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New member Username: CindyPost Number: 1 Registered: 12-2003 | I received a Sirius satellite system and subscription with the new Audiovox receiver. At home, the signal is wonderful. But there is a problem listening in the car that is making me think of returning the whole thing. Problem: There is very bad static resembling AM radio reception when listening to Sirius in my car with the engine both on and off. The signal bars on the satellite radio indicate 2 or 3 bars. After the initial installation, the FM radio station assigned to that frequency kept interrupting the satellite signal. Called Sirius; they told me to adjust the lever on the side of the mobile mount and select different FM radio frequencies - this did not work. I took the car back to Circuit City, had the mobile dock hard-wired under the dash (not plugged into the cigarette adaptor). The radio interruption is not happening anymore, but the static still is. Other information if it matters: the car is a 2001 Honda Accord;mobile dock is installed in the center console under the dash; the antennae is on my trunk. Questions: 1) Is the static typical of satellite radio? 2) If not, any suggestions for solutions? I know this is a Car Audio subject, but there was not a category for Sat. radio there. Thank you for any advice. Cindy |
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macadoe Unregistered guest | I am having the same problem. I installed it myself and hardwired it also. I get static from the FM modular on my car rciever. Cant get it out. I tried all 4 frequencies. Did you get yours fixed? |
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New member Username: MertonPost Number: 2 Registered: 02-2004 | I have the Audiovox receiver also. I use it connected thru the RCA outputs into our home stereo, and with an XM marine antenna on our sailboat, also through RCA outputs. I've had no problems with either setup. If you have a basic stereo receiver, preamp or amp and some headphones, I would suggest hooking it up to the RCA outputs of the Audiovox to see if the problem goes away. If so, you may want to use another interface to your car stereo. The FM modulator is the least preferred way. Jim |
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Unregistered guest | The FM modulators that come with these units do not work in a consistent fashion. I work for a retailer that sells Sirius, and one of the things I noticed is that I could place the modulator/dock unit directly under a head unit, and get all sorts of static. However, if I tuned it into a different deck that was 2-3' from the dock, it came in crystal clear. Go figure. With that said, I agree with James in that you should either try another type of input (RCA, 3.5mm, etc...). Another thing you could try is purchasing a wired FM modulator. Take the line level output from the dock station and plug that into the FM mod. Take the wired output from the mod and pipe that into your antenna feed. This will require the purchase of an antenna splitter for your car deck, but those are very inexpensive. The issue isn't necessarily with the modulation of the signal...it's with the wireless technology they are using. At least, that has been my findings. |
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Unregistered guest | I had the static problem with my Audiovox unit,it was driving me crazy, I purchased the Pyle PLMD2 FM Modulator Kit For Mobile DVDs from Best Buy and it solved this problem totally, cost $42.00. You can install it yourself as long as you can get to the back of your radio, it took me 1 hour or Best Buy will install it for $69.00. If you decide to do this yourself you will have to go to the menu on the Audiovox unit and shut off the FM transmitter, good luck people. |
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Silver Member Username: HeffPost Number: 122 Registered: Dec-03 | sounds like a sirius problem! ;) j/k |
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New member Username: SeankunYonkers, NY United States Post Number: 1 Registered: Nov-04 | on the back of the car dock there is a jack that says fm out. take an old cell phone headset and cut off the earpiece and plug it into that port and tuck it under the dash. |
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Anonymous | sean chick said: on the back of the car dock there is a jack that says fm out. take an old cell phone headset and cut off the earpiece and plug it into that port and tuck it under the dash. And I just want to say thank you! That was a very smart and resourceful suggestion. Your suggested approach solved the static problem with my JVC Sirius plug and play. Awesome. |
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New member Username: Leeeb1Post Number: 1 Registered: Dec-04 | Does anyone out there know if the Audiovox FM Switching Box (SIRSWB) will work on my Directed Electronics SIRIUS "Sportster" tuner or will I need to buy an FM modulator? Thanks, Mike |
