sirius radio ??

[Jim W]

You've never driven anywhere that didn't have a cell signal? Pandora won't work without access to the internet.

My satellite reception is typically pretty good. The only places with issues are when I am right next to a cliff/mountain to the south. I suspect this would be worse the further north you live.

I have had Pandora even out west this year driving between Green River UT and the Grand Canyon AZ. I have had Pandora even in Maine and Vermount last year when we were traveling out east. If we loose a signal than we can switch over to the I-tunes on my wife's phone that are loaded on it or the I-pad. If we get tried of that we than can play CD's all day long. No Sirius for us.

My biggest issue with Sirius is all of the talking on the 60's and 70's channel such as Cousin Brucey (SP) or the other guy on at 6:00AM who have people phoning in. We have Sirius that is part of Dish TV package; so every once in awhile my wife will switch them on. I can't take all of the talking, so I will than switch on the AMAZON Fire Sick and play 60's music with Amazon with no talking.

Jim

 

[w6pea]

The reason you notice a difference is before the merger Sirius was the service FCA used for all vehicles. After the merger FCA offered Sirius and XM service on different vehicle lines (or different radios) so on one vehicle you had Sirius, but another you got XM service. On all the literature it makes it sound like Sirius/XM is one in the same, but in reality it is two different services with two different satellites. The Sirius satellite is more overhead in the northern hemisphere, the XM is more toward the equator. So you will notice a lot more drop outs if you have XM (RAx radios in the Ram) and less if you have the old Sirius service on a different radio platform. So it isn't your truck so don't bother having them look at it. Also if you look at the Sirius/XM web site the channel line ups are a little different unless they have changed it recently.
On our trip through Oregon last summer I had to switch to FM on the coast with lots of trees because the drop outs were just too annoying. Our 15 200 (RA4) also drops out in the same places the Ram does.

They are in the process of realigning all of the channels so they are basically the same channel options (so they can raise the prices). So they pay for slugs like Howard Stern.
Sorry for the rant

 

[kthaxton]

My biggest issue with Sirius is all of the talking on the 60's and 70's channel such as Cousin Brucey (SP) or the other guy on at 6:00AM who have people phoning in. We have Sirius that is part of Dish TV package; so every once in awhile my wife will switch them on. I can't take all of the talking, so I will than switch on the AMAZON Fire Sick and play 60's music with Amazon with no talking.

Jim

I'm lucky I 'spose.....the stations I listen have very little talking unless it is an actual interview or scheduled show.

Perhaps you could try some metal/hard rock stations with less talking?

 

[w6pea]

I listen to the Old Radio Classics show, Dave Nemo on the Truckers Channel and I do enjoy listing to Cousin Brucie on the 60's channel. I do not want to listen to slugs like Howard Stern, and a couple more that they seem to think the majority of people from the United States of America, think that the sun rises and sets because of them. When Sirius merged with XM they immediately started to try and dismantle the system I had XM for the Major League Baseball, and the Truckers Channel (when Bill Mack) was on the system. When he left I almost canceled my radio's. I also enjoyed the Comedy Channel on XM since they merged it's gotten very bad.

 

[Ram4Sam]

They are in the process of realigning all of the channels so they are basically the same channel options (so they can raise the prices). So they pay for slugs like Howard Stern.
Sorry for the rant

You're giving him to much credit........the slugs would be insulted if they knew......

Sam

 

[Tuesdak]

You're giving him to much credit........the slugs would be insulted if they knew......

Sam

Although I don't like talks shows in general and don't care for the content of his shows I have to respect what he has done for himself and to the FCC. After all the FCC's Stupidity approved the end of the Golden Era of Satellite Radio by allowing the Sirius XM merger. (Every other gov't agency was too lame to bother blocking it.) I will spare you the names of the people dumber than him sitting on the FCC board that voted to allow it. Dumb = look at the stock prices after the merger was final and the waste of 1/2 the frequency bandwidth with duplicated music channel content when there used to be 2x the music channel content between the two companies.

I have the Freedom to listen or not listen to his show. Yet we talk out of the other side of our "Freedom Loving" mouths when we have the FCC decide like the Communist Censors as to what can and can not be said on the air. The FCC censor battle with him has done more for his fame than anything else he could have done.

 

[Ram4Sam]

Although I don't like talks shows in general and don't care for the content of his shows I have to respect what he has done for himself and to the FCC. After all the FCC's Stupidity approved the end of the Golden Era of Satellite Radio by allowing the Sirius XM merger. (Every other gov't agency was too lame to bother blocking it.) I will spare you the names of the people dumber than him sitting on the FCC board that voted to allow it. Dumb = look at the stock prices after the merger was final and the waste of 1/2 the frequency bandwidth with duplicated music channel content when there used to be 2x the music channel content between the two companies.

I have the Freedom to listen or not listen to his show. Yet we talk out of the other side of our "Freedom Loving" mouths when we have the FCC decide like the Communist Censors as to what can and can not be said on the air. The FCC censor battle with him has done more for his fame than anything else he could have done.

