As it's been widely reported, NPR has received numerous complaints from listeners about interference of satellite radio content on many of their stations. As a result, NPR Labs is running tests on several satellite radio devices for several weeks "to demonstrate the frequency of occurrence and investigate the instances of excessive field strengths from FM modulators," said NPR Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Mike Starling, who is executive director of the lab. One of the big issues is with how some people are installing their radios. For instance, the "FM Switching Box" (like the Audiovox's SRSIR-001FM pictured) normally installs behind the car radio and allows users to directly input into the car's antenna. Starling believes some people are installing the devices improperly, stripping a wire and taking the output of the satellite receiver directly to the antenna input of the car.
"The problem with that is, when you turn on the FM radio, the satellite signal is fed into the car, but it's also sent back up the antenna and radiated out of the car antenna so the car is acting like a station," said Wilson.WYPR/Baltimore and WDIY/Philadelphia are having the most problems with interference from FM modulated devices. Check out a sample of the complaints after the jump. They're a hoot.
"I listen to 88.1 (WYPR) on a regular basis, and within the past month interference has escalated. I know it's satellite radio because I can hear Howard Stern and Robin! Sometimes it lasts only a minute or two when I'm near certain other cars. But when I'm on the highway it has gone on for 5 minutes or more. It's not always possible to maneuver away from the offending vehicle."
"The interference from Sirius while listening to your programming on 88.1 FM continues to increase during my commute along the I-95 corridor daily. In the last two days, I would offer to you that approximately 50 percent of your programming is overridden by the following words, phrases and language: b*tch, c*nt, sh*t, f*ck, topic of 'golden showers,' topic of 'menstruation.'"
"It is so upsetting to drive along listening to an important news story or heart-felt humanitarian piece only to be interrupted by someone shouting out of my speaker: '...and her pussy smelled like diarrhea. Hahahaha.' I have included this quote to offer ONE example of the type of grotesque dialogue I hear bursting in on what I have chosen to tune in to. ... I no longer tune into WYPR when my children are in the car out of concern that they would witness the interruptions that occur at a daily minimum of six times during a 25-mile commute."
[via Radio World Online]
i think hes hurting his kids more.he's making them listen to NPR ,in the morning , before school.he should go and buy a sat.radio and listen to NPR on sattlite
So it's XM's and Sirius' fault that folks do not install the units correctly. Perhaps we should prevent pencils from being sold, as a person may choose to use it incorrectly and stab a classmate.
Personally, I don't think the complaints are a 'hoot'. I can understand people's concerns. I wouldn't want to have to deal with that either.
I actually listen to NPR on Sirius. Once in a while, it's nice to hear intelligent, well-thought out radio.
That being said, I really don't care if Stern is blocking out NPR in the car next to me on the thruway during the morning rush. Sorry. Sucks to be them. This was never an issue with the iTrip on my iPod. Why is it an issue with Satellite?
""It is so upsetting to drive along listening to an important news story or heart-felt humanitarian piece only to be interrupted by someone shouting out of my speaker: '...and her pussy smelled like diarrhea. Hahahaha.'"
Additionally, I would argue that that too, is heart-felt.
:)
Given that this is NPR, who I genuinely respect, and not Clear Channel, I find myself far more sympathetic. WDIY is an Allentown station though; Philly's NPR affiliate is 88.5 WXPN.
NPR is a joke. I hate what clear channel is doing to XM, but atleast CC doesn't take my tax dollars to produce its garbage. Now NPR is taking our money to go after SatRad companies we all ENJOY listening to. Time to remove this societal leech people.
I use the Skyfi 2. I turn off the fm transmitter and use the casette tape adaptor. it gives a much better sound quality. Although I understand the complaints. I do not see how it is XM or Sirius's Fault. There have been built in FM transmitters for many years in alternate products They never produced good sound and are the laziest method for connecting to an existing head unit. Most of these factory installed head units also have an AUX button on the front. This also means you can feed the XM/Sirius signal in to the AUX jack on the back of the unit. One more thing, What generation is NPR testing? It looks like the AudioVox unit in the picture. I thought that was not available since this first hit? Are they testing the current unit or an old unmodified one?
The comment about the station being an out-of-market makes sense. I've tried setting my (former) Roady XT to local stations to see if my wife's car next to me would pick me up over them, but they're too strong. Lower-power and distant stations will be more affected because their signal won't be as strong...
"So it's XM's and Sirius' fault that folks do not install the units correctly. Perhaps we should prevent pencils from being sold, as a person may choose to use it incorrectly and stab a classmate."
8 years too late for me. :(
Given that this is NPR, who I genuinely respect, and not Clear Channel
Right on! It's one thing to block a business, engaged in capitalism, attempting to make money (Bushitler radio!)...It's quite another to interrupt maudlin and heartfelt humanitarian stories from Click and Clack. By allowing this, Sirius is basically killing cute and furry learning-disabled puppies...with free tote bags.
But I'm pretty neutral on the whole matter.
To all those people who get interference.... Too Bad... buy a satellite radio and listen to NPR that way!
"It's quite another to interrupt maudlin and heartfelt humanitarian stories from Click and Clack."
Click and Clack happen to be funnier than anything that currently runs on Clear Channel. And they have good car advice. Wish they were on Sirius...
I go to school at University of Maryland, with a 10 watt college station on 88.1 FM. Many times I have been on Route 1 (right in front of the school, about 1/2 mile from WMUC) and have got FM mods bleeding over. I am not anti-satellite radio by any means, but for legit broadcasters at the lower end of the dial it does hurt the already low powers of these small stations. I personally dumped my FM mod for direct connect because it sounds a shitload better. We don't want FM radio hurting sat rad, so why is the reverse okay ? If you want to jam the FM band, jam the upper channels (you know, the commercial band) ....
Man they are stealing my signal from me, If you are going to listen to my sat rad at least pitch in and help pay my bill you crooks.
I didn't mean to come across as sounding "anti-capitalist," but as far as I'm concerned CC is largely responsible for what's gone wrong with terrestrial radio. That, and they forced commercials onto XM music channels. My *local* NPR channel might not always play what I want to hear, but you certainly can't accuse them of not having a certain passion for what they DO play, and that's something that nobody could ever claim about a remotely programmed, automated CC station.
When are people going to learn and set their FM modulator for the religious stations?
The show featuring "Click and Clack", "Car Talk" is on Sirius! It's on ten different times each week, by my count. See these schedules at npr.org for Sirius 134, NPR Now, and Sirius 135, NPR Talk.
http://www.npr.org/everywhere/sirius/
I hate those people broadcasting their crap satellite music. Most of them have terrible taste in music. I just want to listen to the morning news and I hear easy listening crap.
I think there's probably going to be a big crackdown on the FCC regulations. They control the airwaves and everything that can "broadcast" electromagnetic radiation has to be regulated. They certainly screwed up on these FM modulators. Sure, they're installed incorrectly, but who knows where the blame will lie.
I've been so tempted to build an FM transmitter for my car so that I can jam every FM modulated signal (and hence, satellite signal) around me when my radio station gets interrupted. I don't get to listen to what I want?? Fine, then you don't either.