HW Electronics (HWEL) :
Firmware ID : 0x64DE
Firmware Version : 004.003.000
Bootloader (BTLD) :
Firmware ID : 0x0006
Firmware Version : 004.000.001
SW Memory Image (SWFL) :
Firmware ID : 0x7862
Firmware Version : 004.000.001
SW Memory Image (SWFL) :
Firmware ID : 0x7863
Firmware Version : 004.000.001
SW Memory Image (SWFL) :
Firmware ID : 0x7864
Firmware Version : 004.000.001
SW Memory Image (SWFL) :
Firmware ID : 0x7860
Firmware Version : 004.000.001
Coding Data (CAFD) :
Firmware ID : 0x64E0
Firmware Version : 003.000.014

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eplerd said:

Yeah it's best if it is at the highest point on the bike
I'll just tow this with the bike

View attachment 176625 :

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eplerd said:

I worked on old TRC-97's in Korea A LONG TIME AGO (late 80's)
We had the old lolipop antennas for quad-diversity....

So to keep this thread related, some radio reception thoughts to ponder

I don't know why BMW doesn't do a software modification to allow the Radio Receiver to display Receive Signal Level (RSL) in dB's on the dasy in a troubleshooting menu.
That would give a CLEAR INDICATION of whether or not this is an issue with the antenna getting blocked by the windshield mounts or not.

My thinking is the brackets are either acting as a faraday cage of some sort OR we're getting multi-path reception hitting the antenna from multiple directions and 180 degrees out of phase.

If 180-degrees out of phase the resulting signal in the Receiver is ZERO signal (middle picture found during a quick google of "Phase cancellation")

View attachment 179842

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multipath_propagation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_interference


One option I'd LOVE to see is if someone with enough mechanical talent and 3D scanning/printing equipment could make those windshield brackets out of a plastic/polymer resin instead of metal.
Obviously they may not be as strong, however it would be a great test to prove/disprove the brackets as a source of signal blockage/cancellation.

I know I can just go buy a $20 (ish) antenna on Amazon/eBay/etc but I would much prefer the hidden antenna to function as it should (Though BMW NA told me on a phone call "It is working AS DESIGNED" to which I replied "then that is a shitty/worthless design" LOL

It looks like BMW may be giving me a refund on the radio instead of fixing the issue.

I'm still astounded that they didn't seem to do proper testing of the radio system in the USA before putting it into production.
I understand the difficulty as they would have to ship several test bikes to the USA to do the testing as the XM satellite signal footprint is only over North America & Central America.

View attachment 179843

But still, for a Mfg of their size to not properly test this as well as not provide a fix this IS ridiculous....but I'm the dummy still paying Sirius XM for service LOL (in the hopes BMW will fix this soon)

Dave

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2022R1250RTme said:

Hi. I have a 2022 R1250RT and you will find that as soon as you raise the windscreen more than a few inches the supports block the satellite signal, just like putting your hand over the antenna. I've been bringing it to the attention of BMW North America's customer service, discussing via emails wirh BMW in Germany and working with my dealership. So they should no longer be able to claim they've never heard of this which is what I heard from my dealership and BMW initially. I parked my bike with the engine off at the dealership with the satellite radio working perfectly had them come out and look at it. Then I raised the wind screen about 2" and lost the signal. Lowered it and signal came back. S ince then I've put a couple 100 miles on my bike with the windscreen down and never lost the satellite signal, yet raise it up even 2" and no satellite reception. Very disheartening and BMW needs to fix this by relocating the satellite antenna. However, i believe BMW's plan is to continue denying it and wait us out as the solution is to simply connect the new satellite radio antenna to the pink connector under the passenger seat and attach it to the top trunk or to the side brackets of the backrack, For less than $30 or you can try a more expensive 3.5" tower for about $50. BMW should put out a service bulletin, acquire the new antennas and have the dealers install them for free at say 1 of 3 or 4 locations to suit the customer.

Steve

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eplerd said:

I worked on old TRC-97's in Korea A LONG TIME AGO (late 80's)
We had the old lolipop antennas for quad-diversity....

So to keep this thread related, some radio reception thoughts to ponder

I don't know why BMW doesn't do a software modification to allow the Radio Receiver to display Receive Signal Level (RSL) in dB's on the dasy in a troubleshooting menu.
That would give a CLEAR INDICATION of whether or not this is an issue with the antenna getting blocked by the windshield mounts or not.

My thinking is the brackets are either acting as a faraday cage of some sort OR we're getting multi-path reception hitting the antenna from multiple directions and 180 degrees out of phase.

If 180-degrees out of phase the resulting signal in the Receiver is ZERO signal (middle picture found during a quick google of "Phase cancellation")

View attachment 179842

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multipath_propagation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_interference


One option I'd LOVE to see is if someone with enough mechanical talent and 3D scanning/printing equipment could make those windshield brackets out of a plastic/polymer resin instead of metal.
Obviously they may not be as strong, however it would be a great test to prove/disprove the brackets as a source of signal blockage/cancellation.

I know I can just go buy a $20 (ish) antenna on Amazon/eBay/etc but I would much prefer the hidden antenna to function as it should (Though BMW NA told me on a phone call "It is working AS DESIGNED" to which I replied "then that is a shitty/worthless design" LOL

It looks like BMW may be giving me a refund on the radio instead of fixing the issue.

I'm still astounded that they didn't seem to do proper testing of the radio system in the USA before putting it into production.
I understand the difficulty as they would have to ship several test bikes to the USA to do the testing as the XM satellite signal footprint is only over North America & Central America.

View attachment 179843

But still, for a Mfg of their size to not properly test this as well as not provide a fix this IS ridiculous....but I'm the dummy still paying Sirius XM for service LOL (in the hopes BMW will fix this soon)

Dave

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mpwr6 said:

This is a great solution posted on another forum.

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ealdous34 said:

I tried this and it didn't work, It wasn't any better that the mushroom antenna.

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jono said:

FWIW: The folks over on the Facebook group (where George's document came from) have almost universally reported success with the technique. There were a couple people who bought a cheapo antenna off Amazon and couldn't get it to work - but then bought a Sirius puck antenna and had success.

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