Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Steve, Host
2025 Toyota Crown Signia Hybrid, 2022 Ram 2500 Laramie 6.4 Hemi, 2007 Mazda MX-5 Miata PRHT
I have the Roady setup. I can't say enough
great things about it. I love it, although
I never listen to any of the talkshows.
There's just too much good music to listen to!
If, as you wrote, he is the reason that you subscribed to the Dog, that is a further example of his dumbing down influence.
Steve, Host
-Paul
Steve, Host
But perhaps I should be steering this discussion back on topic.
tidester, host
Now that I am spoiled, I couldn't imagine having to use a portable set up with Fm modulation. Much nicer to have it all integrated into the head unit, and the steering sheel controls.
I'm just annoyed at Honda for not including it with the EX-L model of the Odyssey that we bought last year! I just don't feel like spending $800 for the van, especially because my wife could care less, and it is her daily driver.
I will just use the ipod for travelling instead, since the DW won't listen to most of the good stuff on Xm anyway. I can just keep a lifetime supply of Billy joel and Elton John on the pod instead, for free.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Kind of like sports radio in Boston!! "Yeah, 3 Superbowls are nice, but how 'bout them Sox?"
My subscription money is on the excellence of XM programming, and I have no finacial interest in stating that.
BACKGROUND
I purchased a Sirius Sportster Replay ($149.99 from Crutchfield) for my car and it worked perfectly from the start. I then purchased a home kit to hook it up to my home theater system. The home kit comes with the docking station, power cord, stereo cables, built-in FM transmitter, FM antenna wire and indoor/outdoor satellite antenna. The problem was where to put the antenna to get satellite reception.
My home theater system is far away from any windows or exterior walls where the antenna must be placed to get a satellite signal. I live in a condominium, so I am not allowed to drill a hole in any exterior walls through which to pass the antenna cable to the outside of the house. The only choice is to plug the antenna on a window sill and hope to receive the satellite signal through the window. I live in Chicago, IL and the Sportster instructions say the antenna should point straight up to get a satellite signal.
I purchased a 50 ft. Terk antenna extension cable ($28.99 at Amazon) to get the antenna near one of four accessible windows. One window faces directly east but looks out onto a covered entryway. Two windows point directly east but are obstructed by small trees & shrubs. The third window faces directly south and is unobstructed. All four windows allowed for intermittent signal reception with no more than 30% signal strength. Furthermore, I signal reception would come and go intermittently and randomly. Sometimes I would get a signal for several hours in a row and then lose it for several hours. At other times, the signal would come and go every few seconds. There was no way to predict when I would have radio reception and it was very frustrating to have the audio signal start and stop randomly.
I knew that Terk made a glass mounted antenna (models TRK-SR1, TRK-SR1X, XM11, all discontinued) for XM radios in which the antenna is mounted to the
exterior of a vehicle. On the interior of the glass is mounted a mating piece which feeds power to the antenna and which receives the satellite signal from the antenna through the glass. No drilling through glass or metal is required. I surmised that if the XM antenna could receive a signal from Sirius' satellites, then I could mount the Terk antenna to an exterior window and hopefully get improved radio reception.
I sought out other's experience by reading many comments on the topic on several web forums and blogs to find out if my idea could be done. The mix of reviews saying that it works and that it does not work were about 50/50. Those that claimed it work said that they had done it themselves. Those that said it did not work had not tried to do so but based their comments on technical grounds; XM and Sirius use different satellite frequencies and XM and Sirius antennas are tuned to receive only their respective satellite signals. In the end, I decided to give it a shot.
ANTENNA INSTALLATION
I purchased a used Terk TRK-SR1X glass mount antenna ($15.50 at Ebay, with new glass mounting kit). It has the old two-wire setup; one wire is for satellite reception, the other is for terrestrial repeater reception. Both connectors come with a plastic adapter to connect to older XM radios. I removed the plastic adapters. The wiring also has two wires for the 12 volt power required to power the antenna (with a fuse on the hot lead).
I purchased an AC/DC adapter to convert house 110 volt AC to 12 volts DC ($7.99 at Fry's Outpost) and I purchased a male cigarette lighter plug ($1.89 at Fry's Outpost). I wired the lighter plug to the antenna power leads, connected the lighter plug to the AC/DC converter which I plugged into an electrical outlet. I plugged the satellite connector from the antenna into the antenna extension cable which was plugged into the Sirius radio. I temporarily mounted the antenna on a piece of glass (from a picture frame) using masking tape. When I powered up the Sirius radio, the green LED light on the antenna lit up indicating that it was successfully receiving power and detecting the satellite radio through the piece of glass.
I then placed the temporarily mounted antenna in several locations at my four windows to determine if/where I would get the strongest satellite signal. It turns out that the southerly window had the best reception; the radio showed the signal strength to be a constant 70-80% !!!
CONCLUSION
At the time of this writing, I am in the midst of testing the signal reception by playing the Sirius radio for several hours for several days to confirm that I will not lose satellite reception as the three Sirius satellites travel over my location. Assuming that I have no further reception problems, I will permanently mount the exterior portion of the antenna on the outside of the window in question and mount it's interior mate on the inside of the window. I will then permanently route the wiring back to the home theater in the most attractive way possible.
