I never make a move without asking the most knowledgeable guys (and ladies) in the world about anything to do with cars (or accessories in this case). So, I need to pick brains on XM radio. Some members have aftermarket ones that can be taken into the home or office, a feature I like however, the new Accord has it already installed, which is easier for a novice like me. Should I save a few bucks and buy one aftermarket and make it portable or should I go with the factory installed radio and just ride around all night listening? And what about getting it installed in your home through your cable company? Is any of this worth the trouble? What's the least expensive way to go? Does anyone have experience with this to share?

 

Go portable. Buy the Roady, get the free FM modulator and the home kit. Total cost will be about $119.00 and you can move it to any car, use it at home and in the office. If you get it built into the Accord, that is the only place you can use it.

More later.

 

Great question. G-Rod! I'll be checking the answers. I need to come in at night, though , so need something that's portable and vehicle independent. I often drive long stretches across the West -- and so get genuinely tired of C&W and Rush Limbaugh Been thinking about XM or Sirius.

 

Rob,
Did you buy your Roady on line?

 

I have to stick my $.02 worth in here:

Delphi has just come out with the Roady 2, which has a built-in FM modulator. This means that there is one less piece of equipment to bother with, plus the Roady itself is smaller. I bought mine on-line for $129 plus shipping from www.xmfanstore.com. In addition, there is a mail-in free offer of a home kit, which includes an AC adaptor, home antenna, and the necessary cables to hook it into your home stereo. This link takes you there.

For those not familiar with the Roady 2, you have two options to listen to XM in your car:

1) Using the built-in modulator, you tune your car radio to one of about a dozen frequencies to get best reception. There is no direct connection between the Roady and your car radio. The Roady acts like a low-powered FM station and broadcasts to your car radio.

2) If your car radio has a cassette tape deck, you can use the supplied tape-adapter, which looks like a standard cassette tape, but which transfers the XM signal to your car radio. They say the sound quality is a bit better using this option.

If you like music, I highly recommend either XM or Sirius. They both offer similar programming, but, personally, I prefer the choices on XM more, which is why I went that way.

And I have to agree with Rob, if you want to take full advantage of the XM service, having the portable unit is a plus, since you can pretty much use it anywhere, as long as you have a clear view of the satellites (SW in the east)

 

Granny,

The cable company has nothing to do with XM. In fact, XM competes directly with their digital music service.

To install it in your home, you need the home adapter kit I mentioned in my previous post, then using the cables supplied, hook it into an available input on your home stereo. You also need to use the home antenna, and if you have a window that generally faces south-west, you should be able to put the antenna on that window-sill for satisfactory reception. Due to my house layout, I had to place the antenna outside on my deck railing to get good reception. There is about 20 ft of wire attached to the antenna for that reason.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

 

I have the original Roady, not the Roady2, so I'll talk about it assuming that both have the same basic set of features. I will probably repeat some of the things that Gene has said, and I am relying in Gene to correct or enhance anything that I say.

Satelite radio.

Before I talk about the hardware, I think a brief mention of the service is in order. Satelite Radio, be it XM or Sirius, is much like broadcast radio in that it is received via radio waves, not cable. The difference is that satelite radio signals are bounced off of satelites and are available nationwide, as opposed to conventional broadcast radio which is broadcast from a tower (or antenna) and is only available in specific regions. In theory on a cross country trip you should be able to tune your satelite radio to a channel in New York and not have to reset it until you reach San Francisco. The signal is available nationwide. This was considered to be one of the advantages of satelite radio. The other is the quality of the sound. Of course, the main thing is the programming, and I'll talk more about that later.


The Hardware.

As I've said, I have the original Roady. I bought it at Best Buy for $119.00 and received the wireless F.M. modulator and the Home Kit for free. The wireless F.M. modulator is simply a device when plugged into your cigarette lighter a) supplies power to the Roady and b) takes the signal from the Roady and transmitts it to the car's radio on a predetermined frequency. You can choose from 8 frequencies. In the S2000 there is no problem with this transmission reaching the radio antenna as the vinyl top is invisible to radio waves. I have also used it in my 4Runner and Liz's Acura TL (both hard tops) with the windows closed and have never had a problem. Finally, the antenna is a magnetic mounted antenna and I put it on top of my 4Runner or Acura, and on the leading edge of the top (when the top is down) in my S2000. It has about 20 feet of wire and reaches anywhere I want to put it. There is a self stick "pedistal mount" that comes with it and I've put that in my 4Runner. In the other cars I lay it on the console with a "sticky pad". Keep in mind that the Roady is the tuner, and your car radio or your home stereo (or amplified speakers) simply acts to amplify the sound. Another advantage of the Roady is that there is no installation needed.

The best part of the Roady is that it is portable. As you've read I move it between three cars. I also take it into my house and office. At home I have the home kit, which is nothing more than a transformer/powerpack, a stand, and a desktop antenna. I typically plug it into a reasonably good quality pair of amplified computer speakers (with a subwoofer). The antenna sits on my desk some 20 feet from the window. I have yet to have a problem with reception.

In my office, I use a 6 volt 800ma powerpack/transformer that I bought at Radio Shack for about $15.00 (it came with my choice of plug to fit the Roady), a different pair of amplified speakers, and for the time being because I am a skinflint I take the magnetic antenna from my car up to the office with me. I will probably buy another antenna in the near future.

Thats it. That's all you need to enjoy XM everywhere. There is also a tuner made by Delphi called the "SkiFi", but it needs a mounting cradle and I didn't want to put one in my S. It also requires the Delphi "Boom Box" to be portable and I didn't think it was worth the extra $99.00. I think the Roady is the best choice. You might want to go to www.Delphi.com to see more about the Roady.

The Programming.

Radio is nothing if not the programming. I chose XM for the following channels

Channel 5- Generations 1950- Music from the 1950s
Channel 6- Generations 1960- Music from the 1960s
Channel 7- Generations 1970- Music from the 1970s
Channel 15- The Village- Folk music from the last 50 years
Channel 50- The Loft- Singers and Songwriters-Lyrics and acustic instruments only.

I've been promising myself to explore the other 125 channels, but I've enjoyed these so much that I don't want to switch. Suffice it to say that there is something for everyone.

I especially like the special programming. For example you may have read Gene and I talking about "It". It was a special program that started about two weeks ago and is finishing this weekend. It started with 1930 and will end with 1999. About 6 hours are given to each year and all of the "charted" songs from that year are played. It was great listening. I found it hard to turn off.

There are also shows like "Harlem Nights" (r & b music before it was called rock and roll), Alan Freed's dance party (live recordings of groups made in 1956/1957) and many more. This week there is a Peter, Paul and Mary concert on channel 15-The Village, and a Grateful Dead special on the "Deep Tracks" channel. There is much, much more.

I suggest that you go to XMradio.com for a complete listing of the channels and shows. You will be very, very impressed.

I hope this answers some questions. I can post pictures if you like, but you're much better off at the web sites or going to a store and looking in person. Gene, its your turn.

 

Thanks for asking the question Grannyrod. I hadn't been paying much attention to XM but now that I've got the skinny it sounds pretty good.

No commercials?

And thanks for the info everyone has supplied.

 

Gary

XM is commercial free. At least the music stations. Of course there is no such thing as a free lunch, even on the radio. To receive XM you have to subscribe at a cost of $9.95 (plus tax) per month. There is also a $10.00 setup fee. As soon as you stop paying they deactivate your signal, and your receiver can no longer receive the radio waves.

 

You can always just hack the signal for free

shh....