Sirius radio questions

[cota95]

We recently purchased a new Ford Edge that came with 6 months of Sirius radio free. This is my wife's vehicle so I don't use it every day but when I do I really enjoy the sat radio. I'm thinking that I wouldn't mind having this on my bike for the long distance trips.

Question 1: Do you have to buy the service for each vehicle? The unit is built into the Ford, if I got a portable for the bike, is there a way to plug it into the truck when we travel with that. My wife really doesn't care and usually has the radio off when she's alone.

Question 2: How big are the portable units/antenna for the bike?

Question 3: I also heard something about an ala-cart service to select just the stations I want.

Question 4: Bluetooth speaker options?

Thanks, George

 

[Bounce]

I've been running Sirius in various forms for years. I bought a lifetime subscription that lasts through 5 receiver swaps (i am on my 2nd unit (1 swap) since about 2005). It more than paid for itself after 3 years.

If you buy a portable unit with an "auto installation kit" then that usually includes some kind of cradle that the receiver plugs into. Look for a cradle with an audio out jack (to plug into your bike/car system) and a cigar lighter power jack.

Prior to getting the receiver in my STi, I moved my portable unit between my bike and pickup all the time (using the 1 cradle).

Additional receivers cost additional subscription fees at a reduced rate.

 

[BikerGeek99]

2 or 3 years ago I bought a Sirius Stiletto II. I can use it:

• In the truck.
  
• At home.
  
• At work.
  
• On the FJR.
  
• As an MP3 player for the gym.
  

I bought vehicle kits for the truck and the FJR. While using it on the FJR, I just put the cradle in the cell phone pouch thingy in my tank bag, bought a cord to run power from the battery tender pigtail to a cigarette lighter-style socket under the seat, ran the audio out to the StarCom unit under the seat, and used Velcro to secure the antenna to the front brake reservoir.

All in all this setup worked well. Rode all over the country with this setup. When it rained (did anyone mention that it rained at SFO '09 & EOM '09??), I just carried a freezer-duty quart-size ZipLock baggie and covered the unit.

That setup was nice because I can use the unit in the above situations, and when off the bike the unit was easily removed from the bike for security purposes. That particular unit is roughly the size of your average cell phones nowadays.

I had a couple of quibbles, though:

• Since I had a bunch of wires running into the tank bag from under the seat, that made getting gas a PITA because I had to run out extra lengths of the wires (3 of 'em) to be able to swing the tank bag outta the way.
  
• Over time, the audio-out cable would get worn out and only pipe one channel of music, which was very annoying.
  
• Since all the cables were always hooked up to the cradle in the tank bag, removing the tank bag was also a PITA.
  
• Since the audio ran directly from the Stiletto unit to the StarCom unit, making a volume change at-speed was impossible.
  

Due to MBS (Multi-Bike Syndrome), I have since migrated to the Garmin GXM satellite radio solution on the bikes.

If I were to go the Stiletto II solution again, I would strongly consider mounting the cradle in a RAM AquaBox on a dash shelf or something like that.

 

[Checkswrecks]

I went the other way. Got Sirius for a year. After the newness factor wore off, found that I preferred my own selections of canned music from Pandora when not on the bike or in a car. Moving, I'd rather have the AM/FM/Wx for live radio and have plenty of canned music for the few times I can't get those. We live on the east coast with LOTS of radio stations.

Cutting the sat radio was one less subscription and I've not missed it being gone.

 

[Fred W]

I went the other way. Got Sirius for a year. After the newness factor wore off, found that I preferred my own selections of canned music from Pandora when not on the bike or in a car. Moving, I'd rather have the AM/FM/Wx for live radio and have plenty of canned music for the few times I can't get those. We live on the east coast with LOTS of radio stations.

Cutting the sat radio was one less subscription and I've not missed it being gone.

CW,

Are you saying that you are ripping the Pandora stations while they are playing? That's an interesting idea. How are you accomplishing this? IT doesn't sound very complicated, but just curious how you are getting it recorded.

I am a Pandora subscriber and I LOVE listening to Pandora at home, but attempting to stream it over my crackberry doesn't seem like it would work well when out on the road and in the hinterlands of no cellular service.

TIA

 

[TheAxeman]

George, doesn't your Zumo have XM capability?

 

[cota95]

George, doesn't your Zumo have XM capability?

nope, I don't think so. I've got the 660

 

[SnowAviation]

Question 1: Do you have to buy the service for each vehicle? The unit is built into the Ford, if I got a portable for the bike,

is there a way to plug it into the truck when we travel with that. My wife really doesn't care and usually has the radio off

when she's alone.

If you get the right model, then you can get docks for home, car, office, etc. They usually charge a smaller extre fee if you

add recievers.

