Sirius signal drop outs?

[RickR]

While driving my car, Sirius drops out periodically - anywhere from a faction of a second to several seconds. I've never had satellite radio before so I'm not sure if the signal loss is normal or if there might be something wrong with my radio. Any thoughts?

[amybang]

It needs line of sight to the satellite, so it will drop out if you go under a bridge or other block (maybe dense trees or close to tall buildings). And after it has the sight again, it takes a few beats to sync up again.

amy!

[UM-Iceman]

Had Sirius for a few years on my previous car and had the same issue. Sometimes you'll even struggle to get a constant connection on really cloudy days.

[plien69]

Sirius appears to have a network of terrestrial repeaters:
http://www.dogstarradio.com/sirius_map.php

Are there fewer dropouts in the areas that are covered by these repeaters?

[larryn]

Have had Sirius in 4 cars so far, and have never had it cut out due to clouds before. It definitely does cut out in tunnels, underpasses, and heavy tree cover. It actually cuts out less in the winter, when there are less leaves on trees.

Your experiences may vary, because you "look" at the satellites from a different angle based on where you are on the earth.


On a side note: When are they going to stick a few MB of memory in those receivers, so that they can cache a few minutes of music, and you do not get any interruption. It seems like it would be basic to be able to accomplish! (yeah, I know that for live broadcasts, you can't do that...)

[mergen]

Mine drops out often too. We have a lot of trees where I live, but it doesn't always drop out near the densest trees. It's hard to predict. My wife has XM radio in a Honda CRV and hers never drops out, except under overpasses. I'm putting this on my squawk list for the dealer.

[TP 135i]

Mine drops out within heavy treed areas and inside my garage. I believe this to be perfectly normal.
My Sirius drops out far less than my wifes XM (oh by the way).

[UM-Iceman]

Originally Posted by larryn

Have had Sirius in 4 cars so far, and have never had it cut out due to clouds before. It definitely does cut out in tunnels, underpasses, and heavy tree cover. It actually cuts out less in the winter, when there are less leaves on trees.

Your experiences may vary, because you "look" at the satellites from a different angle based on where you are on the earth.


On a side note: When are they going to stick a few MB of memory in those receivers, so that they can cache a few minutes of music, and you do not get any interruption. It seems like it would be basic to be able to accomplish! (yeah, I know that for live broadcasts, you can't do that...)

Perhaps I just remember cloudly/stormy days magnifying the effect of the tree cover on my daily commute. Dunno. Maybe I just had a bad antenna.
Agree with you on the memory option. My old car had the Sirius Sportster with the cache, which greatly improved the radio experience, just like TiVo dramatically altered my TV viewing habits.

[RickR]

Thanks for the information - most likely its normal drop outs due to trees or other obstructions. I might have the dealer check it out anyway.

BTW: I did check the repeater map - there is an "unconfirmed" repeater in my area.

[sredish]

mine has been extremely reliable in the 4 or 5 years I've had it. Very very occasionally it'll skip if it's changing satellites but it's very rare, and of course going slow under bridges or overpasses, it'll skip just for a sec. But over 55 or 60, usually not even then.

[john970]

Sat radio is S band which is 2.4GHz. Stuff at this frequency is pretty sensitive to any physical blockage like a tunnel or a building, but it is not so sensitive that rain would block a signal. Satellite TV uses over 10GHz and is very sensitive to anything blocking the signal path, even rain or snow, for comparison.

The old 49Mhz cordless phones were more tolerant and could go through even brick walls relatively easily (although not very far).

[plien69]

Interesting info, John. Thanks!

[john970]

I happen to think sat radio sounds like crap, but I like the content, so I record the higher bitrate stream off of their internet feed and put it on my ipod (which also lets me fast forward it and listen to it in tunnels).

My mac mini records a few hours of my favorite channel every day and syncs my ipod automagically overnight.

[RickR]

Originally Posted by john970

My mac mini records a few hours of my favorite channel every day and syncs my ipod automagically overnight.

That's a great idea; I'll have to give that a try.

[john970]

Originally Posted by RickR

That's a great idea; I'll have to give that a try.

If you have a mac, here is the software I use:

www.starplayr.com

[djmBMW]

My drives are on back roads that in most cases follow the rivers and valleys below the hills. My SAT reception is very spotty and almost not worth the bucks.

[1Ronnie]

Originally Posted by larryn

On a side note: When are they going to stick a few MB of memory in those receivers, so that they can cache a few minutes of music, and you do not get any interruption. It seems like it would be basic to be able to accomplish! (yeah, I know that for live broadcasts, you can't do that...)

Unfortunately, as there is no ability to acknowledge or retransmit the signal, regardless of whether they buffer or not, any lost data is lost forever. So a buffer will only delay the playing of the music, but will encounter a loss as well.

[john970]

Originally Posted by arrons1969

Unfortunately, as there is no ability to acknowledge or retransmit the signal, regardless of whether they buffer or not, any lost data is lost forever. So a buffer will only delay the playing of the music, but will encounter a loss as well.

Yeah, buffering only works if the data stream is variable speed. Plus every time you changed channels it would take forever.