# Sirius - "Acquiring Signal"



## marchristensen

I have had an Audiovox SIR-PNP3 Sirius radio for a couple of years now. I mostly use it in my car with the Car Kit. I often get the signal cutting out and see the Acquiring Signal message. I cannot ride 10 minutes in the car without this happening, and often I have silence more than I have a radio signal. Sometimes I am on a tree lined street, but sometimes I am out in the open and still see the dreaded Acquiring Signal.


At home I have a boombox that I plug the Audiovox DIR-PNP3 into. I put the antenna on top of a metal curtain rod and the signal is good. However, sometimes, when nothing has moved, the signal cuts out. It is often at the same time every day.


Lastly, I have a home receiver attached to my Bose radio. I have had limited success in getting the signal to come in with this setup.


My question is - Is this normal? It is not getting any better, and I am finding the situation extremely frustrating. Is it a problem with my radio unit? My location?


Any help would be appreciated.


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## tlogan6797

I used to have this problem with the car kit. I figured it out when I finally realized that sometimes turning a corner or going over a bump would cause the "aquiring signal" to pop up. What I found was that there was break in the antenna cable. Once I repaired the break, it was much better. Keep in mind that that cable is a mini coax so you have to be a little more careful in the repair. I have an SUV and the constant opening and closing of the liftgate caused a small break in the cable that went through to the shield. It was small, and I had to look really hard to find it, but once I repaired it, it was good.


Good luck,

TOm


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## joebbaseball

You may also want to try unplugging and plugging back in the antenna. Sometimes that does the trick. Or remove the unit and put it back in. Sometimes when it isn't all the way in the docking station you will get that message.

Joe


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## tkdee

If it is cutting out in your home at the same time every day my guess it is the satellite passing temporarily out of view. Sirius doesn't use geosynchronous satellites so their position in the sky (relative to the earth) appears to change throughout the day. They have 3 in orbit, so the idea is that even though they sweep over the sky you should have mostly complete coverage all the time. Your signal strength and angel of reception will change though.


I have a similar problem in my daily commute. One tree lined street gets very intermittent reception in the morning, but pretty decent reception in the afternoon.


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## bullet105

I own both XM and Sirius. XM portable unit (Delphi MyFi) for O&A, which I have had for a couple of years. Sirius because I bought a new Jetta a year ago and got 3 months free, then decided to keep it in my car. I have also connected XM in my Jetta.


I commute 60 miles a day to and from work and by far, XM has the better technology as it RARELY disconnects or shows "LINKING"; however, the music stations content is not as good as Sirius. Sirius, on the other hand, has better music content and stations, but the technology sucks, as it is always showing "LINKING" and cuts out.


I called Sirius to find out if there was either anything I could buy or something I could do (since it was a factory-installed car radio), and (1) they do not have a solution to the problem and (2) was told by one of their tech support people that the reason it cuts out is because "their sattelites are spinning in orbit and XM's are not". As a result, they noticed that there was an "error" in setting up my service, and gave me 5 months service for free. So I still have both XM and Sirius in my car, but it drives me crazy every time the signal goes out with Sirius because it does not happen with XM in the same areas.


I would call them up and tell them you have both XM and Sirius, and XM doesn't give out in the same places and maybe they will find an "error" with the way your account was set up as well.


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## vitod

The signal drop is very annoying, but I deal with it because I love the content. Hopefully, with the merger, it'll solve the problem. (if the merger happens.)


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## herdfan

I just started having this issue with a Crestron Adagio system. I had good signal all summer and now there are periods where there just is no signal. There has been no change in the foliage cover. Do the satellites keep the exact same orbit, or can it change slightly over time?


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## Mr. Hanky

I am concerned about this, as well. I found a location where I have received reasonably good reception for over a year. In the past week or so, reception has gone horrible. Sometimes the signal has the meter pegged, and sometimes it is virtually nonexistent. Both the satellite and terrestrial signal seem to bounce around with no rhyme or reason, lately. I disabled the wireless on my DSL modem/router (only incremental improvement) and cleaned the antenna terminals- none of that seems to stop the signal from frequently dropping out entirely, as of late (where it has been fairly consistent for over a year, prior).


