Satellite radio anyone?

[email hidden] (Bill Anton) wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

I have XM satellite radio in my car and I love it (xmradio.comxmradio.comOpen ↗). I figure it's just a
matter of time before I figure a way to have it on the bike too. Anybody try this? You'd obviously
have to be a tourer/commuter as well as a hopeless gadget freak like me to even think of this.

...that or have sublimely lame FM radio stations locally.

"rorschandt" skrev

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I have XM satellite radio in my car and I love it (xmradio.comxmradio.comOpen ↗). I figure it's just a
matter of time before I figure a way to have it on the bike too. Anybody try this? You'd
obviously have to be a tourer/commuter as well as a hopeless gadget freak like me to even think
of this.

...that or have sublimely lame FM radio stations locally.

Just sing. It keeps the bears away. Never seen one on all my rides.

M.

"Mikael Seierup" <[email hidden]> kirjoitti viestissä
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"rorschandt" skrev

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I have XM satellite radio in my car and I love it (xmradio.comxmradio.comOpen ↗). I figure it's just
a matter of time before I figure a way to have it on the bike too. Anybody try this? You'd
obviously have to be a tourer/commuter as well as a hopeless gadget freak like me to even
think of this.

...that or have sublimely lame FM radio stations locally.

Just sing. It keeps the bears away. Never seen one on all my rides.

M.

So that may be the reason there are so few bears over there. I have to consider singing too, because
there have been bears here in Espoo (neigbour of Helsinki, Finland and home of Nokia headquarters).

Being silent helps against ice bears. There are none here. (against the conventienal wisdom
among turists).

"optimistx" skrev

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Just sing. It keeps the bears away. Never seen one on all my rides.

M.

So that may be the reason there are so few bears over there. I have to consider singing too,
because there have been bears here in Espoo (neigbour of Helsinki, Finland and home of Nokia
headquarters).

Well I'm in Denmark. To get eaten by a bear here I'd probably have to jump into the bearpit at
the zoo. ;-)

M.

I have XM also. On the family plan truly a bargain at $7/mth. Where else are you gonna hear a
country music channel play "They Don't Make Jews Like Jesus Anymore" ;-) I was looking into the
boombox but heard they eat batteries-like 2-3 hours of playing time-maybe due to the amp for the
speakers. But the tuner only needs9V DC so it ought to be doable bill g
---
His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without
Cling Free.

Bill Anton said:

I have XM satellite radio in my car and I love it (xmradio.comxmradio.comOpen ↗). I figure it's just a
matter of time before I figure a way to have it on the bike too. Anybody try this? You'd obviously
have to be a tourer/commuter as well as a hopeless gadget freak like me to even think of this.

Bill Anton 2001 Vision R-40 SWB, OSS Lubbock, TX, USA

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I have XM satellite radio in my car and I love it (xmradio.comxmradio.comOpen ↗). I figure it's just a
matter of time before I figure a way to have it on the bike too. Anybody try this? You'd obviously
have to be a tourer/commuter as well as a hopeless gadget freak like me to even think of this.

Bill Anton 2001 Vision R-40 SWB, OSS Lubbock, TX, USA

I've been considering the XM or Serius (sp?) for use on my boat, since I spend a month each year
anchored out in places where there is little radio coverage. But what I really want is a small
package that is just receiver with a headphone outlet, not the boombox, or a receiver that is meant
to be hooked up to a sound system. And it ocurrs to me that such a small package would be just what
you would want on a bike too. (Assuming you listen with headphones or an earphone, and don't pollute
the countryside with amplified music.)

Steve Christensen

Bill,

Try looking at the XM FanStore ( store.yahoo.comskwkit.htmlOpen ↗ ). It is on the
heavy side, mostly battery weight I think. I've bought some things from them and had no problems.
Good luck.

David Elliott

"Bill Anton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have XM satellite radio in my car and I love it (xmradio.comxmradio.comOpen ↗). I figure it's just a
matter of time before I figure a way to have it on the bike too. Anybody try this? You'd obviously
have to be a tourer/commuter as well as a hopeless gadget freak like me to even think of this.

Bill Anton 2001 Vision R-40 SWB, OSS Lubbock, TX, USA

Steve Christensen <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I have XM satellite radio in my car and I love it (xmradio.comxmradio.comOpen ↗). I figure it's just a
matter of time before I figure a way to have it on the bike too. Anybody try this? You'd obviously
have to be a tourer/commuter as well as a hopeless gadget freak like me to even think of this.

Bill Anton 2001 Vision R-40 SWB, OSS Lubbock, TX, USA

I've been considering the XM or Serius (sp?) for use on my boat, since I spend a month each year
anchored out in places where there is little radio coverage. But what I really want is a small
package that is just receiver with a headphone outlet, not the boombox, or a receiver that is
meant to be hooked up to a sound system. And it ocurrs to me that such a small package would be
just what you would want on a bike too. (Assuming you listen with headphones or an earphone, and
don't pollute the countryside with amplified music.)

Last I heard about the various satellite radio services (and this could be outdated info, been a
while since I looked into it) they were having serious coverage problems. In actuality, in many
places the "satellite" broadcasts were being sent out by ground stations instead, much like a normal
radio station. There were large areas (usually rural) that got no service whatsoever.

I'd read the fine print and ask detailed questions before I purchased one of these.

-Bill Hamilton