Sirius radio signal

[RBollengier]

My truck came with the satellite radio from the factory. It looses signal allot from trees and even rain storms. I have an XM in our Jeeps and it never looses the signal. Is this normal for Sirius, or do I have a problem the dealer should look into? When I say "allot" I mean 4 or 5 times an hour far a few seconds at a time. And some spots on the road always loose the signal in the same spot, but now with the XM.

 

[testraub]

It could well be where the satilittes are in relation to your location. On my way to work I get a loss in the same place when the trees are full and in other locations depending the direction I'm traveling. I've never had a loss in a rain storm, but we ain't had much rain here of late. Also, it could be the XM is "buffering" more so you don't notice the loss of signal.

 

[Hercules130]

Sirius doesn't use as much bandwidth as the xm signal, but by january they are supposed to quadruple the bandwidth.

 

[Bow66tie]

My wife purchased equipment to install XM in my company car for me last year for my birthday. I had reception problems from day one and never figured out how to improve it. I contacted everyone I could think of but recieved no help. I finally cancelled my monthly membership dues and threw away $300. 00 worth of equipment.



I now own an IPOD and love it!!!!!!!!!!!



Michael

 

[BHolm]

A few years ago I rented a car in LA that had Sirius. It was cutting out all the time, it was an ad on system. I wasn't all that excited about having it in my new truck based on that, but have found it to work perfectly in my truck. I live and drive in the mountains and I can count on one hand the number of times I have lost the signal (had the truck 8 months now), mostly when in a tunnel. I have driven half way across the country several times and never lost the signal.



Could be your area, could be the less bandwidth, could be the truck. I'd run it by the dealer but wouldn't expect much. I'm not sure how they would go about troubleshooting the system, unless you have a bad antenna, or bad antenna connection.

 

[robmints]

My truck came with the satellite radio from the factory. It looses signal allot from trees and even rain storms. I have an XM in our Jeeps and it never looses the signal. Is this normal for Sirius, or do I have a problem the dealer should look into? When I say "allot" I mean 4 or 5 times an hour far a few seconds at a time. And some spots on the road always loose the signal in the same spot, but now with the XM.

Me too. No plans to renew. It should get better in the fall when the leaves fall from what I hear. Hopefully they will do what Herc says and it works.

 

[Gifford]

me too

I had XM in my 2nd gen- the reception was far superior as was the sound (I had a much better aftermarket stereo in my old truck though)



There is no question in my mind anyway that the Sirius signal is not nearly as strong as the XM- the sound quality of XM receivers seems better too. (I had pioneer XM receivers) I too have heard that Sirius does not have the bandwidth/signal strength that XM enjoys.

 

[RGardner]

I have noticed that the sirius programs sound like they are in a box... just don't sound any where near as good as fm or even am for talk programs.

 

[Diesel Nut]

Yeah, mine does the same. never mind the crappy sound quality. Sounds like something muffled. I sent my truck to the dealer after I got it home for that. See, i bought the truck in Idaho and we drove back from there to Elk Grove, CA. Listened to the sat because neither of us was smart enough to bring cds. I will be installing XM when I do my aftermarket stereo.

 

[RGardner]

Think it is a function of band width or what? Same radio, same speaker and fm and am both sound better than sirius.

 

[DBoggs]

I've got Sirius in 4 different vehicles, 2 from the factory (Dodge) and 2 add on systems. I have never lost signal unless I'm in a tunnel or under a gas station canopy or something like that. Weather has never affected signal be it rain, snow or dust. I think the sound quality is far superior to am/fm and I can hear tones in the music with Sirius I can't hear on regular radio. Also the lack of ignorant advertisments is a big plus.



Duane

 

[Jengle]

My dads new 06 with Sirius does the same thing. Loses the signal in clear areas, as well as when under trees. The same locations don't faze my XM system. I have two XMs, one is the portable one and one is built into the truck, and neither has had any problem with signal loss in weather or under trees. I just wish the factory systems had XM or offered a choice.

 

[RBollengier]

Loss of signal sounds like that's just the way it is. I guess I will have to live with it. The sound quality is ok, but then I listen mostly to CNN and the like. Thanks, didn't waste a trip to the dealer.

 

[2broke2smoke]

this post gave me a chuckle ...

we bought the wifes '06 this weekend and our freind was with us ... he told us it didn't cut out nearly as bad as his xm ... then today a woman my wife works with told her the same thing

 

[231jasonS]

I had a XM in my old truck and my little honda. The xm in the 04 was hard wired into the stock radio and it lost siginal all the time. The same XM unit in the honda worked great. I double checked all the wires and found a loose ant connect in the dash. i taped it to hold it and that did the trick.



My Sirius works fine in my 06... . all though both will lose siginal from time to time, but its in the same places for each.



I like the XM and Sirius, each have strenghts and weakness, But the sirius is free for now.

 

[KennethS]

I have it in 2 cars and my truck and great

I have no problem with it. One is a add on in the one car. I have been all over the country and no problem?

 

[amsoilman]

My 03' CTD has never had the problem you describe. It will loose signal in tunnels, or under overhead covers, like I would expect it should. I am very pleased with my unit in the 03' Dodge.



Wayne

amsoilman

 

[JThiessen]

I have both in my truck - Factory Sirius, and an XM RoadyII. My wife also has one of the XM SkyFI's. By far, the Sirius has less coverage. I can go through the Expresslane tunnel in downtown Seattle (about a mile or so of continuous underpass/tunnel) and I get XM signal all the way through it. THe Sirius bags out if I get within 30 feet of a tree (and damn, we have a lot of those around here!). Sirius has about a third the number of satellites up in the sky, but I also hear they are putting more up. Sound quality is approximately the same.

 

[Diesel Nut]

I wonder why mine sounds so muffled and such. Its soundls worse than AM radio. All midrange, no bass or treble.

 

[Axion]

I have the Sirius S50 in my truck and love it! I do lose signal under gas station canopies but that's about it. I find the sound quality to be excellent. When I installed mine in my truck, I used a little module that goes in between the regular antenna and the radio and also has the satellite antenna go through it. I can listen to a local radio station and then set my Sirius to the same station and the Sirius will block the other station out completely.