Very disappointed in Sirius's reception

I'm not talking about the sound quality through FM modulation... it's crackly and it sucks, but I knew that was going to happen.

 

I'm talking about the friggin head unit losing its signal and picking up half-signals that make the song sound like a garbled cell phone cnversation. It's not an installation error, because I lose the signal in the same friggin places every time.

 

On I-696 crossing over the Lodge Freeway, and on Woodward Avenue south of I-696. There are no tall buildings in those areas, and no tunnels that I'm going through. It just loses signal... sometimes for as long as 20 seconds.

 

Is this typical of Sirius reception? Not happy.

Where is your antenna?

$5 says trunk lid.

I'm not talking about the sound quality through FM modulation... it's crackly and it sucks, but I knew that was going to happen.

 

I'm talking about the friggin head unit losing its signal and picking up half-signals that make the song sound like a garbled cell phone cnversation. It's not an installation error, because I lose the signal in the same friggin places every time.

 

On I-696 crossing over the Lodge Freeway, and on Woodward Avenue south of I-696. There are no tall buildings in those areas, and no tunnels that I'm going through. It just loses signal... sometimes for as long as 20 seconds.

 

Is this typical of Sirius reception? Not happy.

 

Are there lots of trees in the area? Does the lose of reception occur at any time of the day? Where is your antenna located? Is the headunit/Sirius tuner fairly new?

 

The only problem I have is when I am stuck under an overpass or on a road with lots of tree cover I get some breakup, but other than that, the reception is great!

 

-S

Are there lots of trees in the area? Does the lose of reception occur at any time of the day? Where is your antenna located? Is the headunit/Sirius tuner fairly new?

 

The only problem I have is when I am stuck under an overpass or on a road with lots of tree cover I get some breakup, but other than that, the reception is great!

 

-S

 

Just like me and I'm in Puerto Rico.

 

I mostly get 3 out of 10 in the meter strength. Sumetimes it's 8 out of 10.

 

Of course 0 on the one that registers land based repeaters.

Antenna is mounted on the roof, right in front of the sunroof.

 

There are some trees that line Woodward Ave... sorta, I guess. Certainly nothing that would make a difference. No trees around the 696/Lodge Freeway overpass.

 

Of course I lose signal in tunnels and stuff - no big deal, I expected that.

 

No specific time of day to any of this either. My receiver is brand new - the Starmate Replay and I just got it installed on Monday.

Check the signal indicator first; if the signal is good; it's something else; i.e. a satellite issue or hardware issue on-board.

 

Because the signal to the antenna is digital, it's either yes or no; there's no percentages in between.

 

Next, make sure there's no local station using the freq. on your sat. tuner. I had a situation where a new FM station came on line and I was befuddled as to why my sat tuner started acting up all of a sudden. Check the manual for instructions for setting the freq. on your sat tuner/fm mod.

 

Becuase your system was just installed; there's a possibility something wasn't done correctly.

 

Finally, in the world of digital sound, the FM modulator sucks on a comparative basis. A strong local FM signal sounds slightly better then my Starbase.

It's definitely the satellite signal I am losing and not the FM signal to my antenna.

 

I know this because when the sound goes out for more than 2 seconds or so, the screen on my Sirius receiver says "Acquiring Signal"

 

The problem isn't between the modulator and my car's radio, and it has nothing to do with reception quality. I lose the signal from the Sirius satellite. And again, I don't think it's an installation issue because I lose the signal in the same area every day... right by my house... on Woodward Avenue south of 696 - it's a garbled mess all around my house. A Satellite signal may be on/off but have you ever listened to a cell phone conversation on a digital network where you start to lose reception? That's exactly what it sounds like... half words, half beats, just a garbled mess... sometimes on, and sometimes off. The other place it happens is while I'm on my way to work on 696 as I cross over the Lodge Fwy. I usually lose the signal there for about 20 seconds.

too much RF interference in those areas... could be sitting next to a substation, power lines, or secret government radar installation. lol.

The picking up half signals that you mentioned makes me think the unit wasnt hard wired, or wasnt dont properly. When it is, it blocks out all other signals. No FM stations can bleed in.

 

No, that isn't it. Apparently, I'm not making myself very easy to understand. The problem is not between the receiver and my radio. No other stations bleed in, I can tell the difference between FM interference and completely losing a satellite signal.

 

Ever heard a CD skip? Ever seen HDTV become pixelated during a storm? It's the same thing that happens to my Sirius reception. Every once in a while, the signal is dropped entirely and the receiver changes its display to say "Acquiring Signal".

 

The problem is between the satellite and my Sirius antenna. I lose the signal from Sirius.

 

I'm sorry for being difficult to understand, hopefully that clarifies it.

too much RF interference in those areas... could be sitting next to a substation, power lines, or secret government radar installation. lol.

 

RF interference would cause me to lose a digital satellite signal? I should add that when I was an XM subscriber, I never lost my XM reception in those areas.

i never have un explained signal issues with xm either

I had my Sirus in my Jeep - antenna on the roof, and I had the same problem here in LA.

 

Really frustating.

 

Now, I have my sirus in the house, sationary antenna and always get great reception.

 

When I installed my home antenna, I had a hard time getting reception.

 

I called Sirus, and they told me that on the West Coast/LA - the antenna needs a clear view to the North East, which is where the satellite is - I did this and it worked great.

 

I think that in certain metro area, mobile Sirus has a hard time maintaining a lock on the satellite.

 

This maybe due to satellite angle and "clear view", but may not.

 

All I know is that I got so much "cell phone garbled" sound and signal drops that I finally gave up with it in the car.

 

That is why I am not in a hurry to get Sirus in the car.

 

Would rather have an MP3 player.

 

I really love it in the house though.

the transmission is after all over radio frequencies is it not? Just digital so more data can be packed into the signal. analog /--\__/--\__ digital |_|-|_

it's obviously the environment, it's obviously something that xm can take care of with their service.

Lots of stuff can affect a satellite signal, solar flairs, lightning, etc.

I suggest going back to xm if it's that annoying... howard stern isn't worth this much misery is he? lol.

It's not exactly a secret that Sirius reception can be spotty in certain geographic areas. Here in South Florida it's terrible... XM is 10x better down here (probably due to a more robust ground repeater network).

 

My XM almost never drops out, even driving under overpasses or areas with tree canopies. My boss has Sirius and his drops out all the time.

 

Your mileage may vary depending on your location.

 

Best regards,

 

Manville Smith

JL Audio, Inc.

I suggest going back to xm if it's that annoying... howard stern isn't worth this much misery is he? lol.

 

I will never go back to XM... I was absolutely baffled that they had all of those channels, and not a single one that I liked. There are like 6 Sirius stations that I could listen to all day long. XMs song selection was terrible - I'd rather put up with commercials than that crap, lol.

It's not exactly a secret that Sirius reception can be spotty in certain geographic areas. Here in South Florida it's terrible... XM is 10x better down here (probably due to a more robust ground repeater network).

 

My XM almost never drops out, even driving under overpasses or areas with tree canopies. My boss has Sirius and his drops out all the time.

 

Your mileage may vary depending on your location.

 

Best regards,

 

Manville Smith

JL Audio, Inc.

 

I can't believe that the heart of Metro Detroit would be a spotty area... that's very disappointing if that's true.

msmith has it right,

 

I found out though a buddy that markets Sirius in the west coast. The reason why XM has a better reception then Sirius has to do with the Terrestrial radio signal that XM broadcasts. XM has several hundred locations that receive a signal though the satellite and then broadcast the signal out though terrestrial radio signals. Sirius has no such thing and this is why the reception is bad and always gos out when you go under a bridge or tunnel.

Check for yourself hit menu on the Sirius then scroll down to the Signal Option there should be a set of bars one is marked TER = Terrestrial and the other is SAT = Satellite. The TER will occasionally have a signal but it never last more then a minute when driving.

If the signal lose you experience is at different times of the day, you might be experiencing interfence in that area.

 

Remember that Sirius' satellites have varying locations based on time of day. If you sit in one spot, XM satellites will be in the same location all day long. Sirius satelliates have an elliptical orbit (making them higher in the sky) which means that the satellite location varies based on the time of day.

 

So if you pass by this location at 6am, the satellite might be in position X. If you then go by that same location 12 hours later, the satellite has moved. So, if there was a tree in the way at 6am (causing a lose of signal), you might have a good signal at 6pm becuase the satellite has moved.

 

So if you loose a signal feed all the time, it may be do to interference. Also, as others have said, XM has ground repeaters that help reduce signal lose in high lose areas (tunnels, inner cities with lots of high rises). Also remember that your tuner will have a 5 to 10 second delay so your signal lose might have occured behind you.

 

Good luck.

 

-S

For what it's worth, I experienced a similar issue with my Sportster Replay.

 

I noticed, driving down the friggin' bumpy roads of Suffolk County, NY, that my signal would go in and out and sometimes the receiver would say "Acquiring signal". I was on a clear road without a canopy of trees to block the antenna/satellite.

 

I had gotten into the habit of removing the receiver from the base every time I got out of the car. In my laziness, I never used the "lock" when it was in the base/cradle.

 

As it turns out, that darn lock helps! Once I started locking the receiver in place, I never experienced a loss of signal.

 

Just my two cents, but check that the receiver is locked in place...if you have that kind of unit.

I dunno. I do alot of driving around the NY/tri-state area. Rarely have reception problems. Once in a while if I'm under some serious tree cover or going under an overpass but that's it. Weird thing that I've noticed is my reception cuts out in areas where there are other big antennas. Like near a police station or something like that, but only temporarily.

Antenna is mounted on the roof, right in front of the sunroof.

 

 

Thats your problem. Optimally its supposed to be atleast 6 inches from the rear window. It can be in the front of the car but it needs to be atleast 6 inches from the windshield. With a moonroof though, this is impossible.

 

Dont blame Sirius..Blame the install.

I will never go back to XM... I was absolutely baffled that they had all of those channels, and not a single one that I liked. There are like 6 Sirius stations that I could listen to all day long. XMs song selection was terrible - I'd rather put up with commercials than that crap, lol.

 

I agree..The XM in my girlfriends Caddy was unusable.

MY antenna is mounted on the trunk lid. My radio is hard wired, no crackling sound quality is really good. It drops here and there, but I dont have any serious problems.

 

The picking up half signals that you mentioned makes me think the unit wasnt hard wired, or wasnt dont properly. When it is, it blocks out all other signals. No FM stations can bleed in.

 

At the meet last sunday, I tried moving my antenna to the underside of the trunk. It completely killed reception. Wont work through metal.

 

How did you hard wire your radio?

Thats your problem. Optimally its supposed to be atleast 6 inches from the rear window. It can be in the front of the car but it needs to be atleast 6 inches from the windshield. With a moonroof though, this is impossible.

 

Dont blame Sirius..Blame the install.

 

Very interesting... why is that?