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  1. DADEO is offline
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    Joined: Nov 2008 Posts: 8
    05-28-2009, 09:59 AM #1

    Antenna question again

    I'm using the automotive magnetic roof mount antenna in the window of my apartment. It's not stuck to anything, it's just sort of leaning against a book, angled out the window. It does work, on and off. I can be listening for awhile and then it will loose the signal and most of the time a little moving around of the antenna will bring the signal back. My questions are why can the signal be good for an hour straight, then all of a sudden gone? Would the Sirius indoor antenna improve the signal staying locked in and why? Is there something built inside the indoor antenna that would make it work better than the magnetic auto rooftop antenna? This is a Sportster 4 radio. Thank you.

  2. denb45 is offline
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    Joined: Mar 2009 Location: Albuquerque, NM Posts: 181
    05-28-2009, 11:32 AM #2
    Quote Originally Posted by DADEO View Post
    I'm using the automotive magnetic roof mount antenna in the window of my apartment. It's not stuck to anything, it's just sort of leaning against a book, angled out the window. It does work, on and off. I can be listening for awhile and then it will loose the signal and most of the time a little moving around of the antenna will bring the signal back. My questions are why can the signal be good for an hour straight, then all of a sudden gone? Would the Sirius indoor antenna improve the signal staying locked in and why? Is there something built inside the indoor antenna that would make it work better than the magnetic auto rooftop antenna? This is a Sportster 4 radio. Thank you.

    You either get a signal are you don't, Local Terrestrial Repeaters do help in such situations, it really makes no difference what type of antenna you use, (Home or car) but since you have a car magnetic type antenna, you'll need a metal ground-plane to get that car antenna to work correctly, it works best that way being a magnet type antenna (like being attached to the roof of a car) you also need a clear-shot-of-the-sky.........another thing to try...attach it to a metal-vent-pipe facing upward toward the open sky (on a roof) the trick is to try and duplicate the way it works attached to a car's metal roof..........
    Last edited by denb45; 05-28-2009 at 11:50 AM.

  3. my name is matt is offline
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    Joined: Apr 2009 Location: Chicago Posts: 123
    05-28-2009, 12:50 PM #3
    Great advice denb45. Using a metal surface will help draw in the signal better. I do feel that using an outdoor home antenna would be better though and would eliminate your outage problems. Here is a link to what I am talking about.

    http://www.tss-radio.com/sirius-outd...nna-p-231.html

  4. DADEO is offline
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    Joined: Nov 2008 Posts: 8
    05-28-2009, 02:38 PM #4
    Thanks for the help and explanations.