XM sateltite Radio

Sonic · September 22, 2004

So whats it like?

How does it work?

Install good enough?

Does it look good on the truck?

I wanna hear it from you, the GM Truck experts.

ToeJam · September 22, 2004

Depends upon what you want to do. If you want to keep your existing head unit, then you can afix a contraption that broadcasts at a certain frequency and you tune your radio to that frequency (right guys? I'm pulling this from memory!). Or I think there are some units that plug into the back of the stereo, if you have the plugs. This method usually has a small XM receiver that you have to locate somewhere within reach. It's not big, but not small either.

If you want a new head unit (which I recommend), then it looks just like any stereo. You just scroll to the XM frequency like you do for selecting AM, FM, or CD.

Either option requires a second antenna that picks up the signal from the satellites. But you have a couple of options for the antenna and most are very slip and compact (smaller than a pack of cigs).

ToeJam · September 22, 2004

Depends upon what you want to do. If you want to keep your existing head unit, then you can afix a contraption that broadcasts at a certain frequency and you tune your radio to that frequency (right guys? I'm pulling this from memory!). Or I think there are some units that plug into the back of the stereo, if you have the plugs. This method usually has a small XM receiver that you have to locate somewhere within reach. It's not big, but not small either.

If you want a new head unit (which I recommend), then it looks just like any stereo. You just scroll to the XM frequency like you do for selecting AM, FM, or CD.

Either option requires a second antenna that picks up the signal from the satellites. But you have a couple of options for the antenna and most are very slip and compact (smaller than a pack of cigs).

BTW....nice links in your sig.

GORDENK · September 22, 2004

I GOT A XM RADIO FOR SALE IT IS THE ROAD COMMANDER W/REMOTE AND ALL THE EXTRA CABLES PRICE IS $150.00 AND I WILL SHIP [email protected]

01silverado2500 · September 22, 2004

I have XM in my Lumina and I love it. I added the XM Skyfi unit to the car and kept the factory radio in the dash. Check out my page of the install in my Lumina My Lumina XM Install

Also check out XM fan page for all kinds of information on XM, forums, installs, services.

Sonic · September 22, 2004

Thanks for the info Jam, your Denali looks cool from that interesting pic.

And Gordneck im going straight to factory on this one, warrenty wise. Thanks anyways.

Silverado nice one, thats a cool looking car and a neat dash setup.

BTW Is it Sirus or XM that lets you take the radio anywhere?

01silverado2500 · September 23, 2004

I think that was the XM marketing lingo because with a Skyfi unit like I have, you have the option of in the car with the car cradle, in the house with the home cradle, or on the go in the Skyfi boombox.

gixxer · September 25, 2004

I added the Xm Commander from Terk and kept the factory head unit. I mounted it right on top of the rear view mirror and just use the remote all the time. Also the best part is i didnt even have to drill a hole or buy their through glass antenna. Just remove the third brake light and the hole is already there for you.

Sonic · September 25, 2004

Ohhh IC guys, thanks alot for all the info!

Greatly apreciated.

boomer 33 · September 27, 2004

Except for the music stations, there is too many commercials. Constant commercials. I don't like paying to hear commercials. As long as you are buying it for the music only you won't be disappointed.

If I hear one more commercial about that friggin Nevada tax free corporation I think I will rip it out use it for a target for my crossbow. Or friggin Cortaslim, Jesus, can't they find someone else to pay them some commercial time. Or , I have a novel idea, HOW ABOUT NO COMMERCIALS SINCE YOU HAVE TO PAY 12.95 PER MONTH ANYWAY!

I wonder if Sirius has commercials? I know they have NFL

lrymal · September 27, 2004

Since they are re-broadcasting content which uses commercials for income, then these commercials will go up to the satellite and into the receiver. Not much one can do about that except for having several seconds of no content at all where the commercial was.

CNN for example, uses commercials to pay for itself, therefore the commercial will travel with the signal.

boomer 33 · September 27, 2004

Correct, but the comedy channels are not re-broadcast.

lrymal · September 28, 2004

Correct, but the comedy channels are not re-broadcast.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Honestly, I'll have to plea ignorance here. I never have gone there, so can't put in an opinion. Perhaps the better comparison would be to do so against any urban FM station which reaks of commercials.

However, this comes from one of those "sirus vs. XM" yada yada FAQ sites:

http://www.visi.com/~jweeks/steps/siriusvrsxm12step.html

Commercials. Both services give the impression that they are commercial free. This is not true. Both services have large numbers of channels that carry large numbers of commercials. XM has far more commercials than Sirius. XM carries about 12 channels that have no commercial sales messages, however, they still carry XM commercials for other XM channels. The remaining channels all have XM commercials, sales messages, and public service announcements. Sirius has about 12 channels that have absolutely no commercials or messages, about 40 more that have very little messages, and the remainder have commercials and public service announcements like any other FM station or TV channel. The commercials on XM are generally well done, and usually not very obnoxious. XM used to have a tendency to run a commercial for an unrelated music channel on the channel that you were listening to. This could be very irritating if you were listening to a country channel, and got a 2-minute rap commercial. XM has stopped doing much of this based on consumer complaints. XM also used to run the same 2 or 3 public service announcements over and over and over and over, sometimes the same commercial would run 6 times in a given hour. This has thankfully stopped as XM has sold these commercial slots for real commercials. Sirius has not sold out their commercial slots, so they run a lot of public service announcements. To summarize, if you listen to music, you will find far fewer commercials on Sirius.

Update- as of Feb 1, 2004, XM has gone commercial free on a majority of its music stations. Sirius has announced a pending change, but hasn’t said what will be changing yet. At this time, XM now has the edge in being commercial free on the music side.

kfinto · October 9, 2004

So whats it like?
How does it work?

Install good enough?

Does it look good on the truck?

I wanna hear it from you, the GM Truck experts.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What is it like? If you can compare XM and Sirius before spending any money do so! My truck came with 3 months of XM for free. I had my presets set to 6 of their rock stations and I rarely could find anything I liked. I have a Dish Network satellite in the home which includes the Sirius music channels. I can always find something to listen to on the Sirius music channels. So I decided on the Audiovox SIR-PNP2 portable tuner so I can use it in the truck and car. Plus the Audiovox displays 6 lines of data. Its pretty cool to see what is playing on the other channels.

My biggest dislike with XM was that they play to many artists that I never heard of and I don't really like. It wasn't like I said "wow, this is great undiscovered music". It was more like "what is this crap???". Sirius plays music you actually heard of. For some reason XM has more customers. Maybe their non-rock channels are better?

Sonic · October 12, 2004

Im gonna guess its because Sirius had a financial stumble in the begging. Where as XM seemed to have been financed and backed by GM and since alot of packages with GM vehicals now come with XM Radio they tend to keep it.