Satellite Radio

S

Shann

Joined
Sep 2, 2004
Messages
5,250
Tell me about satellite radio. I spend at least an hour a day in my truck, which isn't that much, but its enough. I like sportstalk radio basically, something like ESPN and games. I also like Imus if he is on the radio. I'm not much of a fan of Howard Stern, which I do know can make a difference in choosing between XM & Sirius, or at least it did before the merger that I don't really know much about.

I'm not a huge music guy although I like rock and blues. Radio reception is pretty spotty here in Vermont so I was looking at the satellite radio.

Also, is there a difference in the equipment? I'd like one I could have in my truck but also take out.

Thanks.
 
I use sirius. At the time I thought they had better programming.
 
Sirius and XM are merging so it doesn't make much difference which you chose they will be the same before long
 
I have had both and the Sirius satellite service seems more consistent than XM..less interruptions..better programming also..
 
I have been thinking of doing this as well, at least in my Mini. I have decided to wait till the merger is complete and the service is settled before doing anything. The rest of my family already run Sirius and are happy with it.
 
I had sirius and got rid of it... The reception was never as good as promised. I used in San Francisco and also in rural (read clear view of sky) parts of Ca. This was 4 years ago, so maybe things have changed. I spend two hours a day in my car and have thought about going back to it, but just havent been motivated to look into it. (Waiting for merger too.) The blues station were the coolest too me, cause there isnt a lot of blues stations on the Radio where I am.
 
XM and Sirus have merged but are still offering seperate programing. I have XM. If I want the Best of Sirus I have to pay another 4 dollars a month for a total of 16.99. It is the same if you have Sirus and want the best of XM. If you like basebal get XM if you like pro football get Sirus. If you care about neither you will have to look at their programing on the web and see what fits you the best. Personally when baseball season is over I only have 10 channels programed; Fox News, Fox Talk Radio, ESPN, 2 Country stations, and 4 Rock stations. The rest of the stations never get listened to. It would be nice if stuff was offered ala carte.
 
If you drive through a lot of forest roads the reception can be spotty. You need to keep in mind that you need line of sight-ish clearance.

In other words, no you do not need a clear path straight to the satellite unless your antenna is bottom quality. However, if there are a lot of really dense trees or mountains nearby, the reception can be interrupted or spotty.

Also frequently bridges will interrupt the signal, so if for some reason you drive in an area with lots and lots of overpass bridges you might not enjoy it.

As an example, if you have any familiarity with I-5 from Seattle to Los Angeles, my signal is usually interrupted by bridges about a dozen times for a second or two and 5 times for more than a second for a grand total of about 5 minutes and always in the same areas like between Ashland, OR and Redding, CA. When I drive from Portland to the coast through forest highways, my reception can be interrupted sometimes to the point that I have to shut off the radio for a few minutes.

This is all by the way with Sirius, though a fishing buddy of mine has XM and it's not much different.
 
Shann said:
Also, is there a difference in the equipment? I'd like one I could have in my truck but also take out.

Thanks.
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Obviously, most of us will only have one satellite service or the other, so comparing equipment can be difficult. That being said, I've had Sirius for a couple of years and can attest that they offer a pretty slick little radio called the Stiletto S2. First off, it's roughly iPod sized and fully portable. You can purchase a home dock and a car dock (each with their own wired antenna included), and the S2 itself ships with a small set of headphones that have an antenna built into the crosspiece. Another advantage of this radio is that you can schedule recordings when the unit is in your home dock. I have been a Stern fan for a while, so, being on the West Coast, I set mine up to record the East Coast feed which starts about 3am local time. By the time I'm off to work I have about 5 hours recorded which I can listen to at my own pace in my truck or clipped to my waistband at the gym. You could of course do the same thing with any of their channels.

I would recommend, however, that you buy your radio from a big box store like Best Buy and purchase their in-house extended warranty. Normally I avoid those extra warranties, but if your Sirius radio does fail in the first year which is warrantied by Sirius, they will send you a factory reconditioned replacement. I've never received one factory reconditioned unit that worked properly. It's my understanding that Best Buy will simply replace a defective unit with a new one. If true, that would be a huge advantage.
 
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Arthur Washburn said:
XM and Sirus have merged but are still offering seperate programing. I have XM. If I want the Best of Sirus I have to pay another 4 dollars a month for a total of 16.99. It is the same if you have Sirus and want the best of XM. If you like basebal get XM if you like pro football get Sirus. If you care about neither you will have to look at their programing on the web and see what fits you the best. Personally when baseball season is over I only have 10 channels programed; Fox News, Fox Talk Radio, ESPN, 2 Country stations, and 4 Rock stations. The rest of the stations never get listened to. It would be nice if stuff was offered ala carte.
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Evidently their programing merged last night go to the website for and updated program list.Some stuff stayed the same(at least from an XM subscriber) they added some channels and renamed others but kept the same format(or at least the same style music)
The blues station were the coolest too me, cause there isn't a lot of blues stations on the Radio where I am.
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I love listening to the blues also but I don't like a lot what is on the Blues station on XM.Maybe my view of the Blues is too narrow but I don't consider a lot of what they play Blues
 
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