my friend's brother works for the Sirius engineering division and supposedly the last 2wweks they have been testing out new satelites and devices. that may account for some of the disruptions

In addition, a friend of mine called me and told me that his devices were being "updated" and in some circumstances (depending on the device), Sirius was mailing hard copy letters along with e-mails to subscribers telling them to make sure they get updates.

I live in CT in the Northwester side of the state and I have been experiencing the drop outs really bad the past week to 2 weeks but have been having spotty issues for the past month. I called Sirus tech support and they just resent the signal and told me some story about the satellite might be far from my location which would cause that. In the past 3 years I've owned Sirius I've never had issues like this!

No trouble at all in fact i think it is better. One spot that it cut out it no longer cuts out.
I am not near any repeaters satellite only.

Thanks for putting attention on this, Ryan. It's become annoying so much that I'm listening almost solely to my XM for now, as my Stiletto 100 (updated with the latest firmware...no updates since January) is not able to "record" any songs for fear that the song will have a drop out.

If you post, please post what type of radio your are experiencing the drop outs on and where you are...some are experiencing NO drop outs at all.

ME: Stiletto 100, in Minnesota.

once I updated my s50, there has been no problem.

maybe testing for merger??

If you have the retail antenna with the metal cap on it, you may need to replace it. I had to replace two with the all plastic antennae.

I just started experiencing problems with my Sirius signal. Maybe it is because it's raining outdoors, but I don't think so. Last week, it was sunny out all week, and all of a sudden my receiver started sign Antenna Not Detected. Not sure what, or why that happen, but it is started to piss me off. With that being said, I would rather listen to Sirius online than listen to XM. XM music sucks in my opinion, and they don't have Howard, Bubba, or Ferrall.

In Pittsburgh: For a few days a couple of weeks ago, my signal dropped from three bars in my car to one (with cutting in and out even on one bar), my apartment went from three to one (the same cutting out), and at work I couldn't get any signal. I emailed Sirius and got a response back of "We're currently having difficulty in the Pittsburgh area with our signal. We're working on it..." Within hours of getting the response back the signals all went back up and I have't had a problem since.

I've had repeated dropouts the past two weeks, mostly in the morning. I thought my receiver was going bad and had starting looking for a replacement. The issue occurrs in my car and home dock, so it's happening with two diffent antennaes. I have a Sirus Sportster, and am in Williamsburg, VA

Yes, all weekend on my Sportster 4. Seemed to click out every few minutes for 2 seconds at a time on Howard 100. I didn't notice it on other channels. I'm in Nova Scotia.

I am a duel subscriber and SIRIUS has massive drop outs with SIRIUS. If the SIRIUS satellite technology is used,then I am definitely gone as a sub as I will not pay for crappy service.

I've been getting dropouts a lot more in the last week. It's not bad, but noticeable.

I have experienced recent Sirius dropouts. Reminds me of their stocks!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, S-100

Yes, I've had them too, I'm in Vegas and they are happening sporadically throughout the day, but mostly at night for me. Its very frustrating, to where I didn't even bother listening past 9pm the last week.

Yeah, but I just thought it was because my antenna sucks. its usually for only one or 2 seconds.

Yes!

I have noticed occasional dropouts. It started about a week or two ago. I have not had any problems recording six hour segments, so they have been under the threshold of dropping the recording sessions.

Just checked and there are no updates for my Stilleto 100. Who knows ...

Maybe Teradyne is taking over control of the Sirius Satellite Constellation ... Terminator in 3D coming soon to a theater near you !!

I first noticed on my SL-100 last night in the home dock a "Acquiring Signal" even though in the bottom right corner I had 2 bars of signal. I hadn't used it in several days so that was the first indication I had.

My JVC KDHD-R1 tuner in my car with Sirius hasn't had any dropouts. I'm in the Midwest in Kansas City.

I have been getting consistent drop outs in my car in MD. I just got a vehicle with Sirius two weeks ago so I had no data to compare it to. I am a liftime XM subscriber and thought that Sirius was always like this until I saw this thread.

Yep, in the past 2 weeks I got dropouts at home even though the radio displays 2 bars; thus I don't think it should be dropping out. Before then my at-home signal has always been perfect with the rare dropout (usually when a storm comes through).

