50% of the time that I turn on the satellite radio, all I'll get is an 'acquiring' message on the display. I called Sirius, and because it's a factory radio, they can't do anything but send you another signal...which sometimes works....or not!

I have a new magnetic antenna on the trunklid, and sometimes it works great...and sometimes, not.

Any ideas/suggestions? The local radio shop said that Sirius propogates it's signal much like a cell phone with repeaters. Whereas the XM signal is direct from the satellite.

 

that exact thing happened to me and it was a bad antenna...

 

I replaced the antenna about a year ago, but perhaps it's worth trying another. Thanks.

 

Are you saying that it says "acquiring" and never eventually starts playing? Mine plays that game, often taking 10 - 20 sec to sort itself out, but eventually works. I find this factory Sirius unit performs less well than the XM on a Pioneer AVIC-D1 I have in my DD. On a 90 mile trip I take often, the Sirius loses signal in places the XM remains solid. Whether it's the difference in the playback unit or the differences in the Sirius and XM signal process, I don't know. I get the feeling that the XM buffer is larger so it's less affected by brief loss of signal than Sirius.