Can you use the Sirius Echo Repeater with an XM antenna?

frazier52000

Member
Jun 21, 2009
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The antennas for either service are basically interchangable, right? So will the Sirius Echo Repeater System transmit the signal from an XM antenna?
 

downsj

Member
Nov 17, 2008
49
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I wouldn't go that route. You should really go with an xm repeater system. Delphi makes one that is for XM and cheaper than the echo. Here is a link to the product: Delphi XM Signal Repeater

He didn't say anything about wanting to use the repeater with XM radios...

The repeater isn't going to work with XM radios, but plugging an XM antenna into the repeater probably won't cause any issues.
 

goreds2

Well-Known Member
Oct 14, 2008
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OH H.....EYE OH
I was actually talking about using it for the Mirge radio...

You can use the XM antenna but I am guessing you would only be able to get the channels on the SIRIUS side of the Mirage. Let us know if you can get both XM and SIRIUS channels on the Mirage using the Sirius Repeater. I am very curious.
 

frazier52000

Member
Jun 21, 2009
58
2
8
With the XM antenna plugged into the Sirius Echo Repeater I am getting 100% Sirius signal strength and 50-75% XM signal strength. It works better with the XM antenna than the Sirius one even though its plugged into the Sirius repeater, which kind of surprised me. But both Sirius and XM work just fine on my Mirge with an XM home antenna and a Sirius Echo Repeater.
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
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With the XM antenna plugged into the Sirius Echo Repeater I am getting 100% Sirius signal strength and 50-75% XM signal strength. It works better with the XM antenna than the Sirius one even though its plugged into the Sirius repeater, which kind of surprised me. But both Sirius and XM work just fine on my Mirge with an XM home antenna and a Sirius Echo Repeater.

It must be bleading the signal range. I would have thought the repeater would only broadcast the Sirius frequencies. The frequencies are adjacent to each other which is why the antennas are interchangeable. A Sirius antenna will be slightly better at receiving the Sirius signal than XM and visa versa although I don't think the difference is significant.
 

frazier52000

Member
Jun 21, 2009
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Okay, I may have lied. XM for some reason comes in at 75% most of the time but then all of a sudden it drops out completely. This has happened like three times now. So when this happened I plugged the antenna directly into the sound system (without the repeater) and it came in fine so I knew the antenna placement was okay, and then I plugged the repeater back up and it worked fine. I don't understand what the problem is, but I guess it has to be something with the repeater because the antenna is picking up a signal where its mounted...
 

frazier52000

Member
Jun 21, 2009
58
2
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So... The XM talk channels are the only channels that wont come in. I can get the music channels, but when I try to tune into a talk channel, it says acquiring XM. [This is with the XM home antenna plugged into the Sirius Echo Repeater.] Any ideas why it wouldn't repeat the signal only for the talk channels?
 

IdRatherBeSkiing

Sherbet is NOT and NEVER WILL BE ice cream.
Oct 11, 2008
27,230
13,833
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Toronto, ON
So... The XM talk channels are the only channels that wont come in. I can get the music channels, but when I try to tune into a talk channel, it says acquiring XM. [This is with the XM home antenna plugged into the Sirius Echo Repeater.] Any ideas why it wouldn't repeat the signal only for the talk channels?

XM sats have 2 transponders. One does the lower channels (typically the music channels) while the other does the higher channels (typically talk). If you had an XM radio I would suggest moving your antenna slightly to pick up both transpondors. The repeater could just not be repeating enough of the XM spectrum (its probably repeating the part of the XM spectrum it is by accident) to handle the 2nd transponder frequencies.
 

DAB

Mod Emeritus
Oct 9, 2008
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These repeaters were made when Sirius and XM were separate each of them did what they could to block the others frequency range. However, they are so close that you will get some bleed off like IRBS was suggesting. However, it won't be a reliable signal in the case of the Echo for the XM side and if you had the XM repeater the signal wouldn't be reliable for Sirius.

One thing I do have to say is that it appears that Delphi did a much better job blocking the bleed over compared to the Echo. Because you honestly get very, very little bleed over.

I see there is a new personal repeater being released and I bet you that it is wide open to both frequency ranges and should work very well with the Mirage or any XM or Sirius tuner (I mean radio) The use to call them tuners then then changed it to radios. I am still stuck at tuners. LOL
 

lronglien

Member
Nov 10, 2008
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XM repeater with Mirge

I tried to use the XM repeater system with the Mirge-it only will allow the XM side to be heard. The Sirius side is not recognized, at least on mine.