I've complained to Sirius about a year ago saying that they have a dead spot right around the OR-217 and OR-26 highway change, between Beaverton and Portland, OR, which I cannot figure out why because our city metro area is no small potatoes (roughly a million people). I live around that dead spot so maybe it's growing :(

I am in Chicago and had problems in Jan, Feb and March of 2008 with lost signal that sometimes went on for a few days. I am new to SIRius having bought a car with it on it. Since April, I have not had an issue, but I always suspect it will pop up again.

Since Thursday, my SL100 drops for 1-2 seconds, sometimes with the "Acquiring Signal", 2 bars of signal -- almost 20-25 times an hour (sometimes more) on Howard 100 and 101, less on the music channels. I've never before had trouble with my signal, antenna, boom box -- anything -- since I started with Sirius in mid-'07. Its bizarre -- and the hiccups are driving me nuts.

Santa Rosa, California.

I'm in Birmingham, AL and I've been having dropouts for the last four or five days on my S50 (and, yes, it has been updated). It usually only lasts for a couple of seconds at the time but it can occasionally come in waves and be quite annoying.

I'm in Birmingham, AL and I've been having dropouts for the last four or five days on my S50 (and, yes, it has been updated). It usually only lasts for a couple of seconds at the time but it can occasionally come in waves and be quite annoying.

Absolutely!

I noticed it a lot last weekend. I was concerned I might have an antenna wire shorting out.

Evansville, IN

hoo hoo, did you hear that my gigantic ego is blocking the satellite signal robin. hoo hoo, i invented satellite signal dropouts, hoo hoo.

Yes, having bad dropouts. SL100. Same routes I always take to and from work that never had issues before....now is almost unlistenable. Dropouts sometimes seconds at a time.

This was another major reason why I never went with Sirius. XM is leaps and bounds ahead of Sirius in technology.

I agree with Laptop Gamer, if this merger happens, and Sirius' technology is used...I'm out'a here.

how can you tell

Its all a David Rehr NAB plot !!!

If they can't INTERFERE with the merger,, they'll try to INTERFERE with the transmission and reception.

Its their only hope of staying alive !!!

"We understand your frustration regarding this issue. What is
happening is that SIRIUS is currently conducting over-the-air
maintenance at this time which should be completed on April 30. Your
reception should return to normal either before or after that time.
SIRIUS appreciates your understanding of this matter."

Whew! Thanks for pointing this out.

I was getting ready to buy a new antenna wire for my Terk SIR-6 home antenna, thinking that my cat chewed the old one.

A LOT of cutouts last Thursday. I had a couple this morning driving in at 5:30AM

Los Angeles Area.

Clean and Clear here. The best radio on radio from the Big Dog Sirius.

NO! to "merge" aka MONOPOLY

constantly, dropout. thought it was my sportster!!

i live in wheeling,ev and on about thurs on my boombox i had a antenna not detected i followed that upin friday with the same thing in my car it craps out for 5 sec wich is long enough to make me mad

i live in wheeling,ev and on about thurs on my boombox i had a antenna not detected i followed that upin friday with the same thing in my car it craps out for 5 sec wich is long enough to make me mad

i live in wheeling,wv and on about thurs on my boombox i had a antenna not detected i followed that upin friday with the same thing in my car it craps out for 5 sec wich is long enough to make me mad

i live in wheeling,wv and on about thurs on my boombox i had a antenna not detected i followed that upin friday with the same thing in my car it craps out for 5 sec wich is long enough to make me mad

i live in wheeling,wv and on about thurs on my boombox i had a antenna not detected i followed that upin friday with the same thing in my car it craps out for 5 sec wich is long enough to make me mad

Having dropouts here in southern IN. Sucks.

Sportster 5 in my office (SoCal) where I have really good terrestrial coverage. Been dropping out here and there last week....but so far so good this week. At least I know I'm not crazy!

antenna not detected is not the same as a aquiring signal message that you get with dropouts, antenna not detected is something with the physical antenna or radio..

No problems here. Oh, that's right, I have XM. Good luck bros.

Sportster III - Yes.

Aand, Punt!

I don't experience drop outs hardly ever.. but then I do have XM so there you go.. and when the merger is passed this is what we will have to look forward to.. substandard signal because sirius is better than XM...