The moral of the story: I was able to successfully receive Sirius satellite programming using a Sirius radio and a Terk TRK-SR1X glass mount antenna.
I hope this information helps anyone with similar problems in the same way that other posts helped me in this endeavor.
Chicago, IL - January/2006">
I love Sirius (Howard Stern)
I don't like aftermarket Sirius receivers (do-it-yourself wiring and FM transmitters...yuk!)
Honda, as many of you know, only offers factory installed XM
Regrettably, my next car purchase (at the end of this year) will not be a Honda or Acura
Anybody else basing their car purchase decision solely on lack of factory installed availability of either service? I've called Honda Customer Service to suggest they offer both XM and Sirius.
You asked, (is) "Anybody else basing their car purchase decision solely on lack of factory installed availability of either service?" I wonder why folks would be "basing their car purchase decision solely on" one extemely overpaid egotistical guy's radio program.
That is how it was described to me and from what I have seen in test drives, it integrates well.
BTW, the NAV antenna is not in that diversity antenna.
-Paul
I pay for insurance that I hope to never use, so I don't feel bad paying a few bucks each month for a good radio. My commute to work used to be one hour up in the Mojave Desert in soCal. No good radio stations except 95.5 KLOS in LA. Satellite gave me lots of options. Moving across the country I was able to get clear reception and tune in my ball games w/o searching for a weak AM signal.
Driving around town now, 15 minutes, I still enjoy clear radio WITHOUT the local commercials. And I still enjoy it on long trips or when I take my Jeep offroading.
-Paul
2025 Toyota Crown Signia Hybrid, 2022 Ram 2500 Laramie 6.4 Hemi, 2007 Mazda MX-5 Miata PRHT
Be aware that you will not hear commercials on satellite radio MUSIC channels. However, be prepared for occasional promos on many of the TALK channels.
But you won't hear that annoying, "BUY YOUR NEXT CAR FOR NO MONEY DOWN AND $5.00 PAYMENTS FOR THE NEXT 5000 YEARS! creditapprovalrequiredofferdoesnotapplytoallandsomemaynotbeacepted."
-Paul
Every time I drive between LA and Vegas (little radio reception) I thank my brother-in-law who kept telling me how good XM really was. I can listen to the same station all the way or choose to listen to a book, an old radio station, music, news or whatever the mood strikes me. Much better than static.
-Paul
As to the value of Sat Radio...we love it! We have two Sirius Plug and Play units that we move between cars. I even bought a spare deck and antenna and take it with us when we fly to a destination and rent a car.
Love it around town but even more so on trips. Driving from LI up to Mass to take my daughter back to school or down to our place on the Jersey Shore or even on the West Coast, it's great to be able to listen to one channel anywhere. Local radio has become the pits and frankly you do get tired listening to CDs all the time and love the variety. Also, we use the traffic and weather channel a lot when we are heading back into the NYC area.
In the scope of things, the yearly contract is not that much...piss away a lot more money than that!
-Paul
I'm surprised that the dealer doesn't install the XM. I thought that Toyota was linked to XM (not Sirius) and usually dealers are glad to install ANY accessory (and charge a high markup).
2025 Toyota Crown Signia Hybrid, 2022 Ram 2500 Laramie 6.4 Hemi, 2007 Mazda MX-5 Miata PRHT
I too have an Acura, an 06 TL. It comes with 3 months free XM service, which of course, I love. I hear if you don't renew the first few days after the initial trial period you end up getting a much better deal by waiting for a 'reoffer'. Any insight as to this ploy?
Not sure I could do w/o XM for long tho, and I know my daughters would kill me to let it lapse, but I also have an 05 Odyssey that I want to add to the plan , and maybe an office or home receiver too, so any price break would be welcomed and accepted.
I totally recommend XM if you couldn't tell.
-Paul
thanks
Go to this link and scroll down to Toyota to see that they offer XM OEM installations for several 2006 models but not for the RAV4:
http://www.xmradio.com/cars/
However, according to this link, you should probably be able to replace your stock radio with a new "permanent" head unit receiver and antenna from Alpine, Pioneer or Sony:
http://www.xmradio.com/catalog/head_units.jsp
It's the little nuts and bolts, gloves, paint chips, etc floating around that are the problem.
Hitting a nut or a bolt at those speeds is just as deadly as hitting a dead satellite, and a heck of a lot harder to see.
-Paul
-Paul
Please provide an authoritative link to support your stated contention that "There is at least a 50/50 chance that they may fold..." Or is this pure speculation on your part?
Plus, aside from HP's good numbers, it seems to be a slow news day on the market. I don't own either stock but if you like satellite radio, today may be a good day to be contrarian and buy some. Just don't yell at me if a bird falls out of orbit and they go banko.
Steve, Host
I've read plenty about the subject. But nowhere could I find anything to back up your posted contention that "There is at least a 50/50 chance that they may fold...". If you have a specific link, please post it.
In any case, Sirius lost $311.4 million and XM lost $268.3 million in the 4th quarter alone. IMHO, it's going to be a long time before anyone is declared the winner in this market.