Sirrus Radio

The satellite is not in a geosynchronous orbit but an elongated figure 8. It travels north and south across most of north America. Until I discovered this we would lose the signal as we traveled from the central great plains toward AZ. Our unit has a small puck antenna on a hinged base. When we get toward AZ we have to adjust where the antenna sits as the bird is behind us. I guess I could get an outside unit and mount it on the roof Oh well this works.

The satellite is not in a geosynchronous orbit but an elongated figure 8. It travels north and south across most of north America. Until I discovered this we would lose the signal as we traveled from the central great plains toward AZ. Our unit has a small puck antenna on a hinged base. When we get toward AZ we have to adjust where the antenna sits as the bird is behind us. I guess I could get an outside unit and mount it on the roof Oh well this works.

We got it free with our new pickup though I did have to subscribe just before our latest vacation. Over 3700 miles of driving while on vacation and we had reception everywhere except inside tunnels and a couple of areas with dense tree cover. The unit in our pickup has about 15 seconds of buffering, so it made up for the brief outages such as highway overpasses, but underneath awnings while gassing up and like I said a couple of dense tree covers we did lose signal.

I use it in bed as I go to sleep and have to move the antenna around. I have found that sometimes reception under trees is not too good.

I've halfway thought about having the Sirius turned on the motorhome as the FM reception is terrible 2 ft. outside a city. But, we have a 10 CD changer and that has worked fine.

The new Honda came with Sirius for 3 months (I think), I have one car where it is free for a lifetime and really find myself not using it much. I have an Ipod in my SUV that I can move from vehicle to vehicle but never do. Generally, if can get NPR with classical music....I'm good.

MM.

No longer have to do 15 radio station changes when I travel to Florida or Myrtle Beach. I just listen to either country or the 60s and love it. Just renewed my contract and negotiated a rate under $90 for the year.

Bill

I make sure I use a credit card that will expire before the auto renewal anniversary kicks in. Then, when they call looking for a new CC to charge against, I have the negotiating advantage on my side.... Worked every time so far!!!

I've heard that they will haggle the subscription price if you show interest. It's worth a shot anyway!

WoodGlue

NEVADANICK: You're so right: Got a "free" 3 months when I bought my new car. Got the next year for half price. I really like it. Great product.
But then, I discovered their "automatic renewal" thingy. $175.95 charge (unauthorized by me) to my card. $175.95 for one year! I liked their product, but not THAT much.
I called to cancel and they wouldn't...they told me "that's the way we do business." I told the lady, "well, here's how I do business....cancel my account now and credit back to by charge card." She hung up.
I then called the credit card company. They set up a conference call: me, Sirius and the cc.company. Again....Sirius hung up. On the credit card company!
Because of their rudness (and lousy attitudes) I got a refund within 30 days.

Now, in the mail, I'm getting "$25 for 3 months...." Rip.

supercub.....Sirius/XM radio does not need a ground plane like an AM/FM radio antenna or CB does. It comes with a small puck that some people just mount on the dash near the windshield. On my Monaco, I ran the wiring up the "A" pillar and into the front cap. There was a section of metal frame in my front cap that I attached the magnetic puck to. It shoots right thru the fiberglass and does not need to be mounted externally.

Two ways to buy. Every time you buy a Sirius/XM radio, you pay for service to that radio. If you put a Sirius/XM radio in every vehicle it will cost you a fortune. My motor home has a Pioneer AM/FM/XM/GPS/DVD unit. I wanted service for that radio because it had a Sirius Tuner attached that worked through the radio.

When I was working, I drove a lot and liked having XM radio. For my work car I bought a portable unit. You buy one portable radio and then as many mounts for that radio as you have vehicles. I used the radio in my work vehicle during the week, moved it to my motorcycle mount on the weekends and my boat mount when we went boating. I even had an extra mount when I took a work truck on a long trip.

By having various mounts that are fairly inexpensive, you only pay one fee for the radio and just move it around. I ended up paying two fees for several years because I wanted to use the built-in tuner in the MH.

You get a better rate if you pay for more than one year. Bicker with them a little and they will drop the price. I wouldn't go too long of a term because they came close to going out of business a few years ago.