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Serious Sirius reception drop out
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| Serious Sirius reception drop out
- Click HERE to go to the original thread with graphics
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| Blade_Jones |
| Anyone else in Los Angeles have reception drop out problems with Sirius? I'm on the South side of the Santa Monica mountains and I know that the sattelite travels up around San Francisco. I'd say 1 out of every 3 hours I have no reception. Driving in my car I have no reception until I get to flat land areas of LA. |
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| havoc |
| I dunno my shit works everywhere I drive here in Oakland unless I park under a bunch of trees |
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| ChronoSkooma17 |
During the afternoon, it takes a couple seconds to find a signal. I don't have it on my roof though. I have it pointed North. |
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| Carnival Man |
| Even with the rain & all I'm still getting full reception tonight... :D |
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| ZoSo925 |
| No problems in Victorville/High Desert area today. Im going to Big Bear tomorrow morning and usually have a solid signal going all the way up the mountain. |
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| tbone420 |
| I had a problem until I realized the wire of the antenna was kinked and that is what caused it. Once I laid it out straight the reception was excellent. |
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| vinviper |
| geez you figured with a sattalite a kink wouldnt screw up much.....hope it works as i am paying 350 to get it in my new car! |
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| Blade_Jones |
| All you cats in Frisco are RIGHT UNDER the sattelite so clear reception is a given. Down here in LA is a different story. |
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| Dr. Bombay |
| I'm in North Hollywood. Reception in the car is excellent, unless I go past huge trees, under a long underpass or into a parking garage. At home, reception's more of a pain. I've got the Sportster Boombox and there are definitely "dead spots" the house where I can't get a signal no matter what window I try. (I'm thinking of going to a roof array with a couple of drop lines down to different rooms.) But even in the sweet spots in the house, I can get drop-outs at certain times. Early evening between five and eight can get pretty irritating. Ultimately, I usually wind up stretching the antenna out my patio door. Once it's outside, it works with no drop-outs...but the rains will be here soon and that ain't gonna work. Sirius has got to work on that. |
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| havoc |
Quote: Originally posted by Dr. Bombay
I'm in North Hollywood. Reception in the car is excellent, unless I go past huge trees, under a long underpass or into a parking garage. At home, reception's more of a pain. I've got the Sportster Boombox and there are definitely "dead spots" the house where I can't get a signal no matter what window I try. (I'm thinking of going to a roof array with a couple of drop lines down to different rooms.) But even in the sweet spots in the house, I can get drop-outs at certain times. Early evening between five and eight can get pretty irritating. Ultimately, I usually wind up stretching the antenna out my patio door. Once it's outside, it works with no drop-outs...but the rains will be here soon and that ain't gonna work. Sirius has got to work on that. |
you can still put your antenna outside, the rain aint gunna kill it |
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| alsatian01 |
| i think you gotta keep the anttena away from the windsheild too, i think is says something about it in the installation manual. |
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| boombox |
Quote: Originally posted by Blade_Jones
Anyone else in Los Angeles have reception drop out problems with Sirius? I'm on the South side of the Santa Monica mountains and I know that the sattelite travels up around San Francisco. I'd say 1 out of every 3 hours I have no reception. Driving in my car I have no reception until I get to flat land areas of LA. |
Actually, the satellites don't travel around San Francisco. Go to this link to see the orbits for the 3 Sirius satellites.
http://www.cashflowbusiness.net/siri_orbit.htm
The strongest signal is always with the antenna pointing towards North Central U.S. around South Dakota. If you've got nearby mountains, you might experience drop-out, but you'd have to be really close to the mountains, with less than a 60 degree angle to the unobstructed skies above the South Dakota region. Most of the time this is caused by the way the antenna is placed, and where it's placed. Also the quality of the antenna and cable. You shouldn't have 1 hour drop-out out of every 3 hours, something is wrong. Next time this happens, do a little investigating, get out of the car, take the antenna and move it around slowly, pointing towards South Dakota and see what happens. Also, since it sounds like you're receiving a very weak signal at your location, make sure that your antenna is outside, not inside the windshield/car or any other glass, obtructions, etc. |
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| Kablemodem |
I have a convertible so my antenna is mounted on the plastic strip just below the wipers. I get good reception except under larger trees and occasional random dropouts. I maintain signal under a freeway overpass yet I lose it when I go under a higher, smaller bridge (such as on the 405) - makes no sense to me. I expect I would get better reception if the antenna were mounted on a metal surface.
I usually lose signal as soon as I pull into my garage at my house, yet I maintain signal until I get down to the second level of the underground parking garage at work. I work in West LA and I believe there is a repeater right near my office, which may account for the better performance in the parking garage.
I'm planning on getting a Sportster Replay and boombox for listening at home and at work. I'm praying for decent reception through the windows. |
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| nikibs |
| i've had sirius for about a year and drive all over LA. I used to have the audiovox in my old car and never had a dropout for more than few seconds. I will get like 1-2 dropouts a day, usually if i park and there is an oak tree above or next to me. However with both cars i am seeing a 1 to 2 secs dropout driving on the 405 north right when yo start going to the valley. Also in the silver lake area both recievers were getting confused between the terrestrial repeater and the sat signal. my old tuner antena aiming menu used to go bizzerk in that particular area. other than that i've driven to San Fran, Vegas and Arizona and did not get a single droput for the whole trip |
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| nikibs |
| whoever is concerned about not getting coverage in the house or in the office, what i do is will put my reciever anywhere in the house i do have a decent signal and then just turn the fm modulator on and listen on my old walkman |
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| Alpolio |
If you're having problems with your home setup, you might need an outdoor antenna. Link for TERK SIR6 Outdoor Home Antenna. Sirius radio (any radio actually) won't work that well through the roofs of some houses & buildings.
