Satellite Radio

[LynnF]

Been kicking around the idea of getting satellite radio for the weekends at the trailer (the country station in Lethbridge doesn't cut it for me). I don't know much about it so trying to get educated. Found out alot so far, but have 2 questions that I need answers to.

 

1) Is it portable? We have 2 vehicles - one is a company truck and one is a leased vehicle, so I don't want anything permanent that I can't take with me when these vehicles get traded in.

2) What is the best one? XM or Sirius? Or is it the same now? And where is the best place to buy it from?

[PeteZahut]

I have Sirius and love it. It is portable, you can get home and car kits. The car kit works off of a FM transmitter like IPODs. We bought a boombox for home and so we plan it at home and when we hit the road we just grab the unit out of the boombox and put it into the vehicle kit. You can take it from vehicle to vehicle.

 

We bought the system from Costco which came with the home and vehicle kit all in one. We bought the boombox from Future Shop. Most places the price is comparable, except it was cheaper to get that kit from Costco than buying each one seperately from anywhere else.

 

I don't know which is better between Xm and Sirius. I really like ours, you can also stream it over the internet so you can listen at work (I think XM can too).

 

I would say check the channel lists between the two and see which sounds better. The comedy channels are pretty damn funny I have to say.

[bhurt]

Lynn, I run the technology department at Staples across from chinook center, and we sell sirus satellite raido which seems to me to be the best (I thought I heard something about XM beeing bought out by Sirus) And we do sell the boom box that u can place the reciver in and thus making it portable. I also belive we have the portable unit that is also kind of like a ipod!

 

Anyways come stop by ask for Brad, that of course is me and I would be happy to sell you one, lol.

 

Btw, getting the lifetime membership I think is around $500 but its well worth it, cause you do not have to pay a monthly subscription.

 

Oh also before I forget, you see it cheeper anywhere else all I need to do is varifie the price and I will match it, and then knock off 10% of the diffrent on the price (Usally not that much but still makes us lower then anyone else!)

[bigalcal]

I have a Sirrius satellite radio. It is awesome. I purchased it at Visions for $65, It includes a vehicle dock (easily removeable) a cigarette lighter power adapter and an antenna. It also came with another dock, power cord and antenna for the house. The actual satellite receiver is moved from vehicle to home.

It is easy to install and I enjoy the channels. I love driving fishing and playing name that tune by myself!!

[bigbowtrout]

I have Sirius and it was very easy to instal in my car plus if I do sell the car it would be just as easy to remove. I also have the home docking station so I just pop off the reciever and plop into the home dock and bingo no problems.

Sirius seems to be the bigger player out of the two and right now the merger is going through the Gov for aproval but I do like the programing on Sirius and Dave D love's the gay channel (from what I hear)

[matt12003]

i recommend the delphi mifi XM radio , its like a big ipod, comes with car kit, home stereo kit, a portable antenna to listen wherever you want, and an available ghetto blaster to bring camping and such, works great , you can also store hours of music and replay back whenever, most other systems you need antennas and power, but this one has rechargable battery and can go anywhwhere, i listen at work and in my ice fishing shack, as for xm vs. sirus , main difference is sports XM carries all hockey games and all baseball games, sirius i believe carries NFL and basketball and CFL i think, both have comparable music channels , i find sirius beter for underground and alternative and XM better for country, and classic rock

[Red]

I have Sirius and love it. And if you are at your trailer you won't even have to take it out of your truck, just have it turned on and the radio in your trailer will pick it up.

[Guest tallieho]

i bought a new g.m so xm came with it,the promo gives 3 months free after that it gets expenseive 14.95 per/month.don't like that plus while driving on a paved road/highway if you hit a bump you lose the station momentarily.so i won't be renewing the xm sad radio system

[reevesr1]

I have Sirius as well, and love it like everyone else. Can you say ESPN? Basketball, Football, and if you must, Hockey. Great music, talk radio, etc. Since it is from the States, makes me feel a bit at home. I have a home adapter kit as well, but don't use it much. My only advice is to not get the basic units, especially if you plan on moving them around a lot. The power connection is not that strong. I have broken a couple of them.

[Din]

I have sirius. love it. i lose some reception along the trunk road, but it was maybe b/c it was a snowstorm that was coming in. a friend has both xm and sirius and says hes not renewing his xm and sticking to the sirius.