I am nearly convinced that something has "changed" in the way they are transmitting, recently. I can only say, for my area, the change has not been good.


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## herdfan




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Mr. Hanky* /forum/post/11684123
> 
> 
> Sometimes the signal has the meter pegged, and sometimes it is virtually nonexistent. Both the satellite and terrestrial signal seem to bounce around with no rhyme or reason, lately.



That seems to mirror exactly what I am seeing. I plan to move my antenna to a higher location on the house and see if that fixes it.


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## Mr. Hanky

I have a new antenna on the way from Amazon...hope it does the trick.


The history for this week?...Mon - was literally dead all night, Tue - got a full and strong signal for entire night, Wed - about 2 hrs of good reception which faded to zip till morning.


I didn't touch a thing over that time. It's just bizarre.


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## tlogan6797

Since I had a new in-dash sat-ready radio (Alpine) and new Sirius receiver installed, I've not had this problem NEAR as often. I find that it rarely cuts out even driving under most overpasses. There is even one tunnel I've noticed it doesn't cut out. The only time I have a problem is driving along one desginated "scenic byway" that is HEAVILY wooded. The one thing I noticed is that the orginal car kit I had said to install the antenna in the center back of the SUV I drive. The pros moved it to the front passenger side. It was more pricey than I had hoped, but I am not having these "aquiring signal" problems any longer. In fact, I like it enough now that I upgraded to a lifetime subscription.


Tom


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## TheDanbom




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *Mr. Hanky* /forum/post/11740526
> 
> 
> I have a new antenna on the way from Amazon...hope it does the trick.
> 
> 
> The history for this week?...Mon - was literally dead all night, Tue - got a full and strong signal for entire night, Wed - about 2 hrs of good reception which faded to zip till morning.
> 
> 
> I didn't touch a thing over that time. It's just bizarre.



Wow, I have the exact same problem as you it seems. I got my Sirius in January and it worked great up until about a month ago. Now one day on my 60 minute commute I will get reception for about 3 minutes, and the next day it will be clear for the entire 60 minutes. It's extremely annoying. Let me know if the new antenna helps, I was thinking of replacing mine as well.


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## Mr. Hanky

Well, it's not looking too good, so far. I hooked up the new antenna, and the change in signal strength isn't drastically different (if there was any, at all).


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## Mr. Hanky

Well, it got better after a little while, so I thought it was just a (inexplicably) rough patch of reception I had to pass through. Actually, it turned out to simply be the final gasps before the tuner in my S50 finally blinked out for good. I got nearly 3 yrs out of the thing, so I suppose that isn't too bad (though I know that well-built electronics in this day and age should and do last far longer than a paltry 3 years). To be specific, the docking unit and portable unit got this far completely functional (nothing "bricked" or lights out), with the exception of a "burnt out" tuning circuit that would actually provide a viable satellite signal to the rest of the device. It even survived the latest firmware update (which was rumored to brick some docking units, outright). It did run pretty "hot", so I imagine that was the key ingredient to bring its eventual demise.


I replaced it with the cheapest unit I could find (an Inv2)- no way is Directed Electronics going to get another $300 off of me for a Stilleto, and have that go to pot. The S50 experience has reinforced the impression to me that they are still a 2nd rate electronics designer when it comes to equipment robustness and freedom from bugs- sorry to say.


So I just wanted give an update to the peculiar reception issue I experienced earlier. The antenna was fine. The exposure to satellite/terrestrial transmitters was fine. It was just a tuner with 1 foot in the grave. If you have an "older" model with the larger chipset that "runs hot" that amazingly still runs, you are a winner for getting one of the few "good" units that came out of that era of Sirius hardware...but please take note, it may still be subject to a decidedly finite lifespan due to its inherent running temperature. Over time, it's going to cook itself until something critical fails, imo.


