I had the FM modulated "Sportster" version installed a couple months ago after installing an in dash navigation system that rendered my Alpine changer useless.I figured it would be nice not having to carry CD's around and always have a varied selection of music at my finger tips.

Reception is horrific, an absolute joke, I honestly don't think I've made it thru one song yet without a drop out. Dropouts sometimes last as long as 10 seconds. I'd get fewer dropouts if I put a turntable on my passengers seat.

I realize that sound quality is going to be compromised with the FM modulated set up. But I was hoping to get typical FM quality or better. This doesn't even come close to FM. If a CD is a 10 and FM were a 7 I'd rate my Sirius set up a 2. No exaggeration it's really that bad.

Anyone else find this system lacking this badly or do I have an install problem?

 

Mine works great, but mine's not FM modulated... where's your antenna mounted?
-Doug

 

If your reception is that poor, your going to see highly degraded sound quality, too. Digital radio works on a measure of quality system... the main music data is sent first, with refinement packets following. This way, if reception is poor, you at least get the basic tune coming through (given a minimum level of reception), and the quality increases as reception increases.

RF translators suck, but it sounds like your problem is with reception, not the translator.

 

you may want to step up to a wired modulator. they are way better than the wireless ones.

My XM roady had a wired modullator. Now I have a direct connection via the XMdirect and it sounds a little better. I also had a wireless modulator. that sucked.

 

I have the sportster in the wife's car. I use the mini-jack out to one of those cheesy tape-adapter things.

Sound quality is pretty good. I wouldn't say it's CD quality, but it's definitely better than FM radio. In LA, it's basically impossible to use a modulator. Every single frequency across the FM dial is polluted with some sort of signal -- some distant, some not. I had an FM modulator for an iPod a while ago and it was terrible. That's when I went to the tape adapter.

Reception for me is great -- I live in Southern Cal., and I have yet to hear a single dropout. This is in contrast to my experience in rural Virginia. I had a Hertz rental car w/ sirius, and it cut out under bridges, and in heavily wooded areas.

 

Do I really need to point out the obvious?

 

Where is your antenna mounted? That sounds like your problem. I've had sirius in both my cars for almost a year and I rarely have problems with reception. Only time I notice a problem is when I get stuck under an overpass too long or I'm driving on a road with a lot of trees covering the road.