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Strange Satellite Radio Anomaly

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by tumbleweed, Jun 16, 2010.

  1. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Senior Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
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    V
    Yesterday while driving through part of the Colombia River Gorge I encountered a rather unusual satellite radio problem. I was driving for several miles by some rather tall cliffs that are fairly close to the road, satellite radio receptions cuts in and out due to loss of signal 8 or 10 times along this stretch of road. I travel this road once a month or so and when I get past the last tall cliff the satellite reception comes back on and stays on.

    Yesterday when I got past the cliffs the signal came back but the audio cut in and out at about a 1 second rate. I could pick up a word or a blast of music for half a second then nothing for half a second repeated indefinitely. I went through at least a dozen stations (channels) and they all did exactly the same thing.

    I then checked AM, FM, and CD and all worked normally. So I shut the audio system off and powered it back up again and still had the same satellite problem.

    I was thinking I would need to take the car in to have it fixed when I decided I would try one more thing. I found a place to pull off the road and turned the car off then restarted it after a few seconds. Problem solved! everything back to normal operation.

    Apparently nothing to be fixed and it has been working fine ever since. I suspect this is some kind of software glitch in the satellite receiver section of the audio system. Has anyone else seen this problem?
     
    #1 tumbleweed, Jun 16, 2010
  2. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    III
    I have had a similar problem happen to me twice in the 9 months that I have had my car. I lose the SAT signal every time that I drive in the carport at night. When I drive out in the mornings, the signal normally comes right back.

    Two times when I have driven out in the morning I have had the rapid on and off that you refer to. Once I was able to just turn the Audio off and back on and the reception was normal. The other time, I had to turn the car off and then back on again.

    Also, the AM and FM stations worked fine during this time.
     
    #2 jdcollins5, Jun 16, 2010
    1 person likes this.
  3. duffasaurus

    duffasaurus Senior Member

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    Location:
    Charlotte, NC
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
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    V
    I've experienced the same senario. Turned the car off and then on again, which cleared the problem. Also, have experienced this problem in an 2007 Prius, but the problem cleared itself over time. Off & then on did not restore it.
     
    #3 duffasaurus, Jun 17, 2010
    1 person likes this.
  4. jpmcdonough

    jpmcdonough Junior Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
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    IV
    On a suggestion from the salesman who sold me my Prius, when I had this problem, I called XM Radio and had them send a reset signal. It has not failed again since then. Was failing a couple of times a week before.

    Couldn't hurt!
     
    #4 jpmcdonough, Jun 19, 2010
    1 person likes this.
  5. tumbleweed

    tumbleweed Senior Member

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    If it happens again I'll try that.
     
    #5 tumbleweed, Jun 20, 2010
  6. Vancouver

    Vancouver New Member

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    I had it happen once - I found it had to do with powering on the car, without driving powering it off, and then powering the car back on and driving away. (Similar to the back-up brake locking issue) But it was solved by just pulling over to the side of the road, turning off the car, and then rebooting (oh, I mean turning it back on).
     
    #6 Vancouver, Jun 25, 2010
    1 person likes this.
  7. DanMode

    DanMode Brooklyn Prius Guy

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    Location:
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    III
    You can also try refreshing your radio online by inputting the Radio ID code here:
    Rapid Refresh
     
    #7 DanMode, Jul 1, 2010
    2 people like this.
  8. guitars&cars

    guitars&cars Junior Member

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    Location:
    Maryland
    Vehicle:
    2013 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Bought my Prius IV for about 5 weeks. Today, for the first time, the satellite signal went in and out as described in this thread. After stopping, I restarted the car and the signal is fine again. I have satellite in my other car that is more than 4 years old and have never experienced a similar problem.
     
    #8 guitars&cars, Jul 5, 2010
  9. Fstr911

    Fstr911 Member

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    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    III
    I've experienced this same problem. It started right after I washed the car two days ago and just occurred again this morning. There is no problem withthe FM or CD player.

    It seems to correct itself after about 35 minutes. I was thinking that maybe moisture got into the antenna, but after reading these posts I'll try restarting the car to see what happens.
     
    #9 Fstr911, Oct 5, 2010
  10. chuckc192000

    chuckc192000 Junior Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
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    When I've had this problem I've found I can fix it by powering down the car and starting it up again (turning the radio on and off is not sufficient).
     
    #10 chuckc192000, Oct 8, 2010
    1 person likes this.
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