Signal problem in Mclean, Va?

vaham

New Member
Nov 6, 2008
18
0
1
Springfield, VA
Any one else currently having trouble getting signal in Mclean/Tysons area of Virginia? I have two sportsters which are both exhibiting "Acquiring Signal" message. Both antennas are facing north/east, which is the only option from my location. Both radios will work fine in the car in parking lot.
 

vaham

New Member
Nov 6, 2008
18
0
1
Springfield, VA
Do you have repeaters in your area? It sounds like you may have a repeater issue.

I checked dogstar.com. There seem to be several repeaters close to my location.
My coworker who had no signal yesterday moved his antenna and gets a signal off and on, but not enough to listen to. I have moved mine as much as I can. I called Customer Service this morning and they claim they are not aware of any problems in my area. Recommended that I replace the antennas on both of my systems. Other than that had no answer why three seperate radios in the same area would stop working. Will post more if anything changes.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
27,230
13,833
168
Toronto, ON
I checked dogstar.com. There seem to be several repeaters close to my location.
My coworker who had no signal yesterday moved his antenna and gets a signal off and on, but not enough to listen to. I have moved mine as much as I can. I called Customer Service this morning and they claim they are not aware of any problems in my area. Recommended that I replace the antennas on both of my systems. Other than that had no answer why three seperate radios in the same area would stop working. Will post more if anything changes.


Its not a surprise that CSRs don't know. They don't record any problems they just tell everybody to get new antennas.

Sometimes when a repeater goes bad it doesn't just go off. It broadcasts a signal which is unusable by the radio. But if its the strongest signal, the radio will choose it. Which is why even when you have a clear view of the sky, you can still get dropouts if you have a bad repeater in the area.

Keep calling Sirius. If you get a backup antenna and replace one of yours with it and it still fails it will give you more 'ammo' to direct at the CSRs although in reality the CSRs should take down your info and then they may notice a pattern in the area.
 

vaham

New Member
Nov 6, 2008
18
0
1
Springfield, VA
So, here is the update. I took the antenna from one of my boomboxes from my office and tried it on my car kit. It worked fine, as i had expected it to. I called CS again. They insist that no repeaters are down and everything is working fine. I was told by the CSR that Sirius will no longer quarrentee reception in an office and to contact my IT dept for help! This is getting strange.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
27,230
13,833
168
Toronto, ON
So, here is the update. I took the antenna from one of my boomboxes from my office and tried it on my car kit. It worked fine, as i had expected it to. I called CS again. They insist that no repeaters are down and everything is working fine. I was told by the CSR that Sirius will no longer quarrentee reception in an office and to contact my IT dept for help! This is getting strange.

They never did guarentee reception anywhere. Perhaps one of your nearby repeaters was on the FCC kill list. A repeater turned off by Sirius would not count as a malfunctioning repeater.
 

atlwxman

Member
Oct 14, 2008
74
0
6
I live in the Bailey Crossroads area a few miles from you and went through the same nonsense a few months ago. Sirius denied there were any repeaters down. After a few days the repeater came back on.
 

thegame310

Member
Oct 13, 2008
56
0
6
Ok...so I'm in PA, Pine Grove - Schuylkill County to be exact.

I've been getting no antenna/acquiring signal for a few days now. This morning I tried a home antenna in my car dock and I got full antenna strength all the way to work, then I left work and had the no antenna all the way home.

So i'm wondering is it my dock...or is there something else going on?