Sirius losing signal several times/day, extended periods of time. Radio going bad?

[nafddur]

If the problem is as you say then it would be impacting everyone unless you are being served by a faulty repeater in your area. But if no one else is having this problem via the sats then I think your diagnosis is wrong!

I'm in the boonies - about 25 miles south of Boston (MA). I get a zero terrestrial signal, so I guess that means I'm relying 100% on the satellite signal.

I'm currently getting great car reception and 2-3 solid bars in my home dock (both with my original, almost 3 year old antennas). Last Friday with the same receiver, docks and antennas, acquiring signal problems made Sirius unlistenable in both my car and house.

Unless moving a receiver from dock to dock (i.e. plugging and unplugging) produces variations, the only conclusion I can make is that satellite signals sometimes go away. Hey, that might just be the nature of satellite reception in some places.

 

[chocula]

I believe I finally determined that it is something wrong with my radio.
Since nothing else seemed to help, I decided to try a good old smack down on it. I tapped it several times and it did not help. I jiggled the wires, and nothing.

I decided to tap it on the front screen, and wham, bam, it worked. It went out and I hit it i the same spot again and it worked.

because that fixed the issue, I can only assume it is something wrong in the radio itself.

I hate to say it, but I am just switching to the S2 and buying the car kit today. Does anyone know if the home kit has an alarm on it to wake me up in the morning?

Sorry Sirius, but I will have to cancel that 2nd subscription since the radio died on me.

 

[DAB]

Unless moving a receiver from dock to dock (i.e. plugging and unplugging) produces variations, the only conclusion I can make is that satellite signals sometimes go away. Hey, that might just be the nature of satellite reception in some places.

I think you are right about that. I've to some degree seen this happen myself and couldn't really explain why I lost reception. I too don't have a repeater in my area.


chocula,

Sounds like the connector on the tuner or the tuner itself has just gone bad! If you would prefer to keep a big tuner, TSS-Radio has some of the older Sporster available for purchase very cheap! http://www.tss-radio.com/sirius-rad....html?osCsid=74382c67fc1abd16ff55312f8001b014

 

[es336td]

Similar problems in Virginia

I've had a Stiletto SL10 for a while now and it has worked great! In the past few months however, I have gotten the Acquiring signal... message for most of my hour commute. I've gotten it mostly when it is severely cold, or rainy. This morning, it wasn't really either and it happened again. I leave about an hour or so southwest of Washington, DC. Are there any repeaters out this way? Is there a place on the web that shows the status of those? I know Earthlink has status of the network on their site. That would be a nice feature. No, I haven't tried it in the house dock... and I don't have another antenna.

 

[es336td]

Well... I took a chance. I took the antenna out of my home dock kit and plugged it up to the car dock. Immediately got 2 bars with the antenna sitting in the back deck window. Had fairly good reception all the way into work, however, it very seldom got above one bar. I had 3 bar reception twice for a few seconds. I guess that's the location of the thing.

So, now my question is... is there a more durable antenna for this beast? I mounted the one that came with it on my trunk lid (05 Camry) with sufficient slack to prevent rubbing and kinking. That one still looks fine with no apparent issues except it just doesn't work. Is this common? Is there a better way/place to mount the thing?

Thanx

L

 

[magicjellybeans]

Sirius did something to their codec!

I havent got any dropouts until they merged,now Im getting all kinds of dropouts,they had to do something to the codec.I have a sl2 and never had any drops til recerntly,so no youre not crazy.

 

[no1hedberg]

I went through this for a few weeks with a Sportster 4. It's your radio. I swapped the radio for another SP4 leaving the dock and all wiring. Worked perfectly fine. Sirius was pushing updates when the problem started, so I think that was the culprit, but of course theres no way of knowing for sure. I switched to the SL2 in my car to listen to recordings on my drive. It isn't a very convenient car radio because it is such a pain changing channels.

 

[mrk610]

Sp4

I think i have a bad antenna . When no clouds 2-3 bars cloudy 1 bar or radio cuts in and out or goes to aquiring signal. NOw in the past 3 days only get aquiring signal or broken sound and no display.
What do you think forum.

Thanks in advance

Mike in SJ

 

[semipenguin]

Are you using this in you home or car?
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[mrk610]

car sp4

 

[semipenguin]

car sp4

That's strange. Clouds shouldn't have any effect on any antenna...:

 

[JoeTan]

This is going on with my s50. Past week or so. No signal problems just drops for a second or 2 every hour or so.

 

[siriusdude]

I live in Northern Virginia and had signal issues this morning. This isn't the first time this has happened. I hadissues about 3 weeks ago where the signal; would go in and out. It was like that for a couple of days and then everything was fine. Now this morning it was horrible. The signal barely came in at all.

I don't think it is an antenna or radio issue as the issues has only happened twice.

 

[JoeTan]

so far today not a single drop out. I'll try to pay attention and keep a record.

 

[HecticArt]

This is going on with my s50. Past week or so. No signal problems just drops for a second or 2 every hour or so.

I've had similar momentary drops like that too.
I noticed it more when the Mrs had the Xmas channel on and every couple of hours while listening to other channels. I always thought it might be the local repeater.

I'll pay more attention when I make it back to work next week.

 

[JoeTan]

Today was TERRIBLE. Every 20-30min or so.

 

[es336td]

Ok... I've been using the home antenna velcro'd to the back deck. I have it dead center near the window, angled at about the same angle of the back window. The reception has been GREAT! Much better than the other antenna. I removed the other antenna and as I was taking it out of the trim, mid way down the car, the cable came out in my hand... so, yeah, it was bad. So I think I'll just get another one for the house and leave the home one velcro'd in the back until it doesn't work any more!

 

[spaceghost]

I have a Sportster, that is probably 3.5-4 years old.

For the past week or so, I have been losing the signal several times a day for extended periods. My driving habits have not changed and I am not driving in places where reception would be blocked.

I am wondering if my radio is going bad. Does that happen? Is there a way to tell?

I have a Stiletto 2, but like the Sportster and do not have the car adapter for the S2 yet.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

That's your antenna going. It happened to me, and it happens to alot of subscribers. The unit itself is probably fine, but in my own opinion you need a new antenna.

 

[blacknoi]

I have a Visor XTR3CK that i had in storage for about 2 years.

I put it away before I deactivated it, so it has yet to receive the kill signal.

Turned it on, got updating channels, and even subscription updated but its still on.

Now to my point: The Visor has no "signal strength" indicator other than "ACQUIRING SIGNAL" on the screen, but I get one or two drop outs ever 2 or 3 seconds.

In that same location, using a different rado, same antenna, 3 out of 3 bars, no drop outs.

Tried a different antenna, same problem, constant dropouts. Sucks that its dropping but the thing isnt subbed so I cant complain. But I just wanted to say I had a radio go bad while just sitting in my filing cabinet, in 70degree weather.

 

[Roscoe]

Just wanted to respond to the original poster and to many of the same responses:

It is not always the antenna, sometimes the radio just goes bad.

I had a situation just like yours, with an old Sportster 2, which I've had since 2005. One day the unit just started cutting out in my car, and the words "acquiring signal" would appear. I tried the same unit in my home dock and it did the same thing. Then I borrowed my wife's receiver: it worked at home and in my car.

My Sportster 2 was dying. :bigcry:

It happens.