Hi Everyone,
I just bought a 2006 F150 FX4 and it has the OEM sirius satellite radio function. I was wondering how you check signal strength?
I purchased the truck here in Canada but it was a US import and am trying to set up my radio. I called sirius with the ID number, they tryed to send me the stuff but couldn't. Now they're telling me to take it back to the dealership and have them look at it.
thanks.
-Brodie

 

Brodie as far as I know there is nothing that will show signal strength. I do know that it will let you know if it is not receiving a signal. It will say trying to acquire signal until a signal is found. At least that is what mine does when I go into tunnels etc. If you have other option I would recommend going with XM. My last car had XM and it blows away Sirius in my opinion. You might be able to call a Best Buy or Circuit City and get some help over the phone since they install these.

 

xm is not better than sirius.

although, i guess you have to try them both and make your own opinion...either way, a satellite radio system is hands down better than am/fm radio. once you go sat. radio your never go back, commericals suck

 

I agree on the satellite radio being better than am/fm. XM and Sirius both have good stations, the "better" one all depends on what type of music you like to listen too. For rock it's Sirius radio all the way, but for county lovers I'd pick XM.

 

I'll never pay for a subscription to sirius...its seriously lame audio quality...I've downloaded mp3 files encoded @ 128kb/s that sound better than what comes out of my speakers on sirius...yep, commercials suck, but hearing the fragile highs of drums and acoustic guitars fluttering in and out is far worse than an advertisement....heck, my mp3 player hooked up to the auxiliary jack is all I need, no commercials and high bitrate files!

I suspect the RIAA is the cause of this lack of quality, and as far as I'm concerned they can rot in hell...strange, all that money they've made suing people has NOT gone to the artists....big surpise eh?...

 

What the other guys said..if its not getting a signal, it would say 'no signal' on the headunit. When my subscription lapsed and I called in to re-enable.... sirius 'accidentally' put on the family package (basically block out any channels with swearing . They could NOT figure out how to redo it... to me it was as simple as de-activation and reactivating. Basically

Sirius
- told me to 'reset it' via the menu. There is no option.
- told me to disconnect battery. Didn't work.
- told me to get ford to do a factory reset

Ford dealer
- told me it was not their issue
- told me they had zero documentation on sirius whatsoever
- told me they had never reset a unit, and never worked with them.
- told me they would find out and get back to me (never did).

In the end, a couple days later my channels magically all re-appeared. Long post with no real help, but my point being is you may simply have the best luck calling sirius back and dealing with someone else

Just to clarify, Sirius told you that they sent the activation signal, but the truck did not pick it up? First time I activated my truck, it took 5 seconds flat. When I had to do a re-activation, it took about 2 minutes. Also, last year, I would get a 'no signal' when driving about once every couple weeks. Now I get it a couple times a day. It only lasts for a second and I couldn't care less...but obviously Sirius has changed something (satellites, signal, who knows).

hope you can find something in there that helps...

 

MY freebie subscription just got cut today (2 months psat expiration). I love it, no problems with signal loss unless im under something, nothing with intermittent loss. Gotta redo the subscription now, I love it over am/fm. And the sound quality for mine is awesome, beats the am/fm hands down, comparable to all my MP3's