No Signal Acquired

[JanieFrmDe]

I live in Delaware and for the past 6 weeks my Sirius has no signal. I called Customer Service and they said their repeater is down in the area. I called again on Friday and actually was able to talk to someone in technical support. They said the repeater is back up but the FCC has lowered the signal power on Sirius and XM. Has anyone else heard this?

Tech Support said I can purchase a FM Modulated Relay to boost the signal but I explained that this wasn't for my car...I have used it at work for the past 2 years. Best Buy and Circuit City said the relay wouldn't help. But they both wanted me to buy a new antennae because they said it wears out.
Has anyone else also heard this before?

[Humann]

The folks at Best Buy and Circuit City are correct about the antenna relay. It's striclty for automotive applications. It plugs in between the car radio and the antenna so it can inject the satellite receiver's signal directly into the radio whle blocking over-the-air transmissions.

I don't know about antennas wearing out from use (I'm fairly new to satellite radio myself) but it seems plausible that prolonged exposure to the elements and general wear and tear--especially on the thin antenna lead--would ultimately degrade the antenna's performance.

[shawes]

I was actually under the impression that Sirius does not use ground repeaters at all. XM uses ground repeaters and this is why reception inside your house or even in your car is better with XM. Sirius is a three satelite setup without ground repeaters and XM is a two satelite system with ground repeaters. I could very wekk be wrong. This also can be a factor in the constant acquiring signal messages some Sirius users get so often.

[morsecode]

I just purchased my Sirius receiver a few days ago. I live in south Florida and while outside today was getting about 3 signal bars from a terrestrial station that seemed to be south of me. This could be a false indication. Just a curiosity I thought I would pass along.:)

[MauiGuy]

Yes, I've heard of the antenna going down the
toilet... In fact, my Starmate, with original ant.
system, died ... Did a comparison with a new one
versus the one on the car and it worked.. Talked with
Tech Support before I did this and they told me to check
the antenna and if it worked with a new one, then it's the
ant.. If it didn't work, it was in part the recvrs fault..

Go to Rad. Shack and tell them you'd like to do the test
and see what happens.. I'm glad I did..

[superstar221]

You should be good if you have a high gain antenna (black with the silver sirius dot in the middle). The older ones do still work, but are known to cut out more frequently, especially when trying to pull in terrestrial signals.