My Sirius and XM radios are working just fine as always, but my iPod is skipping while my FM band plays nothing but commercials.

My Starmate 4 is acting up here in Iowa. Let's boycott Siruis and get XM!

My wife and I have a Stratus and a Sportster 4, both car and in-home docks. We've had drop-outs for more than a week now, regardless of signal strength. The display does not switch to 'Acquiring Signal' nor does the signal strength go below 3 bars (sometimes 2 but mostly 3 and it still drops out.) I first suspected the weather, but it's been happening daily. I also wondered if unit was over-heating, but now I can see that many people are experiencing this. The silence is never more than a few seconds, but it really becomes irritating. We are in the St Louis, MO area.

i live north of portland , OR, and my starmate has been droping out since thursday my sl 100 when i walk around is fine .

its not that big of a deal...although if this was happening on xm, it would just prove how crappy they were

Seattle:
Yes, my Starmate 4 and Stiletto 100 have had drop outs all weekend.
Very annoying.

Not like this ever happened to XM.... :rolls eyes:

http://www.orbitcast.com/archives/breaking-is-xm.html

Calm down! Every service has interruptions, never perfect.

I have a Clarion reciever and I have had no dropouts with it at all.

Ditto Seattle... Stiletto 2. Not too bad though. Heavily buffers anymore with the software update.

Attn Sirius: Please fix this problem asap and cant wait for the merger,
I am a sirius and XM subscriber and will always be so merge on so I can have the best of
both worlds!

Attn Sirius: Please fix this problem asap and cant wait for the merger,
I am a sirius and XM subscriber and will always be so merge on so I can have the best of
both worlds!

Thank god I'm not alone....Livin in So Cal and my stiletto 100 started dropping out last thurs. Still doing it (mon.) I thought it was my radio even though I have full signal.

Talked with Cust svc today and said would be resolved by 4/30/08 we shall see.
Cant wait for the merger so I can have the best of both worlds finally!!!

NAB must be stopped!!!!!!!!

It was about a year ago , that XM's satellite went down .
( Orbitcast also went down , the same day XM's satellite went down ) .

Yes, It's happening to me with multiple antennas, on my S50, Stiletto 100
and Stiletto 2! Maybe more than our S50's need to be updated as was stated in
the latest warning from Sirius

It was so bad this morning I finally switched to Wifi.  Couldn't
stand the pauses every 5 minutes! For those that want to follow the thread on
the Backstage her is the link

http://www.siriusbackstage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107622

I have been getting signal loss for last week or so. I listen at work and do not have best spot to aim at sats, but usually get 3-5 bars and no loss. Lately its been 2-3 bars with constant loss of signal every few minutes.

Yep. It's been happening to me since late last week using a vehicle mounted Starmate 4. Today I experienced the longest drop out yet...about 3-4 secs.

I have a sportster and I live in the Philadelphia area. Over the past week, I went from 3 bars to between one and zero (just says that it is trying to acquire a signal). I called tech support, the guy told me to see what message I get if I disconnect the antenna. Of course I got an antenna not detected error message. The tech guy told me I had a bad antenna. Where do they find these guys? I hope they fix this soon. My radio is worthless at this point.

I have a sportster and I live in the Philadelphia area. Over the past week, I went from 3 bars to between one and zero (just says that it is trying to acquire a signal). I called tech support, the guy told me to see what message I get if I disconnect the antenna. Of course I got an antenna not detected error message. The tech guy told me I had a bad antenna. Where do they find these guys? I hope they fix this soon. My radio is worthless at this point.

The OEM in the Infinity has been dropping out more then usual.

The OEM in the Infinity has been dropping out more then usual.

The OEM in the Infinity has been dropping out more then usual.

YEA, I'M GETTING IT TOO. IM IN ALPHA, NORTH WEST JERSEY. I HAVE 3 STREAMER GTR'S(SAME AS STARMATE REPLAY). AND IVE BEEN NOTICING THE DROPOUTS AT RANDOM TIMES THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND NIGHT FOR ABOUT THE PAST 2 WEEKS. ITS HAPPENED BEFORE SO I DIDN'T THINK MUCH OF IT. I THINK ITS JUST THEM WORKING ON THE WHOLE SYSTEM. ITLL GO AWAY AGAIN AT SOME POINT, BUT, YEA, ITS A LITTLE ANNOYING.

