Top 20 Sirius Sportster 4 SP4-TK1 Satellite Radio Receiver with Car Kit Questions & Answers

When you disconnect your battery and then reconnect it again, it disables the radio. This is an anti-theft protection for your car radio. The enable your radio the activation code is in your vehicle owner's manual. If you do not have this code you need to go to your vehicle manufacturer's service centre and get them to enter this code for you.

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Remove the batteries/power line connecting to the Sirius Radio. Connect it back after 2 minutes. This will refresh the device without loosing any saved settings/informations and will unlock the channels.

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That means there is something wrong with your subscription. I have 2 Sportster and have had that happen to me. You need to call Sirius or log onto your account online. I’m happy to assist further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/joe_8b8c2cd6ce148309

The buttons are just metal domes glued to a circuit board. After time, pressing the buttons will cause the button strip to shift downward and stop functioning. Open your radio and push the strip back into place.

IIRC, the SP4 has a separate button PCB. That may have just come loose. The connector is just to the left of the power button. Press firmly on that area and see if that helps.

Your car kit antenna is probably bad. Try unplugging the antenna and plugging it back in. Also the connectors between the unit and the dock become dirty and occasionally need to be cleaned. Use rubbing alcohol on a q-tip or a pencil eraser to clean the connections. Also it may just be an audio issue your having so check the menu and see that your FM is on if that is how you receive it through the radio. Often times replacing the antenna will do the trick if none of the other things help.

Hi,

Your Sportster is freezed,you have to reset it.else some time loose contact in the internal wiring may cause this.You just check for the soldering connection and rehot it.
Please see any of the IC gets to heated,If it is too heated that is the IC you have to replace or rehot it.

The Factory Default option will restore all original factory settings in your SIRIUS Sportster radio. Note that factory default will not reset the lock code if you have changed it from the default lock code.
To perform a factory default reset:
Select the Factory Default menu option.
Select Yes to restore all factory settings or select No to cancel and return to the Menu Options screen.
If Yes is chosen, the radio reverts to the original factory settings for the following parameters:
All presets revert to empty
Reset to Normal Tuning Mode
Reset to default screen (with 2-line PDT display)
Reset previous power state setting to: Off
FM Frequency Setting: 88.1MHz
FM Transmitter: On
Game Alert: Clear all favorite teams
Jump Settings: Clear jump setting
Display Brightness: 80%
Display Contrast: 50%
Auto Memory Search: On
Clear all S-Seek stored entries
Audio Level: -3dB
Confirmation Tone: On
Clock Format: 12 Hour
Clock Time Zone: Eastern Time Zone
Clock Daylight Savings Time: Observed
Alarm: Off
Alarm Time: Cleared (12:00pm)
Program Alert: Off
Program Alert Time: Cleared (12:00pm)
Program Alert Day: Cleared (Monday)
Program Alert Channel: Cleared (184)
Auto Shutdown: Disabled
Sleep Mode: Off


After this pulling out power adapter would reset the unit.

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Alternator noise. Use all shielded audio cables. You can also add 'ferrite rings' to the audio calbe and to the power connecotr cable

Usually the antenna is not plugged-in all the way, or you have broken the little tiny antenna wire. Try another location first, then try another antenna.

Hi try and reset it, it's freezed.

Take care.

idk

From the sounds of it your connection between the radio and the cradles has probably degraded due to dirt, dust, and all the other good stuff we have to drive with. On either the back or the bottom of the radio will be the copper contacts that connect to the cradles connectors. Pick up some contact cleaner form your local electronic store and give all of the contacts a good cleaning. Make sure you follow the instructions carefully as you don't want to damage them anymore. If you can't find any contact cleaner you can use Isopropryl alcohol and Qtips but be extremely careful about using it sparely and making sure that the contacts are completely dry before you make the connection.

Yes, the whine could be coming from the ignition system in the car. Does it go away when you turn off the engine? Does it go to a higher pitch when the engine rpms increase?

If so, the noise is ignition based and you must obtain some ignition filters for your car. Car parts places can usually supply you with such devices. Crutchfield.com also carries them.

If the whine is constant pitch and just remains the same does it go up and down with the volume setings? Or does it remain constant always? If it is constant it is rfi getting into the power amp. If it goes up and down with volume it is coming from in front of the volume control on the stereo set.

And, you might check with the supplier/manufacturer of the sat unit; they may have a filter accessory for it.

Ensure that power cables do not run next to RCA signal cables. If the cables are too close, engine noise, which may sound like a high-pitched whine, can get into the system. If whine is unavoidable, you may wish to use a Noise Filter. In addition to having your RCA cables mounted away from power cables, make them as short as possible, as signal strength is lost over distance, and higher frequencies are attenuated.

Connect the main power (+) for the amplifier directly to the battery. Check here for the proper wire gauge

Use the AUTO OFF feature or set a 'sleep timer' for 60 minutes.

You are not going to be happy about this. I am actually on hold with Sirius as I am typing this. I am having my account suspended...
For the past 2 months I have had the same difficulties. The unit will work properly for a few minutes and then go crazy. Music cuts out, the screen dims and brightens, the same start-up tone and sometimes the unit freezes and won't respond to the remote or any buttons on the unit. There is usually a high pitched 'whine' in the background of every channel. Quite often after the unit does its start-up tone thing there will be no music at all and I will hear strange noises through my speakers, like a thumping or something.
The reason you won't be happy is because I am on hold with a tech and he told me that my unit is at the end of its life. There is nothing you can do about it. Its dead.
Im sure you are as happy as I am about having to dump another 170 dollars or whatever for a new unit. Its bull. I have been told that the sirius units have a life of about 2-3 years but I didn't know if I believed it. I do now. And I don't know if I will continue business with them.

The issue will have to be the sportster unit. It would be too much of a coincidence for bothe the car cradle and Boom-Box to have something wrong with them. I have seen this before...most of the time, the connections on the sportster will have a bad solder joint. This will cause it to turn on and off intermittently. You can confirm this by wiggling the unit when it is docked and getting it to turn on and off. This is not something that would be easy to repair as you will want an electronics repair to fix. The Sportster comes with a 1 year warranty from the manufacturer, so if it is covered, then you can get a new tuner and apply your old subscription to the new one.

Shouldn't need one. Does the rear antenna connect to the direct FM box?

Directed Electronics is the maker of this product. You will need to find a local stereo shop to have them send it in for repair, or you can contact the manufacturer directly. Visit their website at www.directed.com for a dealer or for contact information.

You should use the direct FM box to get the static to go away. You unplug the antenna from the radio, plug the antenna lead from the box into the radio, the antenna line plugs into the box. You will have a mini jack that plugs into your radio or dock.

This way you can switch it on any station to get rid of the static.

You shouldn't need to take the dashboard out to get to the radio. Usually you have to take the trim pieces in front of the radio to get the antenna line out.

Sometime you can reach it from the back of the radio if there is enough clearance to get cak there.

it could be the wire that connects from the actual antenna and the radio. Even if it is new it might just be wrong from the factory.