Bad reception in car, home with Sirius

[porsche911girl]

've had a Sirius radio for a few months now, and I have had bad reception both in my home and in my car, which I am very disappointed about.

I have the Sportster 4 plug and play receiver, and I specifically bought it to be able to play at home and in my car. However, the antenna for home use does not work well at all, I have to place it outside the window and even then it barely makes it through a song without the 'acquiring signal' display message coming on. I've taken it to the beach and lake to use it, and it does not work there as well.

I don't feel justified in paying the monthly subscription fee if I can't even listen to it in my house or my car.

It works better in the car but I get a lot of static when using it, which is annoying. I would get it hard-wired to my car radio, but I want to be able to use it in other vehicles, and I don't know if I will be able to do that. I also would rather not pay the $100+ install fee from Tweeter. (FWIW, before I bought this, I called Tweeter and expressly asked them what the cost would be to wire a Sirius unit to my radio to play through my car speakers, and the person I spoke to gave a significantly lower cost, which is one of the main reasons I bought the Sirius unit.)

Also, the car charger/adapter broke and a few pieces fell out, so now it won't even work in my car.

The home antenna is mounted outside the house on the bench of our deck, which is very near a window, if that helps at all.

I bought it with the idea of using the aux input of my car stereo in mind, but according to Tweeter, the aux input can only be used with a CD extension, ie a multi-CD changer only. Wish I'd known that before... I could've saved myself a LOT of money!

Basically, what I think I need to do is call Sirius and explain to them the problem, and hopefully all should be well. I looked up on their website and they say that Charlotte is one of the areas for the best reception, or something to that effect.

Anyone else with this problem? Or any suggestions? I've had this thing for less than a year! About 6 months, in fact...and it's driving me crazy that I can't enjoy it!

[911Rob]

I'm a big Sirius fan........ been there done that kinda thing. I think I can help?
I've got Sirius in boat, cars and at home.

First, in the car; you need to mount the antena on the hood in the center of the car either 6" in from the windshield or 6" up from the rear window. Mount the magnetic antena there and make sure its at least 6" away from anything like a roof rack, what have you? Try the location and see if it works. Once you've found the best location, stick with it. Hide the wires and leave the antena alone. Buy a 2nd or 3rd antena for the other vehicles and hide the wires so that you can plug and play when you jump your receiver around. Hope that helps?

At home, the antena is super sensitive. It can read a good strength at one time of the day and bad another. You need to go to their website and find the direction that your antena needs to face. My home receiver actually tells me, not sure about yours? but the site has the info. Once you know where it needs to face, find the best way to have the antena face that direction.

Example: my antena is best facing East. I have my stereo receiver in the center of the house, I pushed it out a window on the North side of the house and faced it East, almost straight up. Once you get a signal that's at least half to 3/4 strenth then you're in the right vicinity. Now the trick is to find the location that gives FULL strength. 100% full or nothing! Even if you get a good 8/10 strength you're likely to get fading? Move the antena around while holding the remote or having someone sight the strength for you. Once you find a place that gives full strength, then figure out a way to put the antena there.

I ended up putting my antena receiver close to the front of my house, along the North gutter, fastened to the chimney flashings. It faces East with no obstructions. To find this exact spot took a few days of leaving it in place and seeing if we got any fading? Today we couldn't be happier, but at first I was some pissed off too.

After a few days of solid 100% receiver signal, we drilled a small hole in the wall at the right location to be able to hide all the wires. It works great, I have it hard wired into my home sound system and it plays throughout the house. We love it.

Channel 15 rocks!

[bell]

Originally Posted by porsche911girl

I bought it with the idea of using the aux input of my car stereo in mind, but according to Tweeter, the aux input can only be used with a CD extension, ie a multi-CD changer only. Wish I'd known that before... I could've saved myself a LOT of money!

what kind of car? there are companies who make aux input adapter to send a preamp (rca/headphone) signal into the factory aux inputs on stack radios, it's basically a black box which has rca's inputs on it and will let you plug it right into your headphone output on your tuner, this will work 100% better then the built in fm modulator in the sirius tuner.
depending what kind of car the aux adapters can be had for 15-50 on ebay.

take a look at http://www.pie.net/ , they make most of the adapters.

i've had sirius since it was first introduced, and never ever listen to fm anymore.

[89911]

I've been using the XM Helix for a year now. I have it wired into my 911 and the antenna is in the back window with no issues. I also use in my garage set up with an antenna mounted high and shooting out the southern facing windows. I'm getting 3 bars of reception. I would try to relocate your antenna first. I would also try and see if your antenna is not faulty. I just had one replaced for my car that used XM. The signal would drop out repeatedly until I had them replace it and now it is perfect. I've heard that Sirius's signal is even better, so this shouldn't be a problem. I also use XM at my business and would have spells of poor signal strength. I got a 50 foot extension with a booster and have it facing out a southern window. It works fine.

[gr8fl4porsche]

I have my Sirius antenna on the rear of the roof - center - about 6" from the rear hatch. I am plugged into the receiver thru a wired FM transmitter which inputs into the car antenna port and the antenna plugs into it. Works perfect. No drop outs, no static. Of course when I stop under an overpass in traffic I lose the signal.

I have driven across 1/2 of the country and deep into the woods - no issues. If I have a clear view of the sky all is well.

[Scott R]

I really don't ever lose signal in either of my Audi's, or my 911. Granted we have a repeater in Denver which helps. My Stiletto even works indoors in my office. I just have the antenna under my rooftop antenna on my Allroad. In fact I've been a subscriber since the original Sportser was out and never had an issue. On the new stiletto though, I had to add a FM transciver inline with the radio.

[vash]

get the antenea on top of the house and on top of the car.