Question 2: How big are the portable units/antenna for the bike?

Don't know.

Question 3: I also heard something about an ala-cart service to select just the stations I want.

Yeah they have a couple of plans, check the website. https://www.siriusxm.com/ourmostpopularpackages-siriusonly

Question 4: Bluetooth speaker options?

Probably, but I suspect it ain't cheap.

I had XM for a few years, then they merged, raised the rates, and started charging for online listening (basically another rate

hike) I got out, I really loved it back then - now I don't miss it.

 

[phroenips]

One thing to note about the lifetime subscriptions...while you can certainly get a lifetime sub on the OEM radio, it is NOT transferrable to a new vehicle. Only the lifetime subs on aftermarket units are transferrable.

 

[Happy Rider]

I use the XM Radio in the link below. It's also a MP3 player which is good sometimes. I mount it on my left handle bar in a ram mount. The antenna is built into the unit and I get good reception. I run one power wire out of my glove box. I have another wire that runs from the unit, under my tank, and comes out where the tank and seat meet. I plug my ear buds into that wire.

XM always has deals going on their service. I just got 5 months of service for $22.00. When the 5 months runs out I'll call them back and more than likely get the same deal or better.

My link

 

[cota95]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, very helpful!

 

[Fred W]

I use the XM Radio in the link below. It's also a MP3 player which is good sometimes. I mount it on my left handle bar in a ram mount. The antenna is built into the unit and I get good reception. I run one power wire out of my glove box. I have another wire that runs from the unit, under my tank, and comes out where the tank and seat meet. I plug my ear buds into that wire.

XM always has deals going on their service. I just got 5 months of service for $22.00. When the 5 months runs out I'll call them back and more than likely get the same deal or better.

My link

That's a neat little unit. What steps do you take to protect it from weather? It doesn't appear to be waterproof or water resistant.

 

[Bounce]

One thing to note about the lifetime subscriptions...while you can certainly get a lifetime sub on the OEM radio, it is NOT transferrable to a new vehicle. Only the lifetime subs on aftermarket units are transferrable.

sure it will. i've done it.

Question 2: How big are the portable units/antenna for the bike?

smaller than the external antennae for the garmins. smaller than a Spot unit.

 

[phroenips]

One thing to note about the lifetime subscriptions...while you can certainly get a lifetime sub on the OEM radio, it is NOT transferrable to a new vehicle. Only the lifetime subs on aftermarket units are transferrable.

sure it will. i've done it.

Then you are a luckier man than me, they wouldn't let me do it on my factory installed radio. If I had installed a kenwood/alpine/whatever with the lifetime on that, I could've. At least that's what they told me.

...I didn't understand the reasoning behind it either.

 

[Bounce]

odd. a receiver is a reciever (same bits/per/second flying around). a SSID is an SSID too. turn one off. turn one on. et viola!

what brand of car? maybe that's another Detroit problem. my jap rocket didn't give me or them any problems.

 

[USAFFJR]

I'm a big satellite radio fan -- had it for years before I moved to Hawaii. Have been enjoying it back on the mainland in a rental. Am planning on getting the Zumo when I get back this summer. Oh ya. :yahoo:

 

[phroenips]

odd. a receiver is a reciever (same bits/per/second flying around). a SSID is an SSID too. turn one off. turn one on. et viola!

what brand of car? maybe that's another Detroit problem. my jap rocket didn't give me or them any problems.

Acura TL and Acura MDX, both

 

[Bounce]

Must be one of those Hoity Toity model issues then. Like Mercedes and Lambo, they probably figure if you can afford entry into the line, then you can afford to throw it away and replace when it runs out of gas (instead of refilling the tank like those common people do).

While my Subaru STi receiver is "factory", it's optional instead of standard equipment. Perhaps they have a contractual agreement with certain vendors and not with other.

 

[Happy Rider]

I use the XM Radio in the link below. It's also a MP3 player which is good sometimes. I mount it on my left handle bar in a ram mount. The antenna is built into the unit and I get good reception. I run one power wire out of my glove box. I have another wire that runs from the unit, under my tank, and comes out where the tank and seat meet. I plug my ear buds into that wire.

XM always has deals going on their service. I just got 5 months of service for $22.00. When the 5 months runs out I'll call them back and more than likely get the same deal or better.

My link

That's a neat little unit. What steps do you take to protect it from weather? It doesn't appear to be waterproof or water resistant.

I just put a plastic bag over it with a rubber band. Kind of getto but it works. The only bad thing about this unit is that it is difficult to adjust on the fly. I use it in my car at work and plug it into the car's MP3 plug. I also run with it in an arm band. Here it is mounted: