satellite radios

This is the place for any magazine-related discussions that don't fit in any of the column discussion boards below.
Post Reply
Chuck Barker
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2001 1:01 am
Contact:

satellite radios

Post by Chuck Barker »

would like comments on satellite radio system. are the programs the same? is reception a problem? does one system have any avantages over the other? any thoughts would be welcome.<p>thank you for your time and trouble
User avatar
dacflyer
Posts: 4748
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2002 1:01 am
Location: USA / North Carolina / Fayetteville
Contact:

Re: satellite radios

Post by dacflyer »

ya and how often is the musik repeated...<p>also i wonder if they got world musik yet..
last time i looked they only had mexican...
nothing from europe yet..
Mike
Posts: 1813
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2003 1:01 am
Location: Illinois
Contact:

Re: satellite radios

Post by Mike »

Satellite radio is just like cable TV. it started with you paying for no commercials and turned into more commercials on cable channels than on brodcast channels. Thats whats going to happen with satellite radio. Unless you absolutely cannot get an FM signal, then don't get satellite radio.
myp71
Posts: 585
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2003 1:01 am
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Re: satellite radios

Post by myp71 »

I have Xm radio and its a Very nice system!<p>Also mike, Xm has 100 % commercial free programing that's what makes it so nice! Your right it might get a little like cable and start to get some commercials in the far future.<p>I do listen to a hits countdown so they do replay some of the songs often,but on other Xm stations they are much better than Fm.<p>Went cross country last year with my Xm didn't have one fade outI have one little siginal loss when going under a bridge in town but that last all of about 5 seconds. I have the window antenna.I'm thinking the body antenna might be better for reception? I don't know on that.<p>Right before I bought the system I did reasearch on both of the service providers and went with Xm thinking they will be around longer than the other one.And thought that Xm was better for some reason I do know its cheaper per month.<p>Ry@n
LucidGuppy
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Jun 01, 2004 1:01 am
Location: Deep 13
Contact:

Re: satellite radios

Post by LucidGuppy »

I have xm with both the home and car system. The home system is great - no complaints no signal outages. I would not have been able to get the music I like on any radio station anywhere. Plus I treat CD's poorly so the radio makes even more sense. Only 3 classical stations - check the website if your curious as to what they carry. I was just fed up with the amount of commericals and lack of depth to FM - you'll have to drag me kicking and screaming from XM.<p>Car reception in wooded areas is problematic. If you're on the moon of endor - your not gonna get very good reception unless you head for a clearing. Towns - no problem - overpasses no problem (unless they're big) -suburbia no problem. Its kinda neat when you drive on a suspension bridge because you can determine where the satelite is from the radio "shadow".
Why don't you give yourself a nice big round of applause!
Mike
Posts: 1813
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2003 1:01 am
Location: Illinois
Contact:

Re: satellite radios

Post by Mike »

Oh, my mistake, I thought some of XM was commercial free and some wasn't.<p>And I do agree, XM will probably last longer. Sony is a much bigger company, and they are most likely not going to go out of business
Chuck Barker
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Dec 12, 2001 1:01 am
Contact:

Re: satellite radios

Post by Chuck Barker »

thanks for the info. my reason for considering satellite radio was the sorry programing on the tube. i have cable tv with most stations blocked because they don't interest me. there is no decent coverage of news even on cnn, fox or network...thought satellite radio may be more interesting. wal-mart has two different systems, sirius and Xm(?) one is 10.00 the other is 13.00 fee per month...doesn't seem to be much difference between them, will check them out again, soon. shortwave radio has a lot of limitations and good ones are costly.<p>again thanks for the information, chuck
myp71
Posts: 585
Joined: Wed Apr 23, 2003 1:01 am
Location: Colorado
Contact:

Re: satellite radios

Post by myp71 »

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Oh, my mistake, I thought some of XM was commercial free and some wasn't. <hr></blockquote><p>It was like that when I first got it the system.Then just changed over to 100 % commercial free :) <p>Ry@n<p>[ August 11, 2004: Message edited by: My-P71 ]</p>
User avatar
jollyrgr
Posts: 1289
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2002 1:01 am
Location: Northern Illinois
Contact:

Re: satellite radios

Post by jollyrgr »

I have DISH Network with the DISH 500 system. I also get DISH audio channels and lately a sampling of SIRIUS audio channels have been added. Nothing I have heard on the sampling provided by SIRIUS/DISH would make me want to subscribe to the radio service. If you want to check out SIRIUS programming you can sign up to listen via the web for a free three day pass.<p>XM has the same thing on their web site but they do not require you to provide an e-mail and registration. You simply go to their site and follow the links to the channel you wish to listen to. Quality for some of the channels is quite poor on the XM web site while others are excellent. The samples from XM are just that; looped samples. If you listen long enough the content will repeat.<p>Thus far I only know of one person that actually subscribes to satellite radio service and he only does so to get a clean signal of talk shows. If it were only the cost of the equipment I would have these in my cars and home. I cannot see spending $10 or whatever a month to listen to the radio. But that is me and this posting is my two cents.
No trees were harmed in the creation of this message. But billions of electrons, photons, and electromagnetic waves were terribly inconvenienced!
tonybackache
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2003 1:01 am
Location: AR
Contact:

Re: satellite radios

Post by tonybackache »

I have had my XM Radio (Boom Box) for over a year now. I got it manly for Talk Shows. The local talk station is ran by automation no-one on duty and may go off for hours or some other techinical problem. I enjoy listening to Bruce Williams and without XM it would be impossible.
Dean Huster
Posts: 1263
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2001 1:01 am
Location: Harviell, MO (Poplar Bluff area)
Contact:

Re: satellite radios

Post by Dean Huster »

Ah, yes, the wonderful advantages of XM. No local news, no local weather, no local sports, etc. And as XM and worse yet, digital broadcasting on the "AM" band, begin to really blossom, traditional AM will be gone -- actually made illegal by the FCC -- and all of us with antique radios will have no more stations to listen to, other than with (what would then be an illegal transmitter because of the mode) my own rebroadcast. And the hobby of BCB DXing would be gone forever.<p>And so would money for XM.<p>
Dean
Dean Huster, Electronics Curmudgeon
Contributing Editor emeritus, "Q & A", of the former "Poptronics" magazine (formerly "Popular Electronics" and "Electronics Now" magazines).

R.I.P.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 32 guests