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## marchristensen

Much of what was said here rings true. I've had my SIR-PNP3 for three years and it runs very hot. I use it in my car with a car adapter and at home in a boombox. I have zero problems at home.


But now in addition to the ACQUIRING SINGAL message, I often see a ANTENNA NOT DETECTED message. I was thinking of doing a new install with a new car adapter and new antenna. Think this will help? The reason I am hopeful is that there are absolutely no problems when the unit plays at home.


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## finnface

Hello









I have the older Sirius XACT XTR8.

At home connected to my receiver it works and picks up great.

Just *lately* I have been getting very bad static while using it in my car.

I have tried different station settings but all have static.

Going across the San Mateo Bridge in the S.F. Bay area is the worst.

I have no single drops, plenty of bars, just static mixed in with the stations.

The antenna is mounted above the front windshield.

Could it be the antenna going bad or the unit?

Would a direct cassette adapter help?

Finn

Bay Area ,Ca


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## Mr. Hanky




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *marchristensen* /forum/post/12277684
> 
> 
> Much of what was said here rings true. I've had my SIR-PNP3 for three years and it runs very hot. I use it in my car with a car adapter and at home in a boombox. I have zero problems at home.
> 
> 
> But now in addition to the ACQUIRING SINGAL message, I often see a ANTENNA NOT DETECTED message. I was thinking of doing a new install with a new car adapter and new antenna. Think this will help? The reason I am hopeful is that there are absolutely no problems when the unit plays at home.



I'm not familiar with the pnp3. Is there a discrete tuner in the boombox _and_ the car docking unit or does the piece that you actually bring around with you the part that contains the tuner?


If the former, then possibly the car dock is biting the dust? If the latter, then it doesn't make sense the tuner in the mobile piece works in the boombox but not the car dock. In that context, I would suspect the antenna in your car, first. (Mind you, I fell into this same situation and blew $30 on an antenna which turned out to *not* be the problem. So I don't know what to tell you about buying a new antenna just to try it out. It's a pisser to buy something only to find that you didn't need it in the first place, but how else can you troubleshoot the thing?)


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## Mr. Hanky




> Quote:
> Originally Posted by *finnface* /forum/post/12283619
> 
> 
> Hello
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I have the older Sirius XACT XTR8.
> 
> At home connected to my receiver it works and picks up great.
> 
> Just *lately* I have been getting very bad static while using it in my car.
> 
> I have tried different station settings but all have static.
> 
> Going across the San Mateo Bridge in the S.F. Bay area is the worst.
> 
> I have no single drops, plenty of bars, just static mixed in with the stations.
> 
> The antenna is mounted above the front windshield.
> 
> Could it be the antenna going bad or the unit?
> 
> Would a direct cassette adapter help?
> 
> Finn
> 
> Bay Area ,Ca




If it is just static and you are using the fm tuner to receive Sirius, then you should try a different frequency setting. Given that you are in the SF area, the entire band is probably dominated by everybody and their grandmother trying to have a "voice". So you should probably look into a direct line level connection into your head unit, if possible. There's just no way to find an unused part of the fm spectrum in your area, I'm guessing.


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## jwillard

fwiw, i have a sportster4 that i got from the sirius online shop (which i got dirt cheap at sirius.com/freeradio )and for near a month now, signal's been fine (i'm at san berdoo).


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## finnface

I switched to frequency 87.9 which cleared it up allot.

Still a little static bleed thru, not very bad at all.

I got the direct line level connection cassette.

That did the trick.

Nice clear single now.

Thanks









Finn


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## Mr. Hanky

Glad it worked out!


I'm looking to install a direct fm connection, as well. Even the spectrum in Los Angeles/Orange Co. is pretty darn crowded.


