SIrius may be investigated by FCC

Bush played the fear card in the last election concerning terrorism.I think a lot of people who voted for him never considered they were buying the whole package including his insane right wing aganda.

Very good Point!

After reading all the posts in this thread I have to say that I saw this coming.
In a way this is nothing new. This "problem" has been around for years. Before now, however, it was limited to a few people here and there with a portable music device. Someone who was affected by it probably thought it was signal interference and didn't think too much of it. Any complaints would have probably been ignored.

That was before Howard moved to sirius.

Now, it's a little different. Unfortunatly Howard is a very recognizable voice and a lightning rod for uptight assholes to gather together and complain about.
Also, there was a BIG jump in the number of satalite units sold in the last 3-4 months greatly increasing the number of people using the fm transmitters.

There are probably a lot of people who will see this as a way to go after Stern again.
I could see someone like Sen. Brownback takeing up this cause.
As positively fanatical as we are here for Howard many people are just as fanatical about him negatively.

They could try and go after the FM trasmitter regulations and try to modify them somehow. I could also see them trying to sell the idea that since Howard and other unregulated broadcasts can now be picked up by anyone at certain times they should now be regulated by the FCC like testicle broadcasts.

If they do decide to go after Sirius or Stern for any of this it will be interesting to see who steps up and what happens. The FCC has never really been challenged legaly and they may have too big of a potential fight on their hands.

We'll see.

The funny thing about these articles is that they all focus on Sirius and Howard. They barely mention XM. Sirius is satelite radio...thanks to Howard. XM is becoming secondary.

The product awareness has switched from 60-40 in favor of xm to 55-45 in favor of sirius.

Actually, the instructions for my Xact Visor specifically state to use an un-used station. I don't have the instructions for my other unit anymore.

One of the articles specifically mentions 88.1 WDIY in Bethlehem PA which is very close to me. I cannot use that freq. because my receiver cannot overtake its signal. I'm suprised that WDIY got so many complaints because it seems like a strong signal around here. I use 87.9 which is a very staticy religious station in my area.

new technology. it'll get better

It's true. Most of the XM and Sirius radios have an FM Transmission option that you can turn on and off. It's so you don't have to directly plug the unit into an existing car stereo because most don't have auxillary inputs. You select the frequency and play it through the radio. I turn mine on and the lady next door can pick it up, as well as all the other radios in the house.

My guess is that some people aren't actually using it for FM Transmission but that option is turned on and the default is set to 88.1 They are completely unaware they are broadcasting.

Re: Re: SIrius may be investigated by FCC

The problem isn't going away.it will only get worse as subs increase.

i knew someone would try and play that angle.

FCC

That's a good improvement. When I was looking for my first unit I downloaded the instructions to several of them and was surprised that none of them said much more than "choose a station and set both the transmitter and receiver to the same frequency."

I suspect everybody's getting smarter about this.

Unfortunately, both XM, Sirius and Apple are spending all their time trying to get car makers integrate their technology directly to the car, and nobody's putting any pressure on car makers to provide the same kind of simple generic auxiliary input that you can get in a $50 boombox.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think there's anything wrong with carmakers trying to provide integration for satellite, iPod or anything else, but they need to be real. Most of us want units that we can move between the car and elsewhere, and most of us want our cars to be able to work with next year's device as well, not just this year's. Anybody want to bet that the $80,000 BMW with the iPod adapter isn't going to work right with the iPods that are being made in 4-5 years? Your car will lock you in to obsolete tech, because you still won't have that simple 1/8" stereo input plug that every other piece of consumer electronics makes available.

The new Lexus IS has an aux input. The new Honda Civic does, as does the Element and a few others. I've started to see them in a few others as well. It should be standard everywhere. I've probably got 5-6 years left on my current car and I figured out how to jury-rig an aux input using third-party accessories, but can state for a fact that my next car will have easy ability to hardwire any device I like. I won't buy anything without it. If we start demanding it, the car manufacturers will start providing it.

I'm amazed that the FCC didn't start pushing for this five years ago. The direction was obvious that far back, as was the solution. Guess they were too busy worrying about Janet Jackson's saggy tits.

Rant over.

-btc

The FCC has absolutely no beef with SIRIUS on this issue.

This is all about the use of FM Modulators. FM Modulators have been around for a long time, way longer than satellite radio, and can be used to pass along ANY audio to an FM frequency.

