Poll - Satellite Radio...

[schu777]

Hi guys,



Just thought it would be interesting to see who has Satellite Radio. I just got my XM Ski-Fi yesterday after seeing my brothers this past week. I'm curious what kind of installs people have done, as in pics.



Once I get something figured out for the install, I'll post pics of it and let everyone know how I did it.



Michael

 

[C Schomer]

I can't post a pic but I can e-mail them, if someone wants to see. I put the Delphi in two wks. ago. I screwed the fm modulator to the steel bar in the dash, just ahead of the radio. I looked (online) at the Delphi custom bracket for the controller and didn't like it. It's a Rube Goldberg catastrophy! So I removed the two screws in the controller base that attach the swivel ball contraption and screwed the base directly to the upper left corner of the airbag control cover, in front of the gearshift. I looked behind the cover with a mirror to make sure I didn't screw something I shouldn't ! I put the antenna on the roof about 1 1/2 ft. ahead of the third brake lite and ran the wire thru the lite hole and fished it over the headliner, down the left A pillar and thru the dash to the controller base. My favorite station, so far is 46 - Rock Hits. Long trips, on Sundays should be a joy now! Craig

 

[datablitz]

my favorite channels are 46 and 16 ... . i installed a pioneer radio, and used the pioneer xm box that plugs in... . no extra controls, all on the deck, it also runs a 10disk cd changer too, with no extra controls..... i love my sat radio, almost never listen to fm anymore

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

My first XM Roadie mount was velcro beneath the cubbie hole.



However, I soon realized I was going to die way too young because I was futzing around trying to change stations with my off the road.



So, I carved a crescent out of one side of the swivel mount with a drill rasp bit and mounted it next to and inline with the three fan/temp/vent knobs. This way I can glance directly at the numbers display and numbers. I still think I'll do some color coding to make it easier yet.

 

[wsmalley]

I am running all Alpine. CDA-7893 XM-ready head unit, so the Alpine XM receiver just plugs into the back of the head unit and I have that pancake antenna coming out of my third tail light. love 46, 16, XM Comedy, and a couple Jazz stations for long cruises.

 

[SMorneau]

I have an Alpine Head unit that controls the XM tuner. It's very nice but not portable. The Alpine is also capable of interfacing with certain Nokia phones so if your are on the phone all of the time it may be worth looking into.



I get my moneys worth from the XM, more so than my DirecTV.

 

[David Muench]

I put a Kenwood Excelon KDC-X679 in my Ram with the Kenwood Sirius tuner. The head unit is in the dash like you'd expect, and the tuner is hidden in the bottom half of the lower storage compartment between the front seats. I built a steel sheet metal plate that fits in the center console and then hung the reciever from the bottom of that. I've still got plenty of storage space down there. All the wiring is run under the carpet and the antenna is above the passenger rear door.



Pics wouldn't show much, all you can see is the Kenwood head unit in the dash.



I'm very happy with Sirius - reception has been excellent since their satellites are in a better orbit than XM. My wife liked it so much that a week after I put mine in we picked up a Kenwood MP-6025 and Sirius tuner for her Jeep as well.

 

[CClayton]

I have Sirius in my 2500 laramie with

steering wheel controls and Delphi ski-fi

boom box with XM radio.



Big fan of both,systems and their stock.

No more local radio!

 

[datablitz]

david, what do you mean the sats. are in better orbit? i have never lost reception on my xm..... just wondering

 

[DKiesewetter]

I just installed the XM commander in my 04... it sits in the cubbie hole under the climate controls. I made an ABS piece that replaces the cubbie hole and ounted the unit into that. It looks clean and almost stock... works very well. I love the service.



Doug

 

[David Muench]

XM has two satellites in geostationary orbit - this means they're above the equator. Since we're in north america, the satellites are always south of us. Any time you are on the north side of a tall obstacle (large building, an east-west valley, whatever) there's a good chance you won't be able to see the satellites. XM makes up for this by having about 1,100 ground based repeaters.



Sirius on the other hand has 3 satellites in a geosynchronous orbit. This is a hard orbit to explain without a picture, but all 3 satellites are on the move (not stationary) in a figure 8 shaped track that loops over the US, crosses over itself down over central america or so, then loops again south of that. Only 2 satellites are over the US at a given time, the 3rd is in the lower part of the loop.



The net result is that the Sirius satellites are generally more directly above you at any given time. The reciever also has two to listen to, and those two are in different directions. Obstacles are less of a problem. Sirius only has about 95 or so ground based repeaters, because that's all they need.



What's this mean to the average person? Probably not much if you're in an urban area in the US. The only significant difference is that the ground based repeater network costs a decent amount of money to run so it's a drain on XM's resources (but they have a lot of money). Sirius has a bigger footprint as well, but unless you live way up in Canada or in Central/South America, that doesn't matter.

 

[jzaremski]

IMHO the sound quality of XM is noticeably superior. Sirius's PAC codec is not as efficient as the AAC-based codec used by XM, as such I tend to hear more compression artifacts in Sirius material.