donsmith

I traded in a '14 Escape where the SiriusXM reception was solid. The only dead spot under open sky in all of the Dallas area that I've ever encountered in years of living here is one spot on a freeway connecting us to Fort Worth. That's gotta be RF interference that IFallsGuy speaks of. Let me say it again; the sat signal, like any signal sensed by a moving vehicle, varies in strength. Under open sky that variation happens well above the signal strength needed by the radio to capture the signal and there is no receiver interruption. The problem is that the radio is getting a marginal signal from the antenna in my opinion. Thus, the normal signal strength delta goes across the strength needed for the radio. So, in my case, my radio is constantly searching for a signal, getting it for a few seconds, sometimes a minute or two, and then goes back to searching for a signal. All along a route I take every day and a route where my '14 Escape had solid satellite radio performance. The satellite service is unusable for me. UN-UNSABLE! I'm convinced the antenna or it's connecting cable is at fault. I just learned how to get access to behind the center stack and I'm toying with the idea of seeing if I can get access to the sat antenna input to the radio and temporarily plugging in a third-party antenna to test my theory.

Martian

If it's in the same spot, it's likely there's something interfering with the signal right there, possibly transmitter or a radio beam pointed through there.

MikeF150S

Glad to know its not just my truck with this problem. I had already decided it was not worth subscribing since it was constantly cutting off.

The two problems I have had with my new truck concern the radio. The first problem was my radio would not come on until I stopped the truck and let it sit for a few minutes.

FranksLive

Everything seems to point to a weak antenna from what I'm reading.

jibber

I have a 2015 Lariat and have never had a single dropout in the truck. I have three other radios in my other vehicles that date to pre-merger XM all on lifetime subscriptions and even in locations where they typically drop out the truck does not. I think it must be a hardware issue. Bad antenna??

Livnitup

There's a replacement antenna out now for Escape/Fiesta/Focus/C-Max owners who had the same issues and the cutting out of the signal is being reported as fixed. Hoping we get the replacement antenna soon also as it drives me nuts; it cuts out constantly where I live.

Cduncanf

I had one of the really old Sirius only add on units, I think it was called Sirius One. It was the blue screen. Thing worked great. I added a Pioneer deck with a Sirius XM add on module and in one truck, it had a lot of dropouts, but I attributed it to the Pioneer deck. I moved the Pioneer to a different vehicle and kept a different SXM module, and it works much better with very few dropouts. I think part of the problem is when Sirius bought XM, they went to XM hardware, which seems to drop more. Maybe it's XM's bands? I will know in a few weeks when my Lariat arrives.

kamenrider

I have been enjoying Sirius/XM service for years and I know exactly where signal drops on my commute. F150 drops signal too often(3-4 times more). Must be weak/cheap antenna/receiver. Hopefully Ford will do a recall soon before summer...

donsmith

Found a YouTube video talking about SiriusXM antenna failure on Fords. This guy demos putting on a third-party antenna and says the built-in antenna cabling is getting pinched and water is getting inside the cable and eroding it. Who knows if he's right so here's the video link to consider as food for thought:

Livnitup

The guy in the video states he's working on an 06' F-150, not a 15-16 F-150.