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Anonymous | sean chick said: on the back of the car dock there is a jack that says fm out. take an old cell phone headset and cut off the earpiece and plug it into that port and tuck it under the dash. Anonymous said: And I just want to say thank you! That was a very smart and resourceful suggestion. Your suggested approach solved the static problem with my JVC Sirius plug and play. Awesome. I was wondering about that myself...I've been getting way too much interference. I'm looking forward to trying it tonight. Question: Why the heck don't any of the Sportster manuals mention what to do with the FM out port??? |
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Unregistered guest | I have a Sirius America SR04 made by Blaupunkt. I am having the same kind of interference with my equipment. I have AM sounding talk shows and the music stations sound worse than the regular radio. My FM out is already being used. Can anyone help? |
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New member Username: SiriusPost Number: 2 Registered: Feb-05 | I have an Sirius Audiovox SIRPNP2 with a car and home docking unit. The fm modulation was very frustrating, because stations would bleed in and the signal was distorted most of the time. I found a very cool product that basically is a black box that plugs in to the back of a factory radio and tricks the radio in to thinking that the device is a cd changer. To look at the products go to Go to application guides for aux input adapters and find the one for your vehicle. You can't buy directly from the site, but once you have the part number, just google it and many sites will come up. The units run anywhere from about $65 to $95. Then all you need is an rca to 1/8" stereo adapter and you have a direct input into the stereo. No more fm modulator nonsense! |
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New member Username: SeankunYonkers, NY United States Post Number: 2 Registered: Nov-04 | if you go your local circuit city or best buy and ask the sat. radio dept. for the fm modulator wire they will give you one free of charge. In my case i had to go out to the installation aera where the guy out there gave me the wire and plug it into the back of your car dock. |
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Anonymous | I have similar problems with the reception with my JVC receiver. I have installed the car kit and I do not get a clear reception. I have tried 4 frequencies. I live in the north east coast. I finally have it working on one frequency but I still loose some reception when I go to certain areas if the state. I bought a boom box to see if it was a reciever problem. I can only put the antena at one location in my house. It does not make sense. Does anyone out there have a solution? I am thinking of returning everything back and try another brand of receiver. Anyone out there have similar problem. I strongly believe in this new style of radio. |
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Brian Sirius User Unregistered guest | I have the JVC unit for the car and was getting static too. The installation people at Circuit City gave me an FM signal booster. It's just a wire about a foot long that plugs into the back of the unit (FM out). This solved the problem totally. I am not sure why they don't include one in the box. The thing can't cost more than a dollar. Sean Chick also had a good idea: "on the back of the car dock there is a jack that says fm out. take an old cell phone headset and cut off the earpiece and plug it into that port and tuck it under the dash." Both things work like a charm. |
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Unregistered guest | I have one of the older audiovox sirius car receivers. I guess its the larger one that came out before the 'sportster'. I'm not happy with the sound quality. to me it sounds like its in 'mono' not stereo, or like an AM station. I would appreciate suggestions on what I can do to improve that. Please email me responses. Thank you! |
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New member Username: ToddvgPost Number: 1 Registered: May-05 | I have the Xact unit and directly wired it to my inputs on my sony car stereo.. still get static once in a while.. any ideas.. could it be I messed up the antenna.. but I have 3 bars?? |
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Marc Edward Unregistered guest | I have the same problem where my Audiovox transmitter does not sound as clear as you would think. It sounds like it's a very weak FM transmitter. I was at Best Buy the other day and XM has a gadget that allows you to "combine" the satelite radio and FM frequencies. Does Sirius have this? Thanks! |
