Sena 20S Poor Radio Reception
I have just purchased a 20S as I have just bought a new BMW and wanted to go down the Bluetooth route. I chose the 20S partly because it had an FM Radio.
I have tried it twice now, in and around Aberdeen and the reception was okay but outwith Aberdeen, the reception is non existant.. It is just not acceptable. I had a radio fitted to my last bike, connected via an Autocom and it was very good throughout the North East of Scotland.
Today, when I lost radio signal, I used my mobile phone to establish a radio reception and was able to listen to the radio that way. This confirmed that the FM signal was there and it was simply the Sena that couldnt find it.
Are Sena looking into this issue?
Keith
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Keith, I doubt that Sena is looking to significantly address this issue. Your experience closely matches Ewan's (also from Aberdeen). See my response to him here. These miniaturized coms just don't have room for a good FM antennae to be built into them. I recommend you purchase a dedicated radio like this JENSEN Heavy Duty JHD910BT, and pair it to your 20s as a media device if you want better FM reception. It is weatherproof and run about $180 (US) on Amazon.com. I have no affiliation with the product, and am not being paid to endorse it. I have not tried it myself, but it mostly gets good reviews on Amazon.
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Thanks for your response Hung. Sena are aware of the issue and should address it. I thought that someone from Sena would actually reply to this post but maybe thats not how it works??
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Keith, Sena is similar to many online manufacturers in maintaining both a Support site and a Community site.
Sena's participation in the Community site is minimal if at all, typical of such practices. To that end we are left to fend for ourselves, as best we can.
Actual Sena support comes from the Sena Help desk.
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As to the FM reception of the 20S, I agree that it's an afterthought, and not a primary consideration.
Good FM or any radio reception is dependent on several factors. Regarding the receiver, two major factors are the sensitivity of the receiver and the antenna, as Hung mentioned.
The BT radio of the 20S has very high sensitivity and results in operation over greater distances than we normally see with typical BT earphones. The FM receiver does not get the same attention and the tiny antenna doesn't offer much help.
What may offer some improvement in FM reception is the orientation of the longer speaker wire. Sena instructs you to run it around the back of the helmet. If you run it over the top of the helmet (between the shell and foam liner, of course) it may improve your reception somewhat.
But a separate source of FM signal is almost certain to offer significant improvements over the Sena. The suggested radio (Jensen JHT910BT is $289 MSRP and $239 at amazon. The $180 version looks to be sans BT.
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This is the community forum. Most of the comments I've seen have been from other product owners, but I have seen the occasional reply from Sena staff in other posts. The only sure way to get a response from Sena is to initiate a warranty repair/product support request. I recently did this for a wrist remote control unit, and got a pretty quick response:
Help Desk
Stay updated with announcements, get answers from the community and share your feature suggestions with us. You can also submit a request or send us an email at support@sena.com or call us at the numbers below:
- US and Canada Toll Free 1-800-607-6156 (English)
- France +33 9 87 67 95 00 (French)
- Other Countries +1-925-255-8936 (English)
- Business Hours:
- US/Canada/Other Countries Monday - Friday 8 AM - 5 PM Pacific Standard Time.
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