FM Radio does not work
I have a Nolan N104 and a Scalarider G9 and where I live they both pick up FM radio perfectly fine The Noland is a little better than the G9 but they both work on at least 4 stations. The 20S however gives me nothing. Even getting much closer to the transmitter I get very little and have to turn my head just to get a very slight signal. The speaker cable goes up over the top of my helmet and I even tried with the little side aerial up but no dice.
The FM radio on the 20S is not only extremely poor but is in fact useless to me and is one of the reasons I purchased it. Not the main reason but an important one.
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"The FM radio on the 20S is not only extremely poor but is in fact useless to me and is one of the reasons I purchased it. "My only reason to upgrade from the SMH10 to the 20S...
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+1 after update 1.1 and enabling automatic switching of station for better reception I got better results, but they are still so bad it's unusable!
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In the Netherlands only one or two channels are some sort of oke, the rest is bad...
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Maybe you guys have defective units. I get stations on my 20S that my 2012 BMW R1200RT factory radio doesn't pick up. It works as well as my car radio. Sounds like something is wrong.
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Bill, where are you located? Because in the Netherlands the reception is very poor...
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It's not working for me too, I've bought a pair, updated one yerterday evening, hoping it could be the solution, but no... and i'm living near Paris, with a lot of radio stations...
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Jeroen, I am in Denver, Colorado, USA. I wonder if there is a difference in FM radio transmission strength between our two countries?
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Here in Knoxville Tn I can only pickup 2 stations at best. FM reception is very poor. Maybe another Firmware Update will be able to fix it
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CT, FM radio uselss...
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CT, FM radio useless. Hopefully it will work with next firmware update. For me, it was an important factor on purchasing this product.
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I just received the 20s today. I tested out the FM radio and it seems to be operating OK. We'll see once I get it out riding. I am able to pick up the normal local stations with no real issues.
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I also have some problems with the FM Radio in Belgium. When I leave for work, my reception in my home neighborhood is acceptable, but the further I get from home the less reception I get. It almost seems like my RDS isn't working properly. The strange thing is though: when I put my hand over my 20s unit (kind of like making a shell surrounding it) the reception improves and I can listen to any station without any problems.
I think it's probably due to some kind of interference from my cellphone (which is located about 30 cm lower than my 20s unit), but I'll have to test that out. Are any of you experiencing the same issues?
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FM receiver just sucks... i had some cases where i had a good radio channel on the freeway but after a while it's lost and i only get static.... i gave up the FM function on the 20s :(
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Does it use the earphone wires as antennas? I ask because I have removed those in favor of earbuds. Now my radio reception has gone from good to poor. I think I will plug the speakers back in again and see if that makes a difference.
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Plugged the speakers back in and that made no difference in reception, still spotty. If I don't get a fix for this I'll be returning my units. Too bad.
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+1 Poor FM reseption and autoscanning feature is useless. 0 -
It's clearly some kind of antenna problem. After talking to a couple of people, about the weird behavior that occurs when putting your hand on the unit when you have bad FM reception, I found out that apparently your body starts working like an antenna. So that's why you suddenly get crystal clear reception. Kind of like when your car remote works from a longer distance when you hold it up to your temple.
Maybe taping some copper wire to your helmet will solve the problem :) I'm not sure Sena will be able to fix this with a firmware update, it will most likely need some kind of (free) accessory I suppose.
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"it will most likely need some kind of (free) accessory" FREE?? this is Sena were talking about here!! I#ll be amazed but happy if they do sort some sort of permanent and free fix for this problem!! I paid a premium price for this kit so I want it to work correctly, they postponed the release often enough!!
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"it will most likely need some kind of (free) accessory" FREE?? this is Sena were talking about here!! I#ll be amazed but happy if they do sort some sort of permanent and free fix for this problem!! I paid a premium price for this kit so I want it to work correctly, they postponed the release often enough!!
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I just picked up my 20S at my local dealer here in Waukesha, WI. Updated firmware and installed the App on my HTC One. Programmed the FM stations to my local favorites, and it works beautifully.
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Although the FM radio works, and the voice command to turn it on works perfectly. When I double tap the unit and say "fm radio" Sena says "fm radio off" then immediately "fm radio on" and the radio comes back on. Is this a bug or am I doing something wrong?
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Picked up a 20s in Europa, and compared to the cardo rider q2 - the radio reception is totally weak. I live about 30 km away from the FM broadcast station - I get weak reception - following by noise while searchingan alternative freuqency. (RDS is on). The nex thing which is very annoying is the freuqency confirmation. I hav paird an android->Bmw navigator5->20s and every time I get an routing information, the FM radio cuts off and than afterwards it spells the frequency before continuing reception. I suggest to speel the frequency only on initial switch on and after changing the channel and nooot after an interruption of an navigation info.
Regards Joe from Austria
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Bob, mine did the same thing! FM ON, FM OFF. If you have something plugged into the AUX input remove that and see how it works then. Sena told me that when the AUX input is playing you can't have FM Radio because AUX has priority.
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Hi from the UK, I am having the same poor reception with my 20s, I was getting nothing other than the local BBC radio, did a fault re set with the paper clip, and things did improve on the desk but on the bike no improvement at all, RDS not working at all, and the only improvement in reception is if you hold your hand over the unit ( not ideal when riding or safe ) come on sena some answers please or you can expect a lot of retuned units. Kind regards Keith. 0 -
Yeah, I think they have a little work to do with the firmware.
I can hear FM radio, but only in strong-signal areas. At my house, I can hear some stations well if I stand near a window that faces towards downtown Dallas and turn my head just so. If my head is turned a different direction, the signal fades out.
Luckily, FM radio was the least of my desire for the 20S. I n ever expected it to work well since they don't have a big antenna. It meets my expectations.
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Bill, nothing connected to the Aux jack simply FM on, FM off. Not sure but I am going to send Sena a note on it.
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The FM radio is the only thing which doesn't work for me properly.
It doesn't seem to scan for the strongest signal (or if it is, it's doing a bad job at it). Most of the time static or when I do get a connection it's not long before it's unbelievably noisy. Oh, I'm based in the South of England if that helps.
I only tested it to see what it was like, other than that it doesn't really bother me as I don't listen to the radio normally. Everything else this headset offers is perfect and would still highly recommend it.
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Bought a dual pack partly due to this feature and it is completely useless.
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Yes the F M radio part of the Sena 20s is very VERY frustrating! I thought I had found a solution by having the speakers touching my ears to act as extra ARIAL through me ( very uncomftable ) and in my office I could tune in and find stations and move around with quite good reception, But as soon as I get on the bike (BMW R1200 RT) and start to move of and negotiate roundabout s all is lost and just loud mush. Plus when the radio is on the voice activation will not respond, so you have to take your hand off to switch F M radio off. So definite issues with the radio, RDS, and voice control . Please sena tech guys get the problems sorted with an upgrade or a bit of kit to clip on. I use my bike every day for commuting and the radio was high on my priority list of features. 0 -
Weak FM reception here as well. I'm in a small town with excellent radio reception for the station I listen to. Before the 20S I listened to FM with a MP3 player (Creative Zen Vision M) and earbuds and reception was perfect. With the 20S it's cutting in and out in several areas of town. I've tried to reroute the speaker wires by the longest path possible in the helmet and it's helped a little but in general, reception is very poor and I'd anticipate it would be unusable when I get out of town.
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