keisur

yea, as Dublin said, go over the connections again. A kink in one of the antenna wires can wreak havoc on the signal getting to the receiver, and those things kink like crazy if your aren't extremely careful while pulling it through the car. Also make sure it isn't pinched between an interior panel and the body. it could be that it is being pinched so hard that it has the same effect as a kink, or could have been cut into and it is shorting against the sheetmetal body. if that is the case, squirt some rubber cement or silicone on the cut and let it dry then wrap some electrical tape around it. or just buy a new antenna for $50. hope it gets figured out, I know how frustrating it can get.

LSUMatt1514

Very frustrating. Just as frustrating will be fishing that little wire out of the weather stripping around the wind shield. It may be a kink. I'll try and find it tomorrow and I may call Sirius and see what they think. It can't be normal that it cuts in and out this much. Thanks for the help guys.

Matt

turboale

You guys think you have it bad...
Try living in a "historic" town where there are trees over EVERYTHING. It skips all the time in down town savannah. I'm starting to get used to it, but I'm using it less and less in town. Still good for the long haul tough. Its kind-of wierd though. It has a darn good buffer on it... (try putting your hand over it and see how long it takes to loose signal. But some tiny bridge will still make it skip. hmmm... Also, I found out that its only like 36kbs (is that correct?). Most mp3s are 128kbs... I have found that the sound is kind-of well... digital. The sub helps a bit in covering it up, but does anyone else notice this?

keisur

I agree, I am somewhat disappointed in the quality of the sound. and when I listen to some stations, there's some sort of continuous "chhhhh- - - - - chhhhh - - - - -chhhh" sound. very faint but if you are listening to a new channel, just when it gets silent to go to a commercial or that occasional gap between tunes, you can barely hear it. kind of annoying.

User 051420

I had that with my XM, but it was much more severe. You likely have a ground issue.

Try grounding your head unit and sirius tuner to the same spot on the chassis (not the stock ground wire). It's even better if you ground it to the same spot as your amp too!

keisur

I thought about it being a ground issue but I didn't know enough about that stuff to go fudding around with it. I installed it and it works so I just left it alone. I have no amp, yet, I just talked to a dude about getting a fosgate so that may get put in sometime soon, assuming the guy I sold my old 3rd member to gives me my money soon.

I'll fix the ground issue when I install the amp, thanks for the input.

User 051420

Fosgate! YEAH!

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Wow, I came into this post @ 6:00 PM and now it's 6:25.
Stared at it for 25 minutes

No really, only about 1.5 minutes or so.
Very hypnotic.

That is cool how the XM satts do a much better job.
Something to keep in mind if I ever get a satt tuner in the future.

newheeler

I've got that behavior... the buffer is mostly impressive but then a tiny bridge at 70mph causes a dropout. I often sit in a short tunnel on my way to work waiting for the freeway onramp light and I don't seem to lose the signal while I'm essentially parked inside. I pass thru a longer tunnel on my way into work. Sirius never loses signal in either of these. But an overpass can trip it up. Very wierd. I just got it 2 weeks ago so it's still new. I've only lost the signal bad twice now--both times were >5 minutes. Overall I'm still pleased but the system is far from flawless.

4Paws

"chhhhh- - - - - chhhhh - - - - -chhhh" sound. "

Most likely it's an FM modulation system. The receiver is plugged into the car's antenna. My XM Radio does the same thing.
LOVE MY XM

User 051420

I dont think he is using an FM Modulator.

keisur

nice try but no cigar for you. mine is a totally kenwood system and the HU is the controller/tuner. So, in other words, no FM modulation in my system.

chek out my site for my full get-up:
http://www.keisur.com/interiormods.htm

Duffdog

your probably hearing the sirius tuner trying to make up the missing bits in the signal and guess what was supposed to be there (aliasing). there is one other thing that was not mentioned. XM only has 2 satellites, but they have a huge number of terrestrial repeaters to keep the signal strong. Sirius does not, thats why the trees, buildings, garages, bridges all effect sirius. In fact, when we install one, it wont work in the shop-- we have to pull it out onto the street. the XM works just fine inside the shop.

T

LSUMatt1514

No FM modulator here either. I'm gonna call Sirius tonight and see what they have to say about this. I meant to look at the antenna wire this weekend, but I didn't have time. I don't have a whole lot of free time right now since I'm working 6-12s. It sucks!!!!!

Matt

bobzemuda

It's not so much the digital (as most of the music you more than likely listen to is digital) but the compression of it.

Different people notice it at different points. I used to tape a lot of concerts, so I got pretty good at hearing nuances like that in audio sources to the point that I can hear it a lot earlier than most people. It's very annoying, and the way I can tell, is that I almost sort of have a sensation that I need to pop my ears (like in an airplane).

At any rate, I believe XM and Sirius use different compression ratios and schemes, and I feel like in my reading that XMs isn't as harsh. It's been a long time since I've read about the systems, however, as I bought XM merely off the subscriber base of the system and it's stock value. It's hands down the leader, and I didn't want to invest in something that might not be around for the long haul.

I've noticed that Sirius has really picked up some steam over the last 6-12 months, and I would assume that was one of XMs big reasons for going commercial free on their music stations as that was a big selling point for Sirious.

At the end of the day, however, they're both pretty damn cool, and if money was no object I'd pony up for both to compare.

Bill

Lurch

Might as well throw in my two cents ...

I have a Kenwood Here2Anywhere Sirius receiver that I plug into a docking station at work and can also pop into in the 'Runner. Occasionally, during the day, the signal disappears for no apparent reason for a few seconds and the receiver will read, "Updating channels ... please wait ..."

Other than that minor inconvenience, the system has worked flawlessly both in the office and in the 'Runner. I ran the antenna back to the rear hatch and up on the roof, about a foot from the rear and about 3" inboard of the stock roof rack rail. No reception problems noted (but then, we don't have many tunnels around here either.)

Customer service has been good, too. My first radio stopped working (bought it used on eBay) and had to replace it. Getting it up and running took one quick phonecall and about two minutes.

So, while both systems are probably awesome compared with local FM, I can't complain about Sirius reception or customer service.

keisur

That is a typical bodily response when somebody beefs in the 4Runner and the windows are all up. It spikes the pressure up a little. Try cracking the window a bit when you feel that sensation coming.



With my "chhh-chhh" sound, it is very very subtle, you can barely hear it. only when there is no sound coming from the thing, like in between songs. but you really have to listen hard. It sounds like somebody is tapping a sanding block down and then dragging it for about 1 second and then repeating.

keisur

Mine updates now and then too. Are you sure it's not doing that everytime somebody cranks up the Panarex?

Yosmany

You know I have the commander, and it cuts out under overpasses all the time. I'm pretty sure it normal. It's just the signal being blocked.

SLC Punk

That's not entirely true. The Sirius satellites are a lot higher in orbit, so they can reach more places than XM's lower orbit satellites. That why XM has to have repeaters, their satellites are too low. XM cuts out in the woods, garages, etc. just as much as Sirius does.