I Hear Sirius Radio Loud and Clear at 88.1 Mhz

[rotatepod]

If I drive about one mile from my house I can park the
car and listen to Sirius radio at 88.1 Mhz. The signal does
not fade in and out. I parked on a quiet street and listened
for at least 25 minutes.

If I keep driving the signal will eventually fade. It becomes
NPR, which is what its suppose to be. I'm sure many others
are also picking up Sirius somewhere on the FM spectrum.

Remember all those cable descrambler boxes you could
buy from the ads in magazines like Radio Electronics?
I'm surprised I haven't seen satelite radio descramblers.
If you can pick up Sirius on your FM radio, some group
of electronics guys should be exploiting this obvious flaw
in the system.

[dyarker]

I would suspect someone with a decoder is rebroadcasting with an FM transmitter so they can listen on a portable radio.

"If I keep driving the signal will eventually fade" How far?

[jollyrgr]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! This is NORMAL! This is NOT a satellite hack or a "FLAW" in the system.

The automotive and portable satellite receivers of Sirius and XM have BUILT IN FM MODULATORS!!!!! This way you can connect them to your ca stereo or home stereo having to patch into the stereo! There are MANY modulators sold for things like the iPod and other MP3 players that can also be connected to satellite receivers for those that don't have the built in modulators.

Now some XM receivers (the Roady I believe) had a slightly more powerful FM modulator then allowed by FCC rules. But still some LEGAL FM modulators can give out a "full quieting" signal for a couple blocks.

This is no "magic" flaw that allows an FM radio to receive satellite radio for free.

[haklesup]

I hope it's at least one of the good sirius channels. If it changes spontaniously, you will know someone else is in charge of the tuner.

[jwax]

I'm waiting for some hacker subscriber to put up a repeater pirate station. Maybe a high power mobile? Free.

[rotatepod]

I had my dog with me during those 25 minutes. That's the only
reason I could sit in my car doing nothing. I could swear he has
a sixth sense. Without saying a word, he somehow senses that
he's going for a ride!

You're right about that signal from Sirius. It's completely random.
Obviously, there is no way to select what channel you want to listen
to. Still, its kind of interesting that it comes through so clearly.

If you were a little crazy, I guess you could drive all over the
neighborhood and create a map of where the signal is strongest
and weakest.

Thanks guys!

[rf burns]

Wish my garmin with XM could get a decent FM signal to car antenna less than 3 feet away... The signal is noisy and the deviation is very low, less than 25khz according to my IFR.

Its not just mine, I have one other one and 2 friends as well.. same thing.

I've tried the aftermarket FM modulators with not much luck, they sound really bad too, like listening over the telephone.

[efiguy]

Hello group,
I've had really good service with a CD player using Belkin TuneCastII Model # F8V3080-APL _ It has digital tune for each channel of band. I use a radio shack 1/8 inch stereo plug and socket extender to move it to rear window, plus a 3 volt cellphone converter and just leave it on 24/7. Oh! Used some velcro assistance. Cd player and MP3 is kept in storage space out of sight.

Regards
Jay

[haklesup]

I was speaking to a friend who remarked that his XM reciever had a weak transmitter and wanted to use an external one while his wife's XM reciever could be picked up on radios all over the house. The power of these transmitters evidently varies quite a bit with the model reciever you use.