www.iFourWinns.com

Four Winns moved to Sony equipment for 2008... I have been having issues with signal for my free Sirius trial. Am I the only one?

I get a blinking "Linking" like it's looking for a signal, but not connecting. The customer service guys at Sirius keep sending signals - but it's not solving the problem...

I've checked and double checked all the connections.... I'm starting to think it's a hardware thing.

Am I the only one?

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

There have been issues with the Sirius signal on these boats at least back to '05. Many people have to call Sirius at least once or twice a year to have their signal "reset" or somesuch. Seems to have something to do with the boat being in storage or otherwise out of contact with the bird for extended periods.

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Mike
2005 Four Winns 230/240
VP 5.7GXi/DP
1998 F-150 XLT
Boat Pic

Mike hit the nail on the head...the sirius is an external unit separate from the head unit that I dont think has changed in quite some time. Mine never worked so I just take the iphone and cd's

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2007 Four Winns 220SS (Sold!!)
2006 Toyota Tacoma

Ditto. I had repeated problems with mine where it would say invalid channel. Sometimes I get a couple, sometimes none. But having sirius resend the signal never worked. What seemed to work was taking my little storage unit under my headunit out, disconnect main cable (I think its a cenet cable) and plugging it back in. That would sometimes get it to update. I just ended up dropping it which stinks because i like listening to the NFL in september and Buffett during his concerts. My dealer tried replacing the antenna wire but that didn't do anything.

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Former owner of:
1996 Four Winns Horizon 200 5.8L VP
2006 Four Winns Horizon 260 8.1L VP
2007 Sea Ray 290 Sundancer

Current boat
2004 Sea Ray 290 Sun Sport Twin 350 Mags

Same here...that thing seems to be a piece of junk. In addition to the "linking" ALL the time, my Sirius presets will not hold either. I have gone through and set all 18 or whatever Sirius presets about four times.....they hold for a while, then it goes back to the defaults. I have not had any trouble with the presets in the other modes...FM etc. One more reason I just am still not willing to pay for radio..... I'll take FM, AM, CD, and soon to be ipod then just deal with it I guess...

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Paul F.
So many lakes so little time!!

2008 Four Winns 210 SS -- Red
5.7L Gi/SX - Volvo - 14 3/4 x 21 ss prop (62 mph)

Is the radio's trickle power lead hooked up properly? As in, running directly to the battery and NOT through the battery switch? If you cut power to the radio completely it'll lose all settings. Don't know if that's how the trailer boats are wired up or not. Yes, it'd drain a little power during the week but that's what trickle chargers are for...

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

For some reason FW didnt run the constant power wire to the battery. Or at least they didnt on mine. I only listen to CD's or music on the iphone so I dont care. Its an easy fix if you were inlcined to run a small wire tio the battery

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2007 Four Winns 220SS (Sold!!)
2006 Toyota Tacoma

Plan on activating the free trial this weekend, will have the iphone backup too.

Sounds like sirius will not be gaining any FourWinns customers.

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H210SS 6.2
F150 Platinum

I had no issues with Sirius in my '07 with the Clarion head unit. Sometimes it would take 10-15 seconds to get a lock when changing channels, but I never had to re-register, or had issues with losing pre-sets. It's my understanding that the Sirius source unit is dependent on the Head unit used, not sure about Sony, but FW used the Sirius SIRCL3, Clarion compatible Sirius radio tuner/ antenna unit. I know that in FW changed over to a smaller profile Sirius satellite antenna, as my '07 has the smaller unit and other '07s in the Dealers showroom had the bigger units. I'm sure the initial '08s have this smaller antenna unit too. Having said all that, I'm waiting for the Sirius/XM merger to complete before I re-register my Sirius unit - the wife's car has XM, and I'm too stubborn to sign up for both.

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2007 Horizon 200
4.3L GXi/ SX 225 HP

mine does the same thing every time I take the boat out. What I end up doing is unplugging the cable from the black box and plugging it back in. That seems to always work.

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2007 Four Winns Horizon 200
Santa Clarita, CA

+1 to Jim_R. Never had a problem with mine, other than the occasional delay in acquiring a channel when switching between them.

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Paul
2007 Four Winns Horizon 220
Mercruiser 350 Mag MPI w/ Bravo III Drive
2004 Ford Explorer Limited (V8-AWD)
Pomme de Terre Lake (Southwest Missouri)

Mines been working since I got the boat. Best part I never signed up for anything.

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Been having trouble with my system, mine drops power then turns back on again, finally traced it to the Monster Cable that goes from the back of the Sony Deck over to the Sirius Receiver, wiggle it and then it drops.

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08 210 SS Sunset Orange 300 Horse MPI Bravo1
98 Dodge Ram 12 valve Cummins 425 RWHP

So far so good. Intermitant linking.....but usually only for a sec or two. Seems we usually end up listening to one of the mp3 disks I've made anyway. Eventally I'll get an ipod and have everything onboard.

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2008 H210SS VP 5.7 Gi/SX
2011 Ford F150 FX4 EB

Jim_R, when you say you have the small antenea and not the large one, can you describe the difference in size, shape, etc.? I have an 07 and aside from the occasional 10 second wait when switching channels, it works great.

I'd like the XM/Sirius merger to go through, too. I have Sirius in my car and won't even look at cars that have XM which is really beginning to limit selection.

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2007 Four Winns 220 Horizon
VP 5.7Gi/SX 280hp