I'm in Kansas City. I've been noticing the drops since last week, and I notice them on everything from Howard on north. For some reason, channels way down the dial -- 80s, the Vault, etc. -- haven't been dropping. Weird. But I have two radios (Replay and Sportster 4), and both have the dropsies, so I doubt it's equipment-related.

I've worked around it by turning on the radio, letting it roll for 15-20 seconds, then rewinding to the start. The radios constantly bank the signals, so no drops. But that's no way to run a railroad.

AND BTW...A P.S. TO MY ABOVE STATEMENT...AFTER READING ALL THE POSTS, DON'T EVERYONE GO FREAKING OUT AND BUYING NEW EQUIPMENT FOR CHRITSTS SAKE!! IT WILL GO AWAY! ITS JUST PART OF THE NEW TECHNOLOGY! I HAVENT REPLACED A SINGLE THING ON ANY OF MY UNITS AND THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS TO SPEAK OF WITH MY STUFF. WASNT THERE AN ARTICLE ON HERE JUST LAST WEEK SAYING SOMETHING ABOUT THE NEW STARMATE 5 OUT AND BEING TESTED? MAYBE THATS PART OF IT? WHO THE HELL KNOWS REALLY. BUT PATIENCE WINS IN THE END. MAYBE THEYRE TESTING THE NEW 'DUAL-TUNER' ASPECT OF IT...MAYBE ITS THE NEW SAT THAT WAS LAUNCHED...ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE HERE...WE ALL JUST HAVE TO CHILL AND DEAL WITH IT! IF NOT, CANCEL YOUR SUBS FOR ALL I CARE. JUST TRYIN TO HELP.

Its all about the merger ... They need to test out this merger software before they go live.

Almost a year ago I had a Sirius SIR-ECL1 hooked up to my Eclipse head unit and the signal constantly dropped out where I live (north of LA). It was so bad I went back to XM using a first generation Roady with no problems. The XM signal is bulletproof!

I didn't have time to read through all these threads, but yes, I have noticed my signal cutting out more frequently than ever before. Just driving last weekend from Madison, WI to Milwaukee (about a 1 hr. 20 min drive) it cut out at least 5 times, once for at least 45 seconds. Whats the freakin' dealski?

I didn't have time to read through all these threads, but yes, I have noticed my signal cutting out more frequently than ever before. Just driving last weekend from Madison, WI to Milwaukee (about a 1 hr. 20 min drive) it cut out at least 5 times, once for at least 45 seconds. Whats the freakin' dealski?

Many drops last few weeks. Bought new car attenna for $40, same results.
Cincinnati ....

It's been happening on my OEM in Chicago on I-55 between the city and I-294. It's only a split second, but happens more than it used to.

Strangely, I haven't noticed anything on my home install, which has a pretty lousy window antenna placement.

Thank god XM has 2 new birds up there to save Mel's ass with those clunker dog sats.

Thank god XM has 2 new birds up there to save Mel's ass with those clunker dog sats.

xm sucks even though it is working.....howard told me so, hoo hoo

No. I live in Maryland, listened to SIRIUS all weekend, no change in signal

In Dallas, Tx. and had 2-3 second dropouts last week

I was driving back from New York and throughout the afternoon there were a few cases where the unit went into channel update mode... at one point it would go to channel update mode, get to 100% complete, be normal for a few seconds, then go back to update mode, complete the update, be normal for a few seconds, then back to update mode...

Interestingly enough, after the updates, I could have sworn that the sound on a number of channels (e.g. Sirius Gold and pretty much every talk channel) sounded a lot clearer than they did that morning. Not sure if it's a processing change, an encoder upgrade (one of the advantages of now having, for all intents and purposes, a custom codec...), or even Sirius adding some trick to the codec (matrix stereo? some sort of spectral band replication?). I don't think it's SBR, as the cymbals, especially high-hats, were much improved, while XM's handling of high-hats is generally woeful (and given that AAC isn't known for woeful handling of high hats, I think it is quite possibly an interaction between SBR and audio processing further up the chain), but it was mono channels that had the most improvement, so that argues against matrix stereo (though a matrix stereo implementation could theoretically improve mono sound quality by reducing the bitrate demands of the stereo channels thus allowing mono channels more bits to work with).

i have an Avic Z1 with XM and Sirius, and i have definitley noticed more frequent drop outs on my Sirius over the past few weeks. Not enough to make me stop listening altogether, but definitely enough to drive me a little crazy on my normal commute.

