XM radio advice

S

Susan E

New member
i need some XM radio advice. i want to buy one with my bonus. i want to be able to take it on the Cdory and listen to it out in the sound. and my car and my house. i have read there are some portable ones that are about 170$. but it says it uses land based repeaters so there will be dead areas. so does anybody use one on their boat out here in washington? how often do you encounter dead zones. and dead zones in canada? are certain radios better than others. and any advice about the adapters for car and home?

thanks
susan elliott
 
Susan E":21ow4jwz said:
i need some XM radio advice. i want to buy one with my bonus. i want to be able to take it on the Cdory and listen to it out in the sound. and my car and my house. i have read there are some portable ones that are about 170$. but it says it uses land based repeaters so there will be dead areas. so does anybody use one on their boat out here in washington? how often do you encounter dead zones. and dead zones in canada? are certain radios better than others. and any advice about the adapters for car and home?

thanks
susan elliott
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Hi Susan,

We have had Sirius for several years; when we bought the truck, it came with XM. The built-in radio in the truck is easy, but we still also use the Sirius because we like that programming better. Our model of radio is several years old, but I'm sure there are current equivalents. We bought a receiver that came with a car adapter, then added a boom box that uses the same receiver... this way we could use the radio in the car, the house, the boat, and the RV.

We used the Sirius regularly while cruising in the PNW, never ran into a dead zone (can't speak to the XM, since we can't take it out of the truck). I understand there are places in large buildings in cities that can't get a signal.

We rarely listen to terrestrial radio anymore... it's nice to have the same station from coast to coast... or all along the coast. Sorry I can't help with the specific models, but I know you'll enjoy the variety of programming.

Good luck with your search.

Best wishes,
Jim
 
We have XM integrated in our duramax pickup radio, and we also have a portable "MyFi" XM unit which we use in our home and our boat. As I understand it, the XM satellite sits somewhere over the southern middle US (Texas?). So from our home on the northern Calif coast, we need to place the MyFi antenna out a south facing window, facing slightly southeast. The MyFi picks up the satellite signal just fine. When driving our truck, the signal can be temporarily blocked by tall buildings, or tall hills or cliffs, to the south.

In our boat, the MyFi works great in coastal California waters, and also in Puget Sound area (been there twice). On the open water nothing blocks the satellite signal. As you go further north into Canada or Alaska by land or water, there may be greater incidence of buildings and hills blocking the satellite, but I have no personal experience there.

For me, XM really increases the enjoyment of messing about in a boat!
 
Susan,

XM and Sirius are in the process of merging so at some point the content should merge as well, but for now there some differences regarding broadcast content. We like to able to listen to Major League Baseball broadcasts and PAC-10 football so we chose XM.

We've been using XM radio for the last couple of years, we basically take the tuner (a Roady XT) http://shopdelphi.com/consumers/satradio/roady/roadyxt/ in its Home docking base in car and boat everywhere when traveling. We used it in Broughtons earlier this summer to listen to the Mariner baseball games and other music. We really like it. We just ordered another Roady XT receiver (non-SureConnect version) at myradiostore.com http://www.myradiostore.com/xm-radio-re ... 10175.html. The reason why I like the Roady XT non-SureConnect version is that it contains an internal FM wireless
transmitter which allows you to broadcast your XM radio to any FM receiver (boombox, Home theater etc.) within signal distance. Has
worked great for us. The SureConnect version does no have the wireless FM transmitter, but relies on a hardwired solution. We use the
Roady XT in a Car Kit http://www.myradiostore.com/xm-radio-re ... arkit.html on the boat and in and
use the Roady Xt Home kit http://www.myradiostore.com/home-car-ki ... 10176.html when home.

No doubt there are other satelite radio solutions but this set up has worked well for us!

Jim
 
We have been using Sirius for over 7 years--but the same issues apply to XM.
We have one head/reciever, which fits into several adaptors, each has its separate antenna. One in the house and goes to a entertainment system, several RV mounts--on the boats and trucks and a boom box, which can be moved about. (We have a second antenna in the Class A Rv for the bedroom, and use the boom box there).

