Can anybody give me some info about what happened to the Akron terrestrial repeater? It went dead a couple years ago and has never been back since! I would really like to see it turned on again! Thanks!
The Akron repeater was being operated illegally (without FCC permission). SIRI had no license for it. The FCC shut down a total of 11 illegal Sirius repeaters around the country and forced Sirius to cut down the power of the modulators in their plug and play receivers. Last July, as part of the merger negotiations, Sirius agreed to pay a 19.6 million dollar fine over the illegal repeaters and overpowered modulators. The FCC did grant SIRI temporary authority to run the repeaters again, but I guess for whatever reason, they decided not to. If you don't mind a lot of heavy legalese reading, you can peek at the link below. (Section 8 gave Sirius permission to put the repeaters back on the air temporarily). http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-08-176A1.pdf They did apply to get the repeaters back on line, but it seems nothing has come of it....
Anybody worth complaining to to see if they can flip the switch again? Or would I just be talking to the wall... I wouldn't even waste my time talking to CS about something like this. They would have no idea. Thanks for the info!
The customer service reps on the other end of the phone probably won't know what you're talking about. You could try the email form at SIRIUS Satellite Radio - Customer Care It might get forwarded to someone in the know. I used it once to complain a few years ago when they never had an online schedule for the RadioClassics channel. They did respond. (It was essentially a non-answer) but at least someone showed some interest and my concern was noted.
Hey everyone, bringing this thread back to give you some great news- I was going under an overpass yesterday and waited for my radio's signal to drop (like it always does under this bridge), and it didn't. After noticing the signal strength fluctuating, I opened the "Antenna Aiming" to find that Sirius has tuned back on the repeater for Akron! It's literally been like 3 years! I remember it getting turned off when there was a legal thing with the FCC over the ERP. But we are back and rocking now, I can even listen to it in the parking garage!
Could it be you are picking up the new Sirius stationary satellite (FM5) instead of a repeater? Where I used to get dropouts under bridges/overpasses, I no longer do- because of this new bird.
No I am clearly picking up a terrestrial signal. I never had one in the past and when I go into the antenna aiming, a "TERR" signal is now showing up. Most overpasses are fine with me, but I go though some dense overpasses on my way to work everyday, and everyday (until the repeater coming back on), I would lose my signal for a sec or two. Plus, picking up a signal in my house now is effortless (before I was playing with the antenna all day).
Well, that looked to have been short lived... The TERR repeater is back off now. WTF. Maybe they are playing around with it? Who knows...
any updates on this. It's now December. Wonder if they turned it back on. I live in N Canton but work in Fairlawn. I face the wrong direction at work to pick up the satellite signal. would love to see a terrestrial signal.
Yes, it has been back on full time now for a while. I have a feeling that the antenna is pointed NNW, so some parts of Fairlawn may see the signal, but it would be week. As for N. Canton, that's a definitely not. I have been able to get it in Cuyahoga Falls, everywhere in central Akron, N. Akron, and most of West Akron. The signal doesn't penetrate too far south, maybe to Waterloo Rd. and that's it. Signal doesn't go far east at all, It doesn't even make it to 91 when I am driving on the interstate. But, the big areas (basically downtown and surrounding areas) are now covered and in my opinion that was the areas that needed to be addressed, so I am happy... Hopefully this helps...
I guess I spoke too soon, it went down again yesterday and is still down now! Erghh Sirius fix this damn repeater already!!
