AudiWorld Super User Thread Starter  Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Western Massachusetts Posts: 3,066 Received 68 Likes on 47 Posts
Yesterday I took a drive to a rural town north of my city, and while there my Sirius satellite radio kept cutting out -- 5 to 10 seconds at a time. I was not under any bridges or trees or in any tunnels. When it happened, I would switch to another station, and sometimes the other station would work, and sometimes it was just dead silence. About a month ago I took my car to the dealership for such a problem, and they said there was a TSB for the antenna wiring. They replaced the wiring. But now, the problem seems to have returned ... or is this normal to happen? . . .
AudiWorld Member Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: California Posts: 125 Likes: 0 Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I don't think it's normal. The only time I've experienced such behavior in any of my cars while not being under a bridge or in a tunnel, etc., was if the weather was pretty cloudy/stormy; how was the weather during your drive?
AudiWorld Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Southington, CT Posts: 1,868 Received 112 Likes on 81 Posts
Depending on your location and the surrounding terrain it is normal. I believe the longitude of the satellite we use is in the midwest and the latitude is over the equator so if you are in Mass the signal is coming from the southwest. When I drive north from Connecticut to Western Mass there are some spots with cliffs to the west of the road where my old A6 and my wife's Honda and now her VW GSW all lose signal. And as the previous poster said, under bridges and in tunnels also result in signal loss. I have also noticed that when you have heavy tree cover and they trees are wet from rain the signal can drop out. Interestingly, when I had XM radio on a previous car (as opposed to Sirius) I had less dropouts.
AudiWorld Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Charleston, WV Posts: 520 Received 79 Likes on 68 Posts
Yeah, lots of dropouts here in hilly West Virginia. Remember, those satellites are not directly overhead - the further North, the more acute the angel.
AudiWorld Super User Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: San Francisco Bay Area Posts: 6,531 Received 694 Likes on 488 Posts
So the thing with Sirius is while they call themselves satellite radio, in reality they operate a large terrestrial repeater network to fill in shadowed areas. Some actually go as far as calling them terrestrial radio with satellites filling in the gaps. Sirius and XM ran afoul of the FCC a few years back with these repeaters being overpowered and causing interference. I'm not really up to speed on the details, but I believe they were forced to cut back the power. Dead spots are not unusual even if there are no obvious obstructions and again, much of the signal is terrestrial. I have a dead spot in the neighboring town and the signal always cuts out when driving through that area. Something is interfering with the signal in that particular spot.
Audiworld Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 20 Likes: 0 Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I live in San Diego and in the last couple of years have started to experience drop outs of a few seconds on select freeways and roads. Two separate cars and always in the same places for the same durations, though it has changed slightly and slowly over time. Zero visible obstructions, so I've long wondered if it was debris in orbit below the satellite. Kind of a reach, huh?
AudiWorld Senior Member Join Date: May 2017 Location: Midwest US Posts: 1,190 Received 76 Likes on 53 Posts
This is anecdotal, but recently it was announced that all 2018 S4s built after week 22 of production will feature some very minor changes, including slightly darkened tail lights, deletion of rear fog lights, improved allergen filter, and improved sat radio antenna. Just sharing what I know...I have a pre-week-22 S4 and my reception is fine until I dip into a long tunnel or parking ramp.
AudiWorld Super User Thread Starter Join Date: Mar 2000 Location: Western Massachusetts Posts: 3,066 Received 68 Likes on 47 Posts
Quote:
Originally Posted by savi01 I don't think it's normal. .
Audiworld Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2017 Posts: 68 Likes: 0 Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Mine is way more sensitive and weaker than the radio in my Porsche. It cuts out at the same place every day with some trees to the right of me. I bother cars are on the XM Network vs sirius? I know it's the same company but I've heard there are quality differences.
AudiWorld Member Join Date: Jan 2017 Posts: 58 Likes: 0 Received 1 Like on 1 Post
I've had this happen to me in multiple vehicles and different receivers when travelling as well and just assumed it was tied to terrain or temporary satellite loss.
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AudiWorld Member Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Northern Virginia Posts: 115 Received 5 Likes on 2 Posts
I've used XM radio for probably 10 years now. In my old car I had a 3rd party stereo I installed that had the XM module and an antenna I routed to the back trunk lid. On a stretch of highway I take almost daily in the spring it would cut out in the same spot each time. The highway is below ground level and I am headed north under a 1 block long garage that sits over the highway. Today I finally drove the stretch of road with the XM running in my 2018 and the same thing happened, although it was actually a shorter blank period than I had previously experienced. So, in other words, its not the car, in general anyway. I've also experienced this is mountainous roads when I drop down into "hollers" but it always comes back. G.
AudiWorld Super User
My '11 A4 reception is not good. It's always been like that. I've seen plenty of reports that reception in the Northeast isn't very good but they've supposedly tried to improve by adding boosters, etc.
AudiWorld Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Posts: 195 Likes: 0 Received 3 Likes on 3 Posts
My Benz is pretty good overall, although there are areas on the PA turnpike driving through the mountains where it cuts in and out for a few minutes and through some heavily wooded areas. Of course tunnels and underneath some long overpasses as well. It is consistent though. When traveling for work it always cuts out at the same places each time. I'll hopefully have my new A4 within the next 2 weeks (built to order) and can report then. I'm seriously considering not using it beyond the trial period- I only use it to listen to news networks on long drives and periodically comedy stations and nowadays we can get that on our smartphones for free. Music is entirely streaming from my phone.
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Why does my siriusxm keep cutting out
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