Discussions

My Sirius Satellite home docking box gets very sporadic reception. One day it will cruise along with out many cut outs and the next day it will cut out every couple of minutes. This has been going on for at least the last 3 years. I contacted them about this 2 years ago and they apologized for the inconvenience and admitted they had some signal issues with this area and would be working on it to get it fixed. Well it is worse than ever this week and was wondering if anyone else out there was experiencing the same thing?

I have it in my vehicle and its gotten progressively worse the last couple years. Now randomly driving down 18th i loose it sporadically and Richmond east and other streets that were never an issue.  
 
Drive under a small tree canopy and its gone now, downtown i understand with how closed in it is on rosser ave.  
 
If i didn't pay like $30 for 6 months I'd be pissed but i likely wont renew when that promo ends.

Mines not even in the car where you could probably lose reception behind buildings. Mine just sits at home in the kitchen and cuts out continuously. if anybody else has that problem let me know on here otherwise I will cancel my subscription .

I’ve been thinking of cancelling just as I’m paying $21 a month and I’m not sure it’s worth it. Lately there’s been a few disruptions, but nothing big.

I have XM Satellite, & sometimes when the reception gets weak I call them. There''s a way at their end, they can Re-boot the Signal. It kind of strengthens the Signal, so the reception is better. I''ve had it done. It only takes about 15-20 minutes. I hope this helps you. I have XM Satellite Radio in our home, and it's working fine now.  
 
Edited by Straight Shooter, 2018-08-02 15:48:12

I've been able to get the $30 for 6 months for 12 months now. If you call in to cancel and say the only way you'll stay is to get the deal, they most likely will give it to you.

I too have noticed poor reception. I have an XM radio in one car, and Sirius in the other. At one time they were separate and had separate satellites and their satellites had different types of orbits. My Sirius radio was rock solid but my XM would cut out, especially if there was even the slightest blockage of the southern sky.  
 
If you look at the orbits of the satellites they are different. The Sirius ones are in "geosynchronos" orbits which mean that are not positioned above the equator in an orbit that fixes then in the same location over a spot on earth. Rather, they orbit the earth at an angle inclined to the equator such that at least one satellite is positioned over North America at any given time. If you looked at a map of North America with a line tracing the orbit, it would "loop" over North America with the highest point somewhere in Hudson's Bay.  
 
The XM satellites are "geostationary". They are over the equator and orbit at the same rate as the earth rotates. The net effect is that from the ground they always appear to be on the southern horizon you in the same position. However, they are over the equator so if the southern horizon is blocked by a building, or even a big tree, you won't get a signal.  
 
It appears that Sirius may be phasing out its geosynchronos satellites and moving to geostationary. This means that reception for Sirius will be more and more like XM. I have certainly noticed that my Sirius reception isn't what it used to be.  
 
This Wikipedia article speaks to their satellites and the orbits:  
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius_Satellite_Radio#Satellite_technology  
 
 
In larger centres like Winnipeg they have ground based antennas so even if your antenna can't see the southern horizon you can get a signal.  
 
I love satellite radio and listen to it constantly. I also have an outdoor mounted antenna for a radio connected to my receiver. However, about a year ago I switched to a Sonos system which connects over the Internet. It costs a few extra bucks a month for an internet subs:cription but it is rock solid. Pay for a subs:cription in your car and then pay the extra $4 for the internet on the same subs:cription. In your house, use an internet based radio. Most modern surround sound receivers i:nclude the SiriusXM internet app and the Sonos also i:ncludes it. Amazon Alexa i:ncludes it in the US, but not yet in Canada. I can't speak for Google Home. Your phone connected to a speaker or bluetooth speaker would also work, or your computer.  
 
When driving you are stuck with using satellite unless you want to use your data on your phone and the phone app. When listening in my car I almost never have problems on the highway, only in the City, especially downtown or on a well treed street. But at home the internet subs:cription can't be beat.