Insignia NS-HDTUNE Take Apart/Exploration

It would be quite easy to do even without terrestrial repeaters. Put a 2.3GHz antenna on the roof of the garage. Install a 2.3GHz RF amplifier at this antenna. 10-20dB gain should be easy. Run coax cable into the garage and hang another 2.3GHz antenna somewhere. The two antennas should be fairly directional and not face each other to avoid oscillation.

I'm well aware of the repeaters, and all meat head has to do is say that's how he receives his satellite signal thru solid walls. Instead he resorts to insult and internet babble.

Those aren't spares, those are inventory for the next job when you come up short.

I have a office carpet that lives on a diet of small hardware. Drop anything onto the carpet, and it will immediately be injested by the carpet, never to be seen again. The carpet is very much a picky eater as it will ocassionally regurgitate a few of the larger items. I find it necessary to regularly feed the carpet a ration of screws and washers in the hope that it will be satiated and not devour anything important.

Besides that Jeff, Sirius penetrates my gararage roof just fine. And I can take the radio inside and get decent reception through the ceiling and roof in certain spots. But there is a time period of a minute or so that when one sat goes out of range and the other comes in range that is shaded so the signal drops out where as outside there isn't an issue.

Bwaaaaaahahah you stupid fucktard. Sirius goes through the garage roof just fine. I'm sorry that you were insulted but what's really insulting is your lack of knowledge.

I bought one of these tuners from Best Buy liquidation. The main problem I have is, at least once a week, when the unit is first turned on, it won't receive a signal. Since unplugging it for 10 seconds makes it functional again, I haven't tried to repair it. Sensitivity on my sample isn't great, but no worse than the average for modern tuners. Chuck

Hi!

Ask and ye shall receive. Okay, it's not a "before" picture, but the unit is back together and on my stereo shelf.

The "scratch and dent" damage comes mainly from a scrape across the top cover that disrupts the paint. The case is minorly "kabonged" but that was easy enough to fix with some careful work in the garage.

The stereo receiver below the tuner is an Insignia HS-R2000 and I find it to be an excellent piece of equipment.

Interesting to know. I didn't turn that up in my research (at least not that I remember). I am surprised by the presence of the Atmel tuner. Atmel is not the first name that comes to mind when I think "radio tuner IC"...more like "microcontroller" or "FPGA".

No HD Radio tuners were harmed in the making of that teardown. Despite the obviously less than ideal environment, nothing was harmed, no screws were lost and none were left over.

William

Hi!

May you never have to put a vacuum cleaner across it. The shrapnel may be terrific.

:-D

William

Sirius works differently from XM and is generally a better system in marginal areas. There are 3 RF channels around 2.3GHz. Two come from each of the two satellites. The 3rd from terrestrial repeaters. The Sirius receiver decodes all 3 channels simultaneously and conglomerates the usable data (which creates a 4 second delay). XM uses 6 carriers but only decodes 2 carriers (to save power and CPU horsepower).

The satellites also follow a rather odd figure 8 pattern over the Americas, which results in signal strengths changing over the day:

If you have a wooden roof on your garage, I'm not surprised that Sirius works inside. However, if you live in a concrete and steel apartment building, where the garage is under the building, I suspect you're hearing a terrestrial repeater.

Not high enough.

That's the way I usually find the screws. When I run the vacuum cleaner, I usually hear little pings and clunks as the vacuum cleaner inhales the screws. It's usually a lost cause trying to fish them out of the dust bag. I have a magnetized iron bar that I sometime drag across the carpet. It's made for picking up nails at construction sites and works fairly well. When that doesn't work, I have a Bissell

where I can easily fish the screws out of the catch bin.

Another trick I use requires a flashlight. I shine the light *across* the carpet. Anything higher than the carpet surface will cast an easily visible shadow.

I wish there was a repeater here. I would probably add a second receiver for inside the home so I could use a remote control. I've never had problems with reception in the garage even with 2 feet of snow on the roof. I'm aware of the figure 8 orbit of the two birds. Did some research on them and they are made by Loral. Future birds are going to have something more than an unfolding 36" parabolic for an antenna. But I think you have XM and Sirius mixed up. From what I've read Sirius uses the 4ghz spectrum and XM the 2 ghz. But hell I could be wrong, wont be the first or last.

I ditched XM back in 2005 because the signal was so bad unless you were out in the open. I couldn't even drive down a road with tall trees on each side without losing reception.

Sorry but your 3 wish limit has been reached. Please find another genie that grants wishes. Hint: They like their bottles rubbed.

See my rant on how to build a repeater. Just a rooftop antenna, 30dB amplifier, and inside antenna. Since it's one way, it's easy. Wi-Fi components can be used. I've built two of these for indoor GPS use at

Some Wi-Fi antennas will work, but you'll loose -3dB due to the differences between LHCP and linear polarization.

The problem with terrestrial repeaters is that they belch plenty of RF power at 2.3Ghz. That rips up 2.4GHz wi-fi communications near the repeater. I had to relocate one wi-fi link thanks to the addition of a new repeater.

Nope. They're both on 2.3GHz. Wikipedia has a mention of 4Ghz somewhere, but that's wrong. You can buy aftermarket antennas that claim to work with both, which is an important clue. I could lookup the assignments on the FCC pages, but not now. Incidentally, the uplink and downlink to the terrestrial repeaters are on Ku band. The repeaters do NOT repeat the 2.3GHz transmissions to improve reliability.

I have portable receivers for both but neither is activated. I don't need the service for signal checking, coverage checking, and doing installs. Besides, I only listen to my own music, 1960's acid rock, New Age and classical, none of which I like when I tried their programming. An iPod Touch 2G keeps me entertaining.

I'll look into the repeater. Shouldn't cost much.

I guess this is where klaatu leaves the thread in shame.

Not at all. I just find your statement of receiving satellite radio in a garage to be suspect. I just don't believe its happening without a repeater.

That's because now you're back pedaling and trying to save face. Your claim that it won't penetrate a wooden roof has been refuted. My claim that it does has been verified to be plausible. Now back away from the PC and do a little research before you bust into another thread and make yourself look like even more of a know-nothing asshole.

Hi!

Sure has been an interesting discussion to watch, though!

I'd not have expected it to lead this way, but it just goes to show that you never know...

William

Not a repeater. Amplificator. See various products at:

Yep... cheap.

Incidentally, I blundered across this photo of the FM-5 bird antenna:

Wow!

Nope. Such threads never end and there is never a clear winner. We're already into the accusations and excuses. Soon, we'll degenerate into name calling and character assassination. The idea is not to win the discussion, but to leave evidence for later readers to misquote and recycle. Garbage in, never out.

Marginally relevant rant on Usenet characters: