Hi,

XM or Sirius? I have an XM Roady 2 that I may return depending on some
feedback. I use my XM in the Northern CA area. I am not impressed with
the reception. I use the wireless FM transmitter to listen because I
don't have any other option.

Here's my problem: I did have the antenna inside the car and the
signal kept fading in and out. I have read mixed reviews on this. I set
the antenna on top of my car to see if there was any noticeable
difference. There was a slight improvement but the signal still kept
fading in and out. Some stations were stronger than others.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? I'd like to hear opinions
from Sirius and XM users. Any feedback is appreciated. I still have a
few days to return my unit and move to Sirius if the reception is
better. I'd like to keep the antenna in the car. I don't want to
have to install any boosters, etc... I move it between two cars.
Thanks,

Mike

I have Sirius and the reception is great. I live in Southern
California and have used it without any problems in remote areas of the
desert.

I do have the antenna mounted on top the car. The antenna needs a
clear view of the sky in order to work well. When I drive under a
bridge, I loose signal. You can mount antennas on two cars and just
move the plug and play receiver between the two.

By the way, if you want the best sound consider a direct connection.
It would mean buying a head unit that will accept a direct input. All
Alpine head unit, even the cheapest ones, which will accept an
auxilary imput device such as an IPOD or a Sirius plug and play
receiver. This would give you portability and a direct connection.
Bruce

I have Sirius and the reception is great. I live in Southern
California and have used it without any problems in remote areas of the
desert.

I do have the antenna mounted on top the car. The antenna needs a
clear view of the sky in order to work well. When I drive under a
bridge, I loose signal. You can mount antennas on two cars and just
move the plug and play receiver between the two.

By the way, if you want the best sound consider a direct connection.
It would mean buying a head unit that will accept a direct input. All
Alpine head unit will accept an auxiliary input device such as an IPOD
or a Sirius plug and play receiver. This would give you portability
and a direct connection.

Bruce

If you have an unobstructed view of the sky and you're still having problems
receiving the signal, then there's something wrong with the installation of
the antenna.

Tony


--
Eclipse CD8454 Head Unit, Phoenix Gold ZX475ti, ZX450 and ZX500 Amplifiers,
Phoenix Gold EQ-232 30-Band EQ, Dynaudio System 360 Tri-Amped In Front and
Focal 130HCs For Rear Fill, 2 Soundstream EXACT10s In Aperiodic Enclosure
wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

XM or Sirius? I have an XM Roady 2 that I may return depending on some
feedback. I use my XM in the Northern CA area. I am not impressed with
the reception. I use the wireless FM transmitter to listen because I
don't have any other option.

Here's my problem: I did have the antenna inside the car and the
signal kept fading in and out. I have read mixed reviews on this. I set
the antenna on top of my car to see if there was any noticeable
difference. There was a slight improvement but the signal still kept
fading in and out. Some stations were stronger than others.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? I'd like to hear opinions
from Sirius and XM users. Any feedback is appreciated. I still have a
few days to return my unit and move to Sirius if the reception is
better. I'd like to keep the antenna in the car. I don't want to
have to install any boosters, etc... I move it between two cars.
Thanks,

Mike

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

XM or Sirius? I have an XM Roady 2 that I may return depending on some
feedback. I use my XM in the Northern CA area. I am not impressed with
the reception. I use the wireless FM transmitter to listen because I
don't have any other option.

I have Sirius (and love it), but the first thing I would recommend is to buy a
cassete tape line in adapter and try that. The reason I say that is that there
is a good chance the fading in and out you are experiencing is not between your
XM unit and the satellite, but rather it is the FM output being picked up by
your head unit.

My HU has a line-in plug, but when I first got my Sirius unit I tried using the
FM transmitter option. Serious problems (pun intended). It worked ok (signal
wise) sitting in my driveway, but as soon as I started driving it was cutting
out a LOT. Went to the line-in plug and have never had a problem except going
through tunnels and overpasses.

I can also verify a big difference having the antennae inside the car versus on
the roof. I had to replace my first unit under warranty and the guy insisted I
bring in everything. So I had to pull the antennae wire from all of the
crevices and cracks that I had hidden it and when I installed the new unit I
just threw the antennae on the dash as a short term solution. It works, but I
don't get the solid three bars as often as I did on the roof.

i have xm and its the best quality and cheapest price on the market.
wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

XM or Sirius? I have an XM Roady 2 that I may return depending on some
feedback. I use my XM in the Northern CA area. I am not impressed with
the reception. I use the wireless FM transmitter to listen because I
don't have any other option.

Here's my problem: I did have the antenna inside the car and the
signal kept fading in and out. I have read mixed reviews on this. I set
the antenna on top of my car to see if there was any noticeable
difference. There was a slight improvement but the signal still kept
fading in and out. Some stations were stronger than others.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? I'd like to hear opinions
from Sirius and XM users. Any feedback is appreciated. I still have a
few days to return my unit and move to Sirius if the reception is
better. I'd like to keep the antenna in the car. I don't want to
have to install any boosters, etc... I move it between two cars.
Thanks,

Mike

XM would cost me more than Sirius. I listen to Sirius over the
Internet a lot. XM charges $3.99 per month for online service. Sirius
doesn't charge extra. So XM would cost me $1.03 more per month.

As for as the best quality, I haven't heard anyone say that XM was
better than Sirius either in content or audio quality. Not people in
the car audio business, not reviewers such as the recent report from
Edmunds.com and not users. It is a matter of personal preference.
Bruce

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the input. I will consider some of the things mentioned.
There was a mention abut a cassette link to get a signal to the radio.
I do have that but the car does not have a cassette player. CD only so
I have to use the FM transmitter.

I have also noticed that under trees or on a tree lined area the signal
is really weak and cuts out a lot. One good point is the mention of
Sirius has free on line access. I am aware of that and considered
Sirius because of that but figured that XM was the major player and
that Sirius might not be in business long.

Even if either one of these services was bought or merged the customers
would still have to be taken care of. Then again, this is business and
who knows. I'd like to try the Sirius just to check but I'm not
going to pay for it to see if there is a difference. Damn! Don't know
anyone that has Sirius. I don't want the in dash unit because it's
moved between two cars. I certainly don't want to have to wire the
antenna only to have to remove it at some point. My reception problem
was out on Hwy 152 between Hwy 101 and Hwy 99 for those familiar with
the Northern CA region. I used to live in So Cal so I am familiar with
the one user that was out traveling through the dessert. Anyway, thanks
for all your input. I appreciate it.

Mike

Try the free 3 day trials that both XM and Sirius offer. That is how I
decided.

Neither of these services are going out of business. It is in XM's
interest that Sirius doesn't go out of business. The US Government
doesn't like Monopolies. Also, Sirius is sitting on 800 million in
cash with a 10 billion market cap. Sirius is strong financially and
will only get stronger. Sirius expects to add 500,000 new customers
from Chrysler's sales alone in 2005.
Pick XM or Sirius based on which one you like best.

Bruce