Sirius Sportster 5 Troubles!

I'm not sure if anyone can help me or not with the problem i'm having but I figured it was worth a try.
I have a Sirius Sportster 5 radio in my vehicle and i'm having problems using the remote that came with it. The strangest thing about it is that sometimes the remote works for a brief time and other times it doesn't work at all. I was wondering if anyone has any idea why this would be happening and if they have any suggestions on how to fix it. Also I did replace the battery in the remote just the other day.

Thanks for any help.

If you've been storing the remote in your car, extreme hot and cold does a number on electronics.

Its either dying or the battery contacts are dirty/loose.

Does it make a difference if you put the remote very close to the unit?

Thanks for the reply, when the remote isn't working it doesn't matter where you hold it, the receiver won't respond to it at all. But like I said every now and then the receiver will pick up the remote. I have also tried it with a remote from my Starmate 7 that I know works for sure and it works sporadically with that one too.

Does the sportster 5 have an infrared eye to pick up the remote? Is there shmutz on it? If not, it sounds like its just a loose connection. Not the kind of thing you could fix unless you're comfortable with taking it apart and soldering a circuit board.