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New member Username: EjotamPost Number: 1 Registered: Jun-05 | I bought a JVC KD-SHX700 in February. The unit is Sirius "compatible". It has a function (source button) that will allow you to get a Sirius channel. Problem: JVC says that my 2004 model is outdated.!!! They said that the unit is "compatible" and not "ready". I was told by JVC and Circuit City that I had no choice but to use an FM modulator. I had it hooked up 2 days ago. They scratched up my wood paneling and center console and did not fasten the FM modulator securely under the dash. It fell down last night thankfully while I was parked. What a pain! These head units were 550 bucks. Why did JVC set the unit up for Sirius and then make you use an FM modulator?? Aren't ALL head units "sirius compatible"?? There are functions with this cd player that are useless when hooked up with an FM modulator! I noticed that there are line level outputs on the SIRIUS SC-FM1 Starbase. Cirucuit City didn't utilize them. Anybody know why? I have 2 amps in the trunk. I am very dissatisfied with this entire situation. I am thinking about just taking the stuff back instead of having them fix the install. Does anyone know if there is a Sirius connection for this head unit that would allow me to lose the FM modulation? Is there anyway to fix the "tin box" sound coming through the modulation? Thanks for any replies. |
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New member Username: Joe4stringPost Number: 1 Registered: Sep-05 | I had an XACT radio installed in my car and then switched to a Sportster for the better user interface. I feel like my reception from the antenna is weaker than it used to be. Is there some sort of compatibility problem with satellite antennas? I don't think the power plugs are compatible either.... |
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Unregistered guest | I just installed my Sirius Sportster Replay unit, using the FM Mod, and mounting the antenna on the roof of the car. I have a strong signal, 3 bars, but can't get rid of the static!!!! The unit's not hard wired, can't really see how that would reduce the static? Anyone have any more ideas on how to fix this????? |
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ravenlunatic76 Unregistered guest | I also have the Sirius Sportster Replay unit. I am using the one foot long FM thingy to wirelessly connect the unit to my Head Unit (factory). My problem is a bit different. The sound quality sounds MONO. Anyone else have this problem....will hardwiring my unit solve this? Thanks. |
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sdthiele Unregistered guest | I have the jvc sirius unit and have the same static problems does anyone know if you can open the unit up and turn a pod inside to boost the signal strength, i also have a problem with picking up what the car next to me is listening to if their on the same fm freq. |
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sirius sucks! Unregistered guest | MONO is the key word. If anyone even thinks this sounds as good as FM quality I have swamp land in Florida I'd like to sell ya. Sirius is in no way anywhere near cd quality and hardly close to achieving FM quality. If you like the way AM radio sounds then you'll love Sirius. |
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Grandizer Unregistered guest | I have 3 of the Jensen Jampack SIRIUS Satellite Radio Tuner & Car Kits and 1 does not work, I see that my car locks in on the station and says that there is Stereo there but no sound ever comes in... I switched my brothers in, (1 of the 3) and his comes in perfectly using the same antenna and power... And for the jerk above, get a good radio, the 10 minutes that I had Sirius in my car, (a 2003 Maxima SE loaded) sounded far better than anything I get from a FM / AM radio station... Now to try to get the other one back and see if it is just a problem with mine... I did not like that Sirius has no clue about these radios though, the tech support people were telling me to change to tuners that are not available on the unit... Finally they gave me some other toll free number to call, but only during certain hours... |
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dpaton Unregistered guest | I'm in Toronto, trying to hook up my Sirius Starmate receiver to a home stereo. While the indicator shows I'm receiving enough signal strength, the unit displays an "acquiring signal" message. Anyone have any suggestions? |
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Sirius Solution Unregistered guest | As described above, I placed a wire from 'fm out' to under the dash. This did seem to improve the static issue, however not all the time. Went to Radio Shack and got a 3/32" inch right angle audio plug and attached it to speaker wire. Plug this end into the 'fm out' of the radio. Stripped the other end of the wire and ran it under the dash and up behind the radio. Unplugged the antenna wire from the car stereo and plugged it back in with the stripped end of the speaker wire wedged in as well. So far, perfect static free satellite radio on unused radio stations. It now will even play over weaker strength radio stations with just a little static. |
