my xm radio doesnt work

hi i have a pioneer 8400 head unit..  just bought the xm reciever and antenna.. my question is because everything is now installed and i need to know what to do.

it doesnt work..  the head unit reads no signal..  i drive around for like 30 minuets to see it i was just in a bad area.. and i found one patch that i was able to hear channel 1..  i was wondering since i did hear it,  di need a new antenna..  the one i have is a terk antenna..  bought it off line on etronics.com. heres the link. http://www.etronics.com/product.asp?stk_code=tertrksr1x and the reciever i bougt is this one.  http://www.etronics.com/product.asp?stk_code=piogexp900xm..  also i think maybe it might be a possibility..  i have tint on my rear window.  this antenna is a thru window antenna that requires no drilling..  could the tint be a problem???

thanks,  idg4ever....  claremont, ca

The tint could be a problem, but let's figure some other stuff out first.

Sometimes the head units don't make a distinction between getting a bad/weak signal, and having an improperly connected antenna, so you should test for that first.  XM reception is pretty good most places. 

Swap the two antenna plugs on the xm tuner box.  One of them is green (terrestrial repeater signal input) and the other one is yellow (satellite signal input).  They're color coded to match the tuner's input plugs so it's really hard to get them backwards.

However, sometimes during the installation the plastic colored plug ends of the cable are removed to make it easier to pull the cable through tight spots in the vehicle, but then reattatched on to the wrong cable.  In that situation, even if you have green plugged in to green, they might need to be switched around for it to work properly.

If that doesn't solve your problem, it's also possible is that there is something wrong with the antenna cables themselves.  They are very fragile cables and can get damaged VERY easily during an installation.  The only way to properly test for a damaged cable, without removing the cable from the vehicle and/or having to run the new cable through the vehicle, is to try another "test" antenna.

There are two explanations I can think of for why it might have worked momentarily.  First, one or more of the cables might be loose or damaged in such a way that going over a bump could make it come back on intermittently.   It's also possible that only the yellow (satellite signal) wire is messed up, and so in that particular location you were getting coverage via a terrestrial repeater (the green plug).

Just out of curiosity, where in the US do you live?  and what kind of vehicle do you have?

i live outside of los angeles, about 40 min in a city called claremont..  i have a volkswagen corrado...

i am going to try what you told me..  i think the antenna itself is bad...  im just going to go to my buddies shop and have him lend me another antenna..  if it works ill just return the one i have.....

here's one obvious question... did you call xm's number and have the system activated? sounds dumb, but you didn't mention one way or the other. and you would recieve a slim signal from the preview channel... the reason it wouldn't work all the time is that the sat system hadn't been activated and dialed in yet.

also, yes... glass mount ant + tinted windows = crappy signal. you should have bought one of the new low profile ones...