[Hawgstoppah]

I have sirius in my big rig. I think I would have died of boredom by now if I didn't have one. They have some good country stuff Lynn channels 60-64, or is it 60 to 65 now? You also get some good classic rock, mellow rock type station which are great too. (channel 10 or 15), and you can rock out to 80's hair bands on channel 23 LOL

 

Blue Collar comedy is a riot too channel 103 Git R Done!!

[Hawgstoppah]

Oh and no one said it yet, but hookup is a cinch. Plug in cig lighter. Plug in antenna cord, slap on the roof of your car the antenna section (it's magnetic). Then tune your FM radio in your CAR to 88.1 fm ... (you can change what frequency you want to use to broadcast on in your actual sirius unit, so if you wanted to broadcast on 100.1 or something go ahead, then tune your car radio FM receiver to 100.1 to pick up what's playing on your sirius unit)... easy as pie.

[Guest rusty]

I have XM and absolutely love it.

 

I think within a year or two they'll be the same but as of next year NHL is exclusive to XM - so if you like hockey, that's the way to go.

 

Probably not a whole helluvalot of difference.

[SanJuanWorm]

I have Xm and I cant live without it. I can't stand calgary radio. Its dreadful. I mean cjay come the fuzz on? Brutal. I swear they have 3 CD's they rotate with every single day. I hear it at work and it makes me want to vomit.

 

XM baby .... channel 48 is the best, then 47, 65, 20, 150, 153, 82 and 8, and 9.

 

that is all....

continue.

[RonD]

Get it!!

 

Just bite the bullet and write a cheque for a full year's subscription ($14.95 x 12) and then forget about it.

 

No kidding ... I live about five minutes south of the Bob Creek Wildland and radio reception is nada on AM and FM ... but now I get my good old CBC plus anything else I enjoy. I have the Sirius receiver in my car and the Sirius Boombox (great sound for a small package ... it should make the Bose folks take notes) in my home.

 

Never miss any of Randy's Vinyl Tap again.

 

Two caveats ... here in the valley the signal disappears from my window-situated antenna quite often ... those damn satellites keep moving ... and then I have to play "move the little antenna" for a few minutes each day. Sirius should supply an extra antenna or two (cheap for them) for the Boombox.

 

Plus the Boombox drains batteries like "Ol' Sparky" down Parchville ways. $10 worth of D-Cells were good for only a few hours. A rechargeable power source would be the catsass.

 

I saw The Source flyer today ... apparently there's a sale now for a $40 saving I couldn't get in April. BTW, if Sirius hadn't screwed-up and guaranteed Harold Stern about a gazillion dollars (American) we'd all be getting a better deal. However, redneck humour (at another channel) is a guilty pleasure.

 

Kinda balances out the CBC. A person must have balance.

 

Ron

[dAm]

I've had Siriuis for a couple years now and no complaints. I got the lifetime membership when I first got it. Or I should say the wife got it for me as a birthday present. it was 499.00 back then. My only suggestion would be to get the US subscription instead of the Cdn one. All you need to do is purchase a subscription and activate it on the web and you can just make up a US address. Doesn't have to match your billing address of your CC. Or if you want a real US address just pm me and I'll give you my PO Box address in Idaho and you can use that.

On my truck I don't even need to have the antenna on the roof. It sits inside on my dash and picks up fine. Sirius also has a terrestrial antenna in Calgary now too. Or at least they did when I still lived there. Which meant you didn't loose signal going under bridges or inside metal buildings. I know some guys with pickups that put the antenna under the plastic cowling where the wipers are and run the cable through the firewall. That hides it completely.

 

On a side note: XM and Sirius antennas are interchangeable. So if your ever stuck needing an antenna you can use either one. Also on the Siriius/XM merger, it's just been talked about but there's no definite plans.

[LynnF]

This is all great information guys - exactly what I was after. Thanks very much!

[dAm]

You can also get a home kit for Sirius for around 69.00 that just comes with a stand, extra antenna and power converter then you stream it through your home stereo. Also if you are a subscriber you can listen to a lot of the channels on your computer via the Sirus website.

[Hawgstoppah]

Rusty, if what you say is true about the NHL coverage on sirius going by the wayside... mine will be gone and XM will be in... without hesitation. I got the thing so I could listen to Flames games when I'm in idaho, or somewhere... etc..