Wow....That's a mouthful.... It looks like you are putting wwaaaayyyy more thought into this than I am. It's just a radio and a slug....:-laf

Sam

 

[Tuesdak]

Wow....That's a mouthful.... It looks like you are putting wwaaaayyyy more thought into this than I am. It's just a radio and a slug....:-laf

Sam

Ok, Pass the salt. :-laf

Hopefully his contract will not be renewed there and the channel bandwidth can be freed up to improve other channels...

 

[Ram4Sam]

Ok, Pass the salt. :-laf

Hopefully his contract will not be renewed there and the channel bandwidth can be freed up to improve other channels...

A excellent idea......

Sam

 

[Mingoglia]

I'm actually kinda surprised satellite radio doesn't build up a buffer, so a split second interruption (going under an underpass) doesn't make the radio pause. They could easily buffer a fraction of a second here and there in between songs. In other words, having the buffering in between songs or a fraction of second during the songs to build up a several second buffer. Nothing ridiculous like waiting 30 seconds after changing the channel to buffer the song before it starts playing.

 

[Ram4Sam]

I'm actually kinda surprised satellite radio doesn't build up a buffer, so a split second interruption (going under an underpass) doesn't make the radio pause. They could easily buffer a fraction of a second here and there in between songs. In other words, having the buffering in between songs or a fraction of second during the songs to build up a several second buffer. Nothing ridiculous like waiting 30 seconds after changing the channel to buffer the song before it starts playing.

I just wonder if they do......or the 8.4 radio has it. A new thing I noticed with my 2016 is there is a option now in setup called " SXM Tune start". When checked, when you change to a different channel, the song starts at the beginning of the song...... kind of different.

Sam

 

[Dogpatch]

The reason you notice a difference is before the merger Sirius was the service FCA used for all vehicles. After the merger FCA offered Sirius and XM service on different vehicle lines (or different radios) so on one vehicle you had Sirius, but another you got XM service. On all the literature it makes it sound like Sirius/XM is one in the same, but in reality it is two different services with two different satellites. The Sirius satellite is more overhead in the northern hemisphere, the XM is more toward the equator. So you will notice a lot more drop outs if you have XM (RAx radios in the Ram) and less if you have the old Sirius service on a different radio platform. So it isn't your truck so don't bother having them look at it.

That's exactly right sag2!

Some trucks got the Sirius radio guts and some got the XM.
If you got the XM (like me) it sucks big time!!!
Theres no fix unless you can swap out the radio for Sirius.
Ive been in contact with Sirius/XM. They tell me they should have things made better in the coming months.

I think ink it's a ploy and I call bull!!!

 

[Powder Extreme]

I just wonder if they do......or the 8.4 radio has it. A new thing I noticed with my 2016 is there is a option now in setup called " SXM Tune start". When checked, when you change to a different channel, the song starts at the beginning of the song...... kind of different.

Sam

No kidding? That's pretty cool, I'll have to try it in my truck tomorrow.

 

[sag2]

There is a buffer, but it is only a few seconds. Not sure why they can't go longer since on some radios you can repeat a song. Must be two different functions.

 

[gsbrockman]

I just wonder if they do......or the 8.4 radio has it. A new thing I noticed with my 2016 is there is a option now in setup called " SXM Tune start". When checked, when you change to a different channel, the song starts at the beginning of the song...... kind of different.

Sam

I was in Louisville, KY all day (well, from 10:30 am through about 3:30 pm) working on a purchase of a '15 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited for the wife. Glad I stopped at Bob Evans on the way up and had their Homestead breakfast, large milk, and large OJ. :-laf Couldn't have made the deal I made today on an empty stomach. :-laf

Her GC has the 8.4 w/NAV and the Travel Link......talk about overwhelmed. I'll need to spend some time learning the features on that thing.

 

[Ram4Sam]

I was in Louisville, KY all day (well, from 10:30 am through about 3:30 pm) working on a purchase of a '15 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited for the wife. Glad I stopped at Bob Evans on the way up and had their Homestead breakfast, large milk, and large OJ. :-laf Couldn't have made the deal I made today on an empty stomach. :-laf

Her GC has the 8.4 w/NAV and the Travel Link......talk about overwhelmed. I'll need to spend some time learning the features on that thing.

Haha! Good luck with that......the book is 269 pages.... Do what I'm doing.......just start pressing the buttons and soft keys and see what shakes out!:-laf

Sam

 

[gsbrockman]

Haha! Good luck with that......the book is 269 pages.... Do what I'm doing.......just start pressing the buttons and soft keys and see what shakes out!:-laf

Sam

I may just do that.....I'll be like a bull in a China shop. :-laf

 

[w6pea]

I may just do that.....I'll be like a bull in a China shop. :-laf

I had someone tell me one time that I "had the finesse of a Bull in a China Closet" I wonder what they meant,

 

[gsbrockman]

I had someone tell me one time that I "had the finesse of a Bull in a China Closet" I wonder what they meant,

A little visual aid might help :-laf

Imagine a few of these
#ad


Running through this kind of retail store :-laf
#ad

 

[Newsa]

So Ram has XM receivers?