Why does my Sirius radio cut out now & then, even though the antenna is always aimed in the same direction?

Question

I live in So Cal, and thought that the Sirius spacecraft are "stationary" above the earth? I would think you could aim the antenna for best reception and just leave it at that, but now & then I have to move it around.

Answer 1

the one fellow is right and wrong on the sirius birds.

TV and XM broadcast from "stationary birds" in that they stay above the earth in the same place 24/7/365 but have to move constantly above the earth to keep it in  stationary orbit.

Sirius, takes their 3 birds and runs them in a figure 8 configuration. which would technically allow for more areas covered than XM, however as you can tell, sometimes if a piece of your property is blocked from full satellite view, you loose your signal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius_Sate...

Answer 2

If we're not talking tunnels and bank drive throughs which are the bigget complaint, than it could well be sun disturbances - or something wrong with your antenna.

-a guy named duh

Answer 3

Sun Spots.

In late Summer, especially.

Answer 4

The satellite reception is line of sight so any trees, buildings, tunnels, or sometimes clouds can mess up your signal

or it could be UFO's messing with you

Answer 5

maybe during some times of the day, the reception is weak and the reception moves to another point.

Answer 6

try radio k-pax you might find higher resolution that way

Answer 7

My guess is that it's more than one reason.  Solar flare activity or wind blowing tree limbs not normally in the way, in the way.  Also it could be a tech glitch on their part.  One thing I would try if you haven't is not adjusting the antenna and see if the signal comes back.  The satellites don't move very much if at all.  It would have to take a huge movement to get So Cal out of the transmission footprint.  Just MHO.

Answer 8

The Sirius satellites are not stationary, like XM or all the TV satellites, so you may have to hunt around for the best place to see the one arriving as the other one is leaving your view

Say we put it in a window, works fine as the satellite tracks left to right maybe a tree or building is now in the way on the right  a few minutes later the other one is coming in to view on the left and it works again

So what you need is a wide enough V shaped view clear so you can see the one coming in before the other one is out of view

They have 3 satellites

Edit

Why yes, I know how they orbit, but you still simply need a wide enough view to see a incoming one before the one you are recieving from is out of view,  whatever plane or angle it is on. I just used left to right V shape for simplicity