Sirius in Calgary

[Madman]

Anyone having problems with the terrestrial broadcast from SiriusXM?

I have 3 radios - 2 built into cars and they work perfectly fine, but the 1 portable that is used inside an office building stopped receiving a signal yesterday.

Calling into Sirius is useless because according to them there are only 2 possible problems - my radio or my antenna. It's not their broadcast because there wasn't a warning on her screen.

[ken0042]

I'm getting between 2-3 bars out of 3 on Terrestrial on the XM radio in my office. West part of downtown; so I am also LOS from the transmitter. (I can litterally see it.)

[Madman]

Thanks Ken - where abouts is the transmitter?

[ken0042]

On Signal Hill. I don't recall the exact location, but I remember when it came online somebody mentioned they were sharing a tower with CBC or somebody.

[united]

Mine (vehicle) seems to work for a few months, then have a week or so of trouble. I've noticed this week hasn't been good in the downtown core - the signal is very choppy when normally there is no problem.

Back in January it was horrible in and around the city for about 2-3 weeks but had been flawless since. Weird.

[FCAV]

I've noticed the last two or three weeks in my vehicle it's been pretty spotty downtown, even more so than it normally is. On the whole, it's been great downtown outside of these past few weeks.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by ken0042

On Signal Hill. I don't recall the exact location, but I remember when it came online somebody mentioned they were sharing a tower with CBC or somebody.

So Sirius needs a local transmitter. I thought it was satellite. I guess this means it won't work in a small town?

[Julio]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

So Sirius needs a local transmitter. I thought it was satellite. I guess this means it won't work in a small town?

Sirius is from a satellite, but they have a network of terrestrial repeaters in order to 'fill in the cracks' where satellite reception isn't good. Here for example is the location etc for the Calgary repeater: http://www.dogstarradio.com/wiki/ind...l_Repeater_243

[Julio]

double post

[ricosuave]

Repeaters seem to be down again.

As a FYI, best area to aim your antenna is S-SW

[shane_c]

Can someone comment on the sound quality when using an aftermarket HU and the Sirius tuner (not the one that plays through FM).

[ken0042]

64 kbps mono MP3 quality.

[shane_c]

Thanks! I think I'll pass.

[DoubleK]

Thanks for posting this. I didn't know they used terrestrial repeaters.

[Hack&Lube]

With certain SiriusXM packages you can use their internet radio app for your computer, mobile phone, tablet, etc. It's actually not bad. You can tailor the music you receive with a cool feature it has to adjust to your mood.

[ken0042]

Bump- anybody else having issues with the terrestrial repeater today?

It's a little too quiet in my office today.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by ken0042

64 kbps mono MP3 quality.

Seriously? It's not stereo?

[DoubleK]

I noticed that I dropped signal in my car in really weird spots today.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

Seriously? It's not stereo?

I'm Sirius.

They will try to tell you it is stereo- but it really isn't. Unlike stereo where there are two tracks (one for each side) Sirius XM has a slight delay between the two channels. So while it doesn't sound like regular mono sound- any song that has put any effort into separating the two channels will be lost.

Sirius XM is good for listening to as an office radio- or for having as background music while driving. However it is nowhere as good as FM quality.

[PowerPlayoffs06]

I guess that explains why I can't hear half the guitar sounds whenever they play Steve Miller's Abracadabra on the 80s channel. I always thought I had a blown speaker or something.