Customer Reviews

Audiovox XM6 Terk Outdoor Home Antenna

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

XM was the only alternative when the last Classical FM station in South Florida was turned into a Hip Hop station. I love the service all except for the fly in the ointment that sometimes the signal is flawless and other times it fades in and out like an echo in the alps. I bought extensions to position the antenna in every possible angle and position with no success. I did a search yesterday after seriously considering tuning my XM receiver with a sledge hammer, and found this Terk on Amazon and had it overnighted. All I can say is for the first time in a year I have a consistent clear signal and uninterrupted music. I think part of the reason is that you use coax cable to connect it to the receiver unit; in my case the Polk Audio XRt12. I had been using the supplied cable and antenna which is thinner and smaller. Back to loving satellite radio. Highly recommended if you have trouble with your signal.

Last winter we purchased an XM Roady for the car and a Home Kit for the house. We live in a canyon where the XM satellites are just above the horizon. We are surrounded by pine and oak trees. Signal strength from the supplied indoor antenna varied between one and two bars, but it worked well enough.

Well, it worked until the leaves appeared on the oak trees. The signal started cutting out. By late June we couldn't bear to listen to it anymore. I cut down a couple of small oak trees and the signal improved but still cut out enough to be annoying.

We purchased the Terk antenna rather than cut more trees. I hooked the Terk to a 50-foot coaxial cable and dropped it on the ground on the southwest side of the house for test. Went back in the house and hooked it up to the Roady Home Kit receiver and had the maximum four bar signal strength.

I did have one problem. When I decided to purchase the Terk antenna Amazon suggested I also purchase an XM EXT50 indoor/outdoor antenna cable. So I did. Turns out that is the wrong cable for the XM Roadie Home Kit. All I needed was a coaxial cable with two female connector ends.

I've mounted this Antenna on my roof and hooked it up to a repeater in my third-story attic using coaxial cable. The repeater sends the satellite signal throughout the house. This has worked very well. My satellite radio now picks up the signal anywhere in the house without a long satellite antenna attached to it.

Got this over two years ago. Have it hooked up on my roof and connected to a Delphi repeater. Get great signal throughout the house. Even in the basement.

Will buy again if I ever buy a vacation house.

Something that anyone that intends to order this antenna should be aware of: this antenna will only work with older Sirius radios. This was confirmed by Audiovox, the manufacturer of the antenna.

The older Sirius radios provided 6.5~7.0 volts D.C. to the antenna to power the antenna. The newer Sirius radios and all XM radios only provide 4.5 volts D.C., which is insufficient to power the antenna. I tried two of these antennas and could not get them to work. I thought they were faulty until, after numerouse calls to Sirius and Audiovox, I found someone in Customer Support at Audiovox that confirmed that the antenna was 'obsolete' and would only work with the older Sirius radios. Sirius has changed all of their newer radios to have a 4.5 volt D.C. output, just like the XM radios.

I ended up buying a Pixel Satellite Radio antenna which worked right out of the box. If you need an outdoor antenna for your Sirius or XM radio, check out the Pixel Satellite Radio antennas. They have several models to choose from. They're all commercial grade quality and will work with D.C. voltages from 4 to 7 volts, so they will work with all Sirius and XM radios.

This is a well made antenna and is fully adjustable for optimom signal strength. Completely weatherproof. Works for delphi and sirius.

I bought this antenna originally because in my apartment I didn't have straight shot to the southern sky, so I thought buying this and placing it near or outside my window it would work fine. Well, to say the least, that didn't work out as planned. I could barely find reception, but I can't blame it for not working in that situation I guess it wasn't intended to do such magic.

However, on the good side, I have since moved and have mounted the product on the side of the house. Now I get perfect reception with absolutely zero interruptions! Would recommend to anyone that has a place for mounting.

Hooked this baby up today and it works awesome! It made the signal so strong even a storm didn't effect it. Gotta love amazon for having great products at rock bottom prices.

The antenna included with my XM radio got a miserable 0-1 bar where my home office is located. So I bought this and mounted it outside an upstairs window facing southerly. Full signal! Boom! Excellent product; but...

The description of this is a little lacking - had to cruise the manufacturer site, which was some help, but not entirely. From the Amazon images for this antenna, it looks like it MIGHT include the RG6 video cable. It doesn't (found that info on the manufacturer's site).

So I ended up ordering the AudioVox XM6 Terk Outdoor Antenna, a 50' coil of RG6 cable with standard F Plugs (same as is used for coax video connections) which connects directly to the AudioVox XM6 Terk Antenna, and I also ordered a Sirius-Xm SRSMBF50 XM RF to SMB Adapter - in order to convert the RG6's head end F Plug to the SMB connector that my XM Radio dock uses.

So here is the rub. They don't tell you that this antenna package INCLUDES an adapter to convert the standard video F Plug to the SMB connector on the XM Dock - so I now have 2 and only need one. Save the $14.99 for something you need!

So: this is a great product, includes pretty much all the hardware needed to mount the antenna, installs easily, works great. Get some RG6 video cable of a length that is appropriate for your installation (up to 100'), and skip ordering the RF-SMB adapter because the package includes one (even though it isn't mentioned in the product description). For longer runs, there is an in-line amplifier available, but I can't vouch for it because I only needed a 50' run and I've got FULL signal without any additional hardware.

Just got the outdoor antenna yesterday and I didn't have enough cable to put it outside so I set it in the window where I previously had the indoor antenna (with hit and miss reception) and WOW even used indoors my reception is crystal clear and never fades! I don't know if I will bother to move it outside...

Just a note: this antenna does NOT come with an extension wire of any kind, but it hooks up to regular TV coaxial cable and comes with an adaptor to plug into the xm receiver. Its very easy to install.