Sirius Radio troubles 09RT

[KevinR1200]

I mounted the Starmate4 Sirius radio on my 0912rt. I get two errors while riding: Antenna not connected and searching for signal.

 

I use it in the office/car with no trouble.

I have used it on my KLR and my 06 GS with no trouble.

 

I have replaced the mounting dock and antenna - no joy.

 

I have it wired directly to the battery, and I have tried plugging into one of the BMW provided power sockets - NO Change.

 

I have change the antenna mounting location - No change.

 

I have found that it faults when idling on the stand/during acceleration/ while cruising.

 

it is very erratic but not usable on the RT.

 

ANy ideas????

[Angel]

Iv'e had the same error with my sirius radio. My radio has a dock that is installed to the bike via a Ram knob.

 

I have concluded that the constant vibration on the bike is in fact enough to to jiggle the the antennae plug loose.

 

NOW, I know that you are probably thinking that you can't push the plug in any further (so this can't be your problem). That was exactly what I thought for months, (after I was able to confirm that it had absolutely NOTHING to do with cloud cover).

Then, one day while my level of disgust/frustration was peaking...

I discovered that its not about "pushing" the plug further in, its about rotating the plug while its fully seated.

 

If this sounds a little to sketchy for you... then I won't tell you about the witch doctor and tribal medicine man I had to consult with before I got my music back!

 

[jjg3]

Is it possible that you have the radio or antenna located near a GPS or other electronic component that may be interfering with the signal?

Initially my Sirius radio had a reception problem but it turned out it was because the gps and radio were too close. A remote gps antenna resolved it.

[ElevenFifty]

I gave up on temporary mounting and cut a hole in the dash. I mounted a standard docking station with a custom metal strap that is affixed to the dash with two small screws.

 

I hooked up the power (car adapter buried under the dash panel, hooked to ignition switched power), balanced audio cable (runs back to my Starcom but has a 'Y' cable that runs to a plug on my tankbag for iPod) antenna (runs to the top of my dash). After I had all the plugs in place, and before buttoning up the dash, I wrapped several warps of a good quality stretchy electrical tape around the docking station to keep all the connectors firmly attached.

 

I made this mod 3 years and 60K+ miles ago and it has been flawless. EXCEPT - In two torrential downpours enough rain got into the receiver to screw up the display ... it went all black. Both times, I turned off the power and waited for dry weather. Both times it came back just fine. This summer I replaced the original with a black face receiver. The first was silver and is now my garage radio. I made the switch just for the looks ... I like the cool blue display.

 

Advantage is that it is ALWAYS with the bike and is tamper and theft proof. When I'm riding 2-up Sharon controls the Sirius with the remote control.

 

When I find a replacement dash at a reasonable price, I'll redo the mounting for a cleaner look ... Pics are here

 

You'll notice that I also have an in-line analog volume control for the Sirius built into the dash ... I use this to quickly trim the level when I'm using FRS and want to keep the master volume on the Starcom set pretty high.

 

DH