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## ridefocused

I am having the same problem. I currently have a PNP3 audiovox unit. It has worked great for three years until now. Now It rarely works without the acquiring signal message. I can get it to work if I turn it off then back on, sometimes up to eighteen times, other times it just plain doesn't work, some days it works without problem, quite frustrating.


I have tried a few different antennas, and different docking stations, with the same result.


So its looking like my receiver is on its last leg. After doing some reading on the net it seams this is due to overheating?


I contacted AudioVox, but they tell me this model has been discontinued, and can no longer get parts for it, so they can't repair it. Seems hard to believe.


I have the "lifetime" subscription, so I seriously close to losing one of my three lives. I would gladly buy a new PNP3 (on ebay all the time) and swap out parts to repair my old one keeping the same S/N. Is this even possible?


Does anyone know anyone that will repair my dwindling unit? Any other ideas?


Thanks very much!


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## Mr. Hanky

Can't you just acquire a new pnp3 and then call up Sirius to change the sid# on your lifetime account to activate the new receiver?


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## ridefocused

Yes I can, but then I will be using up one of my lifetime "lives". Wouldn't want to replace an overheating unit with a receiver unit that will overheat again.


So if my PNP3 is indeed hooped, and cannot be fixed the next question is what is the most reliable receiver? how many years can I get with the stiletto 2?


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## Mr. Hanky

Ah, I see now. I didn't get the "lives" reference, at first. That's a hard position to be in, if you really wish to stick with the pnp3. I know you probably do not want to hear this, but might I suggest switching to another/newer model altogether? In all likelihood it will run cooler (because of a newer/smaller chipset), and thus be more reliable. I was faced with a similar choice when it came to retiring my S50. I declined to get yet another expensive device to replace it (a Stilleto, naturally), and just bought the cheapest model for the time being. It runs cool (only gets vaguely warm to the touch, regardless of how long I leave it on), and if it breaks, it was only like $30 out of my pocket. I had to find a different way to replace that time-shift functionality, but in the end, it all turned out all right.










Long story short, I just wanted to invite your consideration to get out of that vicious cycle.


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## marchristensen

It is really interesting to hear your experience with the PNP3 being so similar to mine. I now have two error messages:

ANTENNA NOT DETECTED

or

ACQUIRING SIGNAL


The thing is that I ONLY get these error messages in the car. I have a boombox attachment in the house that works perfectly 99% of the time.


In the car the ANTENNA NOT DETECTED error seems to be the worse. I can jiggle the PNP3 car adapter and get it to move th ACQUIRING SIGNAL and then to having the radio play normally for a while. I was thinking it was the car adapter or the connection to the car adapter.


Does anyone have any ideas?


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## vic4news

It sounds like a bad antenna. Do you have another antenna you can try?


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## rzam2007

This problem is not due to a bad antenna, and is too wide spread to be an anomoly. I started seeing this ~1.5 months ago. At first I thought it was temperature related (winter in NJ), then, time of day. I would bring the unit inside to a fixed antenna and see the same. I'd drive 1 direction, radio working the whole time, then on the way back - acquiring signal the whole way. I was lucky enough to have another car antenna same think. The signal strength goes up and down in a random pattern. No repeatable results. Once working it will pretty much stay working - turn off the radio - pot luck. Not sure of what is up, but again, too widespread to be a coincidence.


RZ


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## Soulstice X

I absolutely agree that this is not just an antenna issue. Some stations like Sirius Hits 1 will function properly while others such as radio disney have acquiring signal problems every few minutes or so. I've called SiriusXM various times regarding the issue but they fail to acknowledge that there is anything wrong. I have 2 radios side by side, one XM and one Sirius, and the same channels on XM function correctly while on my wifes Sirius Radio they have issues. My guess is that someone goofed on the uplink for Sirius.


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## marchristensen

Ultimately my problem was the car adapter. I ended up replacing the radio and the adapter and the problem has been completly resolved. Note, I have ONLY the Sirius subscription - no XM.


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