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Bronze Member Username: Kevbo887Post Number: 58 Registered: Sep-05 | Quick question to the above. So all I have to do is plug this into the fm out, and splice it into speaker wire. Take that and wrap it around my antenna jack (the long pointy thing that goes into my cd player?) After that, do I keep it on fm modulator in the Xact Visor menu options, or do I turn it off? Im assuming I would keep it on. Ive noticed I get a great sound anywhere, but on higher volumes they sound sort of lispy. Im hoping this fixes it, id rather not waste my time if its not going to improve it! Thanks all! |
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JonDude Unregistered guest | "MONO is the key word. If anyone even thinks this sounds as good as FM quality I have swamp land in Florida I'd like to sell ya. Sirius is in no way anywhere near cd quality and hardly close to achieving FM quality. If you like the way AM radio sounds then you'll love Sirius." I agree 100%. I do not have a problem with static per se but my Sportster Replay truely does sound like AM radio in terms of fidelity. I purchased the home docking kit and ran RCA cables directly into my dvd/fm receiver thinking it was the FM transmitter, but that sucked too. when i turn the volume up past half way, i start to hear a crackling sound, not static but almost like i'm listening to an MP3 that was overly compressed! what gives? i also agree completely with the person who said that the talk channels are much worse than the music! |
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Sirius Solution Unregistered guest | Kevin - I can't promise you it will solve your problem, but I did find it virtually elimated all the static I was getting. I too am using an Xact Visor and you need to continue to keep the modulator on. This is not a replacement for it. |
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Bronze Member Username: Kevbo887Post Number: 59 Registered: Sep-05 | Ook. Very cool! Right now im not getting much static at all, Ive gotten rid of the dash mount and simply double sided taped it to right behind my steering wheel. It blends in perfect, and fits perfect as well. It seems to be the perfect amount away from the cd player, my quality has also improved. When it was right near the cd player it seemed really low rate and my subwoofers would never hit at all, now it sounds a little higher, and my subs hit pefectly. Hmm. Odd. Thanks. |
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jakv5 Unregistered guest | I have the same problem but with the home kit which doesn't have an FM out port. I have it hardwired to my stereo but need to be able to transmit (an I CAN transmit) so that I can listen to the radio in my bathroom (about 30' away). Any way to boost the FM transmitter signal with my home kit? |
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Blablablablabla Unregistered guest | "I was wondering about that myself...I've been getting way too much interference. I'm looking forward to trying it tonight. Question: Why the heck don't any of the Sportster manuals mention what to do with the FM out port??? " This drives me crazy. They just labeled it in the manual but say nothing about it. Another problem I have with the Xact Visor: The audio output jack is too hot. I use a cassette adapter and the sound going into the cassette deck is too loud and gets distorted. I get better fidelity, but distorted bass and treb. I think I'll try a home made antenna on the FM Out jack. |
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Anonymous | Wow I thought this static problem was effecting only me... Thanks to google, I see many have the same problem. I don't get it, why isn't Sirius and XM dealing with this issue with the equipment vendors ? Should we all be complaining to Sirius & Xm or to the equipment manufacturers ??? I am going to call Audiovox today, and then if I get no satisfaction from them I will call Sirius and complain. In general I don't like these FM transmitters, as they work like crap ! I have an iRiver FM modulator that came with my MP3 player, and that thing has the exact same problem as the Audiovox PNP2 ! They both stink ! I think that the manufacturers have strict limitations on the strenth of the FM transmitters in these devices... Anyway I am also looking for a solution to this problem, as I love the service, just hate the static ! |
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CedricC Unregistered guest | Regarding the static issue, I recently installed Sirius to my truck and I did not like it initially. There was static using the FM modulator, so I used the AUX input (3.5mm. The static was gone, sounded a lot clearer but now I had the issue with the engine whine (alternator), it was really noisy at high speeds. So I then hard wired it, using the same cigarette lighter power adapter. All I did was cut and stripped the wires, (since they don't supply you with the kit to do this, you have to buy it, i just figured I would try). I connected the ground (it is the solid black wire, with no lines) to radio ground, and power lead wire (wire with consecutive lines) to a noise filter, and then ran the hot wire (only on when ignition is on) to the noise filter, Hooked everything up, and everything works like a charm, no engine noise, no static, nothing, sounds super clean, also the Sirius only turns on when the ignition is on. Only bad thing is that the sound quality is still not up to par with CD's, still sounds like a compressed sound file. Just some info I thought I might share. |
