XM satellite radio anyone?

[Phil Howell]

I tried XM last year. Music preferences are subjective, of course, but I like what my friend's Sirius offers more than my XM offered. XM's 60's channel advertises "no commercials," but, besides the mindless moron DJ always interrupting, they played the old 60's commercials you were sick of hearing the first time around, back in the 60's!



Sirius doesn't do that on their oldies channel. I didn't like XM's customer service, either. It was just like dealing with New York "discount" camera stores.



Just my . 02.

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

If I'm not mistaken the Sirius "free offer" is only for certain portions of the US and as long as certain hardware is available.



I went for the XM because I could get the Delphi "roady" for the rig for $120, a FM modulator for $29, and the equipment to use the roady at home or office free.



Where I live radio is often a challenge. Since I don't do TV, radio is a must. I've been considering for some time. When they offered the free home adaptor with the roady I bought in. So far so good.



I listen to the three gospel selections, the new age stuff, reggae, bluegrass, eclectic, FOX news, and the talking heads. The scheduling and selection of talking heads could be better. I really enjoy Glenn Beck but the scheduling is not good for me.

 

[BKunic]

Ol'TrailDog,



What part of the Cowboy State is Moran in? I think I'm going to "test drive" both the XM and Sirius via their websites, and decide which to go with from there.



One thing is for certain, I definately need to go the satellite route so I can start getting some good music and can tune out the babbling "DJs"!



Bryan

 

[RGardner]

If you are a football fan, sirius will have all the NFL games on next fall so you can listen to your favorite team no matter where you are. Just one more thing to consider.

 

[BrittonTurner]

xm all the way!

i too was leary about "paying" for radio that i could get for free. but i have to tell you that it is one of the best decisions that i have made in a long time. it is great not losing a station coast to coast. we went to colorado a few months ago and were able to keep the same radio station the whole way. they have something for everyone. i have the delphi unit just so i can take it out of the truck and use it in the boombox while camping.



there is only one downside to xm. there are a few stations that have commericals. i believe sirius doesn't have any commericals.



xm radio: $9. 95 per month



sirius radio: $12. 95 per month





radio installed in the truck





#ad

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

BKunic queried:

What part of the Cowboy State is Moran in

Moran is in the NW corner, 41 miles north of the big J-Hole, and 46 miles west of Dubois. Moran Jct is where the road splits north to YNP or east to Dubois. There is nothing at Moran but a post office, grade school, and some park service housing. I live eight miles east of Moran at a FS ranger station.



I've used the XM around Bozeman, Moran, and between. So far without a glitch. I enjoyed putting on some good tunes to wile away the drive on the bad roads, bad weather, and slow traffic last week. Helps me to chill out, being a type A impatient curmudgeon. Have to admit the Sirius NFL and NBA games sounds very good. Nothing makes want to kill like Sports talk radio of the ESPN type - what morans (if'a, would

a, could'a). Just give me the game and spare me the "only ifs" and whining, yeesh.



As long as they are working I think either XM or Sirius would be good choices. The main reason I went for XM was the price for the equipment, i. e. free house/office adaptor, and the monthly rates. I figured if it didn't work I would only be out $150 bucks. Heck, I'll bet I wasted more money getting jammed on expresso drinks last year than that. Also the asynchronous satellites used by XM sounded more reliable, but what do I know?



Plus I've spent many hours listening to sample XM over the internet as a test. My Netscape or Mozilla browser doesn't support Sirius.



Of course I could fire up MS Explorer, but as a Linux freak I avoid MS when possible. One of my weird idiotsyncrasies. Actually, I just tried this to see and MS Exploder works with Sirius and am now listening to some new age piano, but they want your email and what not just to sample. Opps, my 20 minute sample just expired - that doesn't happen on XM sample site.

 

[AGrubbs]

Linux Opera .. Not the music!

If you are tired of the MS-BS stuff and your browsers don't do it for you, you might try Opera for a browser.

I have it on my MS machines and like it a lot, and they support Linux, Mac, FreeBSD, OS/2, Solaris and a few

other OS's. You can try it out free if you don't mind having a little advertizement window in the corner.

If you register it, that message box goes away. I highly recommend it. . anyway for windows. . and I suspect Linux

will be good too. There are a number of plug ins that you can install, best done with the "all plugins" download from the site.



It is more of a 'power users' browser. it gives you a LOT more control over your machine. I really like the 4 options

of how to handle pop-ups. . built right into the browser.

Theres to much to really discribe that put it ahead of Netscrape and I-net exploder. .

Enough of my rambling on about it. . give it a try. I think you will like it.



Opera Linux



PS: If you don't like the looks of it, you can download or make your own 'skins' to give it what ever look you want!

 

[CClayton]

I became a fan of satellite radio in

November 2001 with the installation of X. M. in prior ford F-350. I currently have

Sirius installed on factory Dodge radio with

touch controls on steering wheel.

Both X. M and Sirius are great systems

with very similar programming.

I have been preaching satellite radio

since early 2002 and it's finally catching

on with the masses.



I can listen to stock reporting on CNBC

on channel 101. (Bought a ton of each

early 2002).



Enjoy!

 

[LightmanE300]

I'm not sure with satellite radio, but I bet it's like cd changers - you don't get nearly as clean of sound quality when hooked up through fm modulation as compared to a direct digital connection. I much prefer the setups like alpine head units that are xm ready, or similar aftermarket radio. Then you don't have to mount the big clunky controller... I have however heard xm fm modulated in my friend's explorer, and it doesn't sound bad at all. Amazingly better than regular FM radio.

 

[AGrubbs]

FM modulator

I think people assume that the wired FM modulator is going to sound crappy like an FM BC station. This is not true.

It will sound better since you have a good strong signal which keeps the limiter in your demodulator saturated,

and also you do not suffer from the multi-path signal fades that you get while moving with a BC FM signal.

A wireless FM modulator will not sound quite a good, but it will be very close to the wired one.

AND they are fun to have so you can share your tunes with everyone, like at the beach or camping out.



Direct is the best, if you want to go out and purchase a new radio for your truck. But, my truck came with a radio and I did not

want to pay for another one. I would rather buy other goodies for the truck. . (still saveing for an Espar heater!)

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

I got the little Belkin triple AAA battery FM transmitter gizmo because I want to send the signal to my office/home radio/stereo when the home adaptor kit arrives for the Delphi "roady". My office has NO AM reception and very fuzzy FM. I have a south facing window for putting the satellite antenae outside. Personally, I think the sound is great.



I was wondering if anyone knows if the standard 04 DC radios have a direct accessory plugin anywhere for a direct connection if one was inclined to hook up this way? Seems like they should.



PS: AGrubbs, thanks for the Linux Opera tip. I've considered going to Opera but it use to cost money whereas Linux Netscape and Mozilla were freebies. I'm a shameless free open source software mooch. Besides I am currently not online at home (Linux) and I have to battle the Corporate Gestopo (MS of course) to get priviledges for installing software on my work box ("Why do you want to install Netscape anyway?")

 

[How'dHeDoThat]

3rd Gen radios

Your 3rd Gen stereos are Sirius ready. It wires in direct and your factory head unit will control it.



James