If the FCC decides to outlaw the sale and use of FM Modulators in the USA, as ridiculous as that would be, then so be it. It's not something where censorship can come into play.

SIRIUS has as much ability to stop people from sending a signal to a radio frequency as any record company trying to stop someone from sending a signal from a tape or CD player to a frequency with an FM Modulator. If you play an Eddie Murphy comedy tape in a walkman in your car, because the car's player is broken, you can listen through the car's speakers by using an FM Modulator.

It's a silly and weak argument... the kind of thing we've all gotten used to when it comes to Howard :bs:

The only thing we might be forgetting is that politicians and government regulators love to get their hands and feet deep into stupid shit like this.

They know by experience that it makes the rest of Americans forget about how fucked up all the really important shit is.

Fuck you very much the fcc!

fuck,free Sirius, why complain?

Agree they don't have a particular beef with Sirius, so long as the Sirius transmitters are within legal limits. They may have a beef with individual users who didn't select an appropriate frequency. In addition, they may decide to demand that Sirius suppliers of FM modulator devices be a lot more explicit about how you must choose a frequency. Here, for example, are the instructions that come with the Ramsey FM transmitter, which are pretty good:

It really is NOT sufficient to just "check" the FM band for an empty frequency, using the FM portable radio closest at hand. It is your responsibility to carefully research what FM stations can be listened to with a good system within the transmitting range of your FM25B. This is especially important in the low end of the FM broadcast band (88-92 MHz), where there are numerous medium power National Public Radio stations. You may not be aware of these stations but your neighbors may be receiving them, using a good receiver and outdoor antenna. Interfering with such reception is a direct violation of federal law. The most reliable way of finding a truly open frequency on the FM band is to check the band with a very good FM receiving system using an external antenna. If you do not have access to such a radio, most modern car radios (with exterior antenna) are very sensitive and usable to help you know what stations your neighbors really can be receiving on a particular frequency.

They include more details in their appendix, most of which are beyond the scope of what would probably be necessary for a store-bought device.

I can certainly see the FCC requiring that this kind of information be included prominently with any FM modulator (whether satellite radio, iPod or anything else), and also demand that the units be shipped with FM transmission turned off by default, so you don't end up with lots of people transmitting and not even knowing it.

Really what the FCC should be doing is putting pressure on car makers to include simple auxiliary inputs on all vehicles, regardless of what built-in equipment they offer, so that people aren't forced to go to the FM band as a last resort.

-btc

Sometimes I hear a religious station bleed in and out when I am listening to Howard in my car. Kind of funny hearing Howard juxtaposed to bible thumping.

When Howard is going off on something X rated or the like I often wonder if someone next to me may be catching some of it.

Yes and no. First off, the FCC had to approve them before they could be produced. HOWEVER, no device is allowed to cause radio interferrence. Therefore, I predict that there will be a dollar amount settlement (fine) that Sirius will cough up to make it go away and they will agree to lower the output power of future radios they produce. The FCC gets to pretend they did something; Sirius doesn't have to admit to any wrongdoing, and the religious assfucks who started this will claim some sort of mental-midget victory.

Of course, this is just one more desperate attempt at the religious kooks to keep their claws in to Howard no matter where he goes.

Especially under this regime the government would love to stick it to sat radio.

y'know, it "could be said" that the SFN poster that calls itself " 'gay' kevin" consistently posts threads either filled with scatalogical lies or it seeks to find not-too-subtle ways of shaking the confidence of investors in Sirius Satellite Radio.

of course, an examination of this creature's posting history would clarify the matter further...

grrrrrrreat. gay tony and gay kevin all in one big happy thread...

For $5 you can buy a transmitter and put anything on you want. This is a bullshit story. Look up the rules on Fm transmitting and these short range things are OK

I'll tell you, I had the FM transmitter for my Ipod and my brother could pick it up in his car...

He dropped me off at the car dealership and we drove home in two separate cars...

He was seriously like ten car lengths ahead and said he still got it... shit probably makes you sterile too.

And that's the Ipod on battery power, the starmate with the car lighter adapter has gotta be stronger.

I knew those fucks at the FCC would figure out some way to fuck with Sirius

its kinda funny though, I often wondered how shocked people in a car next to me would be if the happened to be tuned to the same station. The modulator has got to be good for at least 30 yards or so, I'm sure this is where the "pirate" theory started.