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Love4honda Unregistered guest | Ok sorry im a little lost, I just installed the sportster st2 in my car and i am having the static problem also. So if I am understanding this corectly...I take a wire (mini plug) stick it into the FM out, and then just stuff the rest of the wire behind the dash somewhere and that will clear up the static? |
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New member Username: StozoPost Number: 1 Registered: Mar-06 | For those of you having static issues at home I got you covered. Solution I used was posted up above on this thread. The problem is the cheap antenna wire supplied with the Sportster SP-H2 home kit (SP-H1 kit does not provide FM out). To fix, go get an old cell phone headset (which also uses a 2.5 mm jack), cut the cord off it and plug what's left into the FM OUT jack to replace the crappy wire antenna that came with the unit. I tried it first w/o cutting the headset off and it fixed the problem completely! Ironically, as I was testing my fix... I was listening to the show through a radio across my room and just by unplugging the antenna and running it with NOHTING in there... reception at the radio improved by about 80%!!! You might want to start with just that! |
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New member Username: KtrixxPost Number: 1 Registered: Apr-06 | So Does it matter what headset you use, motorola, nokie, etc. and do you just cut the headset off and stick the 3mm end in the FM out jack on my streamer and then the other end which has two bare wires now just stick into the back of my factory headset antenna in jack with the antenna? thanks+ |
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New member Username: Jillyt6366Post Number: 1 Registered: Feb-07 | I have to admit that I was a little skeptical about destroying a cell phone headset to get my new Sirius Sportster Replay to sound clear in the house but I was so disappointed with the poor reception that I just had to try it. Head's up: Before you start cutting up your headset, try just plugging the headset in to the FM out jack - that's all I had to do! Very weird but whatever works! Thanks very much for the trick!! |
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New member Username: 00davePost Number: 1 Registered: Jun-07 | My sirius replay keeps showing "aquiring signal" after playing for 5-10 minutes even though it displays 2 and 3 bars. I found that if I hold the unit up to my A/C vent, it gets the signal and plays fine until it heats up again. I hold it next to the A/C and it plays again. It's obviously a heat issue but is there any fix or a place I can send the unit? |
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New member Username: Andrew741Post Number: 1 Registered: Dec-07 | I just tried putting the cellphone headset into the FM out port and it stayed fuzzy. Instead I tied the the headset cord around the back of the base on the car dock and then ran the cord up onto my rear view antenna. This cleaned up all the static. I am not sure why it works but it does! Try it! You do not even have to wreck the headset. |
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New member Username: Fm_transmitter_guyPortage, MI USA Post Number: 1 Registered: Feb-08 | With Sirius (and XM) being required by the FCC to lower the power of the FM Transmitter built into the Satellite Radios there are a lot of ticked off customers looking for a solution to the poor reception they are now getting from the weaker built in FM Transmitter. Several Satellite Radio users are using Whole House FM Transmitter as an option. Since it goes about 150 feet in all directions it will easily (and clearly) send a signal to a car's FM radio. For those who are interested in the FM Transmitter the website URL is http://www.wholehousefmtransmitter.com |
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New member Username: BuchrobPost Number: 1 Registered: May-10 | If you are stuck with the FM option, the best route is probably to get the direct-to-radio kit and have it installed. Any store that teels you that this is what you should do is NOT selling you a bill of goods. If you are not willing (or can't ) go that route, there's a few things I can suggest: 1) make your external antenna (the one that sticks out the car) as small as possible by retracting it so you will have less interference from outside sources. 2) make your internal antenna near the Sirius receiver as big as possible. Strip the end off that ridiculously short FM-antenna wire that came with your radio and add another 6-10 feet of small gauge wire that you can route and hide within the car itself. |