This has started happening in the last 3 or 4 days. I had my Sirius hardwired in my car about 2 months ago and was about to send it back to the installer to take a look.

kinda sounds like they are having bandwidth issues....

It seems as of 12:00 eastern today that the problem has stopped!!!

It seems as of 12:00 eastern today that the problem has stopped!!!

I was getting music just stopped but still showed recieving signal, other times it went to Acquiring signal. Haven't been listening today, but I was curious why this was happening to me. Guess everyone is getting it atleast.

I'm new with Sirius and satrad in general. For 3 weeks it's been a real honeymoon. Now this BS. I'm paid for a damn year or else I'd tell them to pound it in thier ass. No warning, sparse info, no offer of a credit. It's allegedly some service work going on up the tracks. An explanitory email from SiriusCanada would go a long way but ...nothing. These assholes are trying to win new customers? Why the freaking secrecy? It's new tech. We can understand some glitches but, c'mon...just say something.

starmate 4 in memphis, tn

experiencing very random dropouts, sometimes a couple an hour, but can then go for a few
hours with no problems. its a minor pain in the ass, but once i got over staring at my receiver
everytime it happened, i was ok.

I have a weird case...i have noticed drop outs...more so on Howard channels...less on the music channels...but my signal meter doesn't drop...but my receiver reads "aquiring signal"

Drop outs last up to 5 seconds

I am having a lot of connection problems, especially in the mornings. It the afternoon (after 2 or 3) I start to get better reception. The antenna is pointed directly to the west with a clear view of the sky.

This problem has been going on for about 2 weeks now. It is so bad that I am seriously considering cancelling my subscription and putting my stilleto 100 on ebay for whatever I can get for it.

My coworker sits right next to me with XM radio. He gets get reception all day long. He can even unplug his radio and walk around inside the building and still get reception. The only way he could FORCE a dropoff was to hide in our communications closet and actually cover up the antenna on his unit with his hand.

XM technology is 100 times better than sirius. I only wanted sirius for the NFL radio channel. But if you can't get a signal, the channel does you no good.

I am SERIOUSLY ticked off!!!

Same here in Vegas. Since two weeks ago coinciding with reactivation on second unit (original Sportster), dropouts and general crappy reception (wireless transmitter). Not the ideal setup, but prior to that, everything had been fine.
I was wondering if it had anything to do with the reactivation.

I actually first noticed the dropouts while driving through CT on my way home to RI on May 4th and they were really bad! A little better closer to Providence, and then later that week on a trip to Foxwoods (CT) it was really bad again!

I live in Birmingham,Al and have had repeated issues for at least a month starting in mid April. I have no signal at all at my home about 10 mile outside of Birmingham downtown but have a great signal all day at my work which is downtown Birminghaqm. Its so specific that i actually sent Sirius tech a google map showing the EXACT spots where it works and doesnt. I just called them again yesterday tonly to hear that its my equipment! I have already replaced the car antenaa so i know its good. I'm getting a little frustrated myself.

Charly Birmingham

Your situation may be due to terrestrial repeaters in the city and a lack of them near your home. I live about 15 miles outside of Wash. D.C. and during the outages I found my reception in the city was fine but as I drove home the signal dropped out at the same spot. You can check this by going to the “menu” on your receiver and then selecting “antenna aiming”. You should have two meters one for satellite signal and the other for terrestial if you have a high T signal in the city this may explain your anomaly.

I'M IN SOCA AND HAVE HAD SEVERAL DROP-OUTS RECENTLY WITH MY SPORSTER 4-
IT HAPPENS MOSTLY EARLY MORNINGS AND EVENINGS.

I HAVE MOVED MY ANTENNA AROUND SEVERAL TIMES BUT THIS DOES NOT CURE THE PROBLEM----ANY SUGGESTIONS
ANY NEW SETTINGS FOR A SAN DIEGO AREA TUNER?