As for your issues with your mobile reception. I don't know. Some older receivers have issues with reception. I owned a Audiovox SRS SIR-PNP1 and it was nothing but trouble. It would drop out if a bird flew over. I have since upgraded to an Xact Visor and it works perfectly. So far, I haven't found a place on the Arkansas roads that will kill the reception. It even seems to have a 5 second buffer that prevents overpasses from interfering. |
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| Kablemodem |
Quote: Originally posted by nikibs
i am seeing a 1 to 2 secs dropout driving on the 405 north right when yo start going to the valley. |
That's what I was talking about. I think it's those high exit ramps that I don't even notice until I've passed under them and lost signal. Or maybe there is some electronic interference in the area. |
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| Blade_Jones |
| Quote: 1 to 2 secs dropout driving on the 405 north right when yo start going to the valley. |
Like I said.... Southern part of the Santa Monica mountains there is sketchy Sirius reception. |
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| royalflush1973 |
| I'm in Sacramento and I'm having a lot of problems getting reception. I'm lucky if I can get 30 good min. out of it when I am at home. Dose Sirius sell an antanna extension so I can route the wire outside? Someone help .... |
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| chunkrd3 |
i just installed mine yesterday in my truck. i am very disapointed! after 30 min of trying to listen to sirius i just shut it off. signal was dropping out every 1-2 minutes. in checking the reception it was showing that i was getting 0-3 bars of sat, and 3-6 bars of teresterial.
does the way that the antenna wire is routed in your veichele have any affect on reception? or do i have a bunk radio? damm starmate! |
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| Alpolio |
Quote: Originally posted by chunkrd3
i just installed mine yesterday in my truck. i am very disapointed! after 30 min of trying to listen to sirius i just shut it off. signal was dropping out every 1-2 minutes. in checking the reception it was showing that i was getting 0-3 bars of sat, and 3-6 bars of teresterial.
does the way that the antenna wire is routed in your veichele have any affect on reception? or do i have a bunk radio? damm starmate! |
Check for any kinks in the antenna cable. And also be sure that the antenna has a clean 360 view of the sky. Anything that might be next to the antenna could be blocking the signal. |
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| boombox |
Quote: Originally posted by chunkrd3
i just installed mine yesterday in my truck. i am very disapointed! after 30 min of trying to listen to sirius i just shut it off. signal was dropping out every 1-2 minutes. in checking the reception it was showing that i was getting 0-3 bars of sat, and 3-6 bars of teresterial.
does the way that the antenna wire is routed in your veichele have any affect on reception? or do i have a bunk radio? damm starmate! |
Make sure that your antenna is outside on the roof, and definitely make sure that there are no kinks in the cable. |
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| Blade_Jones |
| Quote: antenna is outside on the roof |
OUTSIDE? Not inside on the roof? Where does the wire go? Are you supposed to crack a window open? |
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| havoc |
Quote: Originally posted by Blade_Jones
OUTSIDE? Not inside on the roof? Where does the wire go? Are you supposed to crack a window open? |
yes you put it on top of the roof |
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| Alpolio |
Quote: Originally posted by Blade_Jones
OUTSIDE? Not inside on the roof? Where does the wire go? Are you supposed to crack a window open? |
Yep. Mounting a mini satellite dish anywhere inside a metal vehicle would be bad for reception. |
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| chunkrd3 |
Humm... well still no luck. driving around LA i dont really get any sat reception. however i do have constant terresterial reception.
so what would cause the sound to drop out for a few seconds at a time? is this a fm modulater problem? |
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| FTLOSM |
I just got my pnp3 and home dock, this antenna can go on my roof at home without any issues weather wise right? But does snow buildup make it go out or does it pass thru the snow buildup.
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| vegas_booey |
Just wondering...for those who are having reception trouble in their cars, did you try installing it on your own or take it to a shop? I had Circuit City install it in my car ($80 and is hard wired to the car's power) and have not had any signal problems. Might be worth spending a few bucks.
Good luck.
CB |
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| Blade_Jones |
| How did circuit city do it? Where exactly do they run it outside? Does that magnet hold when you're going 80 MPH? |
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| vegas_booey |
Blade:
They wired it to run along the windshield and then placed the magnet in on the top-front of the car exactly in the middle. As far as hard-wiring goes, I am not sure how they do it.
Yep, it stays on at 80 MPH. In fact, it is on so well that I can't even pull it off the car with my hands.
CB |
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| MetalliChris |
| I hope I get good reception when I get mine. I have east-facing windows and a 1st generation unit, so I'm a bit worried. But, I do have outstanding cellphone signals. Do they have any relation, do you think? |
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| jigzaw |
| my friend in L.A. has a lot of trouble with reception also. My friend in Chicago gets 3 bars of satellite even with the curtains closed and the antenna inside and nowhere near the windows (plus 6 or 7 bars of terrestrial). |
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| Blade_Jones |
| Quote: They wired it to run along the windshield |
How did they secure the wire? At what point does it do outside and where? |
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