Sirius satellite radio?

Question

I just got sirius satellite radio for xmas. I installed the sportster in my car that plugs into the cigarette lighter. My problem is I am having the hardest time finding a frequency where I can get a good signal. It seems as though its always going in and out. Ive tried a million different friequencies and nohting seems to work good. Im starting to get frustrated. Any idea what i can do?

Answer 1

Unfortunately the FCC has cracked down on all devices with a wireless FM modulator so that they run on flea power and are hard to hear. The best thing you could do is wire it up with an auxiliary input if you have one on your stereo, or if your factory stereo doesn't have it, there are adapters made by Blitzsafe and PIE that'll work, but will cost you $70 or so. If you have a cassette deck, I'd use one of those cassette to 1/8" stereo adapters that used to come with portable CD players. If neither of these apply, you should get a wired FM modulator relay. This pumps the FM signal from the Sirius radio right into your car stereo and shuts off the FM antenna so nothing can interfere. When you shut off the Sirius, the FM radio works like normal again. These devices are $30 and available at Best Buy.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8116585&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat95600050009&id=1158319078975

You have to get behind the dash to install it is the only problem. I'm sure BestBuy could put it in for you for a charge. All you have to do is unplug the car FM antenna from the back, plug it into the relay and plug the relay into the stereo. A simple hookup, just a pain to get to in a lot of cars. It is NOT an FM transmitter like the prior answerer had suggested. It utilizes the transmitter inside your satellite radio so you will still have access to every FM frequency. It's a moot point anyway since any FM station will have a very hard time interfering since the signal is fed directly into your stereo and the FM antenna is shut off while the satellite radio is in use.

Aside from those things, the only other things you could do would be to position the satellite radio closer to your stereo or the FM antenna. There are also little antennas on eBay which are nothing more than a wire hooked to a 3/32" plug which plugs into the modulator output jack on your satellite radio. These can improve things a little but your best bet is one of the options I listed in the first paragraph.

A couple additional links to products:
Crutchfield's FM Modulator Relay $20
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-DnyaxS2XoJq/cgi-bin/ProdView.asp?g=251550&I=607FMDA25

Blitzsafe's adapters to add an AUX IN to your factory radio:
http://www.blitzsafe.com/blitz_catalog/blitz_aux/blitz_aux.html

PIE's adapters to add an AUX IN to your factory radio:
http://www.pie.net/store/index.cfm?Action=ViewCategory&Category=82

Answer 2

You could install a wired FM-transmitter if you can gain access to the antenna wire that plug into the back of the AM/FM stereo. These can cost as little as $40. They work great, even if there is a strong broadcast signal on the same freq. However, they are difficult to change freq while installed.