We have found very few areas where we could not get a Sirius signal--and in those cases it was only for a very short time. No problem in the Broughtons, or any place in the PNW.

You do need a farily clear line of site toward the Southern Satellites, but most trees do not block our signal--and it comes thru the glass of the roof of the boat.

I do have both the FM transmitters and hard wired heads. I find that usually the hard wired gives much better quality audio. I usually use the FM modulator in the RV when driving--and nearby radio stations give degradation of the signal, so occasionally I switch to amplified speakers.
 
I have an older model of Sirrius. Can you shop at something like RadioShack for generic antennas and twelve volt adaptors for these sets? Sirrius doesn't seem to support the older models, at least that is what my Best Buy is telling me.
 
Living in the great empty spaces of AZ we were early adopters of XM (Sirius hadn't launched) and we loved it for years. However, while still in AZ sound quality dropped off some channels. More importantly since moving to Bellingham we find that dense trees, tall buildings etc. lead to cut-outs 30% of the time. For instance Chuckanut Drive forgetaboutit. Perhaps understandable but also plenty of dead air from Sharp's corner to Deception Pass and even in downtown with taller buildings. There are even dead spots between B'ham and Mt. Vernon. Can anybody out there tell me whether that's normal or if perhaps I've got antenna issues?
Les
 
Susan
I realize I did nothing to help answer your questions while asking my own.
There is a wealth of info on www.xmfan.com regarding hardware and the upcoming merger and perhaps most important, whether the existing hardware will allow you flexibility of choice once the merger is complete.
Les
 
Lloyds, have been able to find a number of "discontinued" car or home kits with antennas and various adaptors for $8 to 10 in the past. Not seen any recently. I have a 6 year old receiver and found a number of the car adaptors at radio shack for $25 several years ago--and bought them, so I have several back ups.

The antenna plug seems to be universal; but some are better construction than others.
 
Lloyds,

I was just in a small town WalMart and saw a $9.99 Home adapter kit for the Sirius. It was on the panel behind the cash register, facing away. So there are some out there!

John
 
I put XM in my Kenworth at work a long time ago. I started with the original SkyFi wore out the antenna and cradle , got a big truck type antenna, and a couple new cradles... as for the boat I used one of the cradles , and a new small magnetic antenna, and have had very few dead spots in the boat usually only 10 to 20 seconds worth. I have a Skyfi2 now and have been happy with XM except when Sirius got NASCAR.. but now with the meger of the two who knows. Just my $.02.
 
My Audi has the Satellite radio in it. It was activated for the 1st month or so after I got the car. I found that while going back and forth to work it would constantly cut in and out from home in Fall City, until I got to Issaquah (limited line of sight to the southern sky). Then it would cut out each time I went into a tunnel. I found this very frustrating. It is far worse than AM radio! Having it cut out for over half the trip to work just made it not worth my money so I didn't sign up for it. I'm sure that for use in fairly flat areas where you can easily see the southern sky it works great. It would definitely be good out on the sound.

This is also my experience with Satellite TV. I can't get it from my house due to being in a valley with no southern sky exposure.
 
Just a few details about Sirius/XM radio systems:

XM has a few more satellites, but the satellites are at a lower angle (35 degrees+/-)...

Sirius has a few less satellites, but they are at a higher angle (55 degrees +/-)...

The lower the angle from your antenna to the satellite means a lower tree will interrupt the signal...all (most?) receivers have a 'buffer' to lessen the possibility of a dropout.

XM and Sirius have terrestrial repeaters in many cities to allow the signal to be received in tunnels and around tall buildings.

There will be a merger - BUT - you will need a new radio to receive both feeds.

Old cars had AM radios. Then FM was commercialized and new radios which could receive both bands were necessary.

We have an XM 'MyFi' (due to baseball :cry: Mariners) and like it very much. Home dock, car dock. When we get our boat we will have an XM dock in it.

I always here good things about Sirius as well.
 
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