xm/sirus Roadie receiver

My roady is located in the entertainment center which is in a slide out. I have thought of putting a sheet of galvanized sheet metal on the roof and put the antenna on that but running the wire to the entertainment center in the slide seems a bit daunting to me....

I've been using a roadie for 9 years. You need to move the antennae to some place where you'll receive the signal. You should have 3 bars on the upper right corner of the screen. 1 bar and it loses signal. 2 bars is pretty good. 3 bars and you're locked in perfect.
I have to put my antennae in all kinds of different places. I ran an extension antennae wire from the roadie docking setup that's inside the 5er, outside and under the 5er. I have a plug located near the rear of the 5er in an enclosed outside elec box mounted under the rear.
All I have to do is plug the XM antennae wire into that and then place the antennae pod where needed to receive a signal. Usually just throw it up on the roof of the 5er.

My xm siruis radio has a signal bar showing the signal strength. There should be no question if its an antenna problem or not. It needs at least 2 bars on the bar meter.
And I just checked w/ XM themselves, and they verified that the magnetic antenna does not need a ground plane, such as a CB. All any of their antennas need is a clear vieew to the sky.

You need a ground plane for the antenna to work correctly. Try cutting the bottom off of a coffee can and putting the antenna on it. Put it in an upper cabinet or somewhere with the least interference above. If you RV has has a roof of something other than metal it should "see" through it.

If that doesn't help you can use a "home" antenna which has the metal built into it.

You still need a clear view of the sky for the Sat signal to hit the receiver. The receiver just then "rebroadcasts" the signal for your car radio to receive it.

Fire Instructor wrote:
Isn't there supposed to be some kind of powered adaptor between the fm radio and the antenna plug for that system to work? I had that in a previous vehicle, so that I could receive the XM through the car's sound system.

Yes, and hooking it up the same way as the car and truck, which work, does not work in the camper. In my vehicle the antenna is magnatecially attached to the hood so I am wondering if I need a metal ground plane or a clear view of the sky.

The boom box I plug mine into has its own small-block antenna. It tells me if there's no signal.

Isn't there supposed to be some kind of powered adaptor between the fm radio and the antenna plug for that system to work? I had that in a previous vehicle, so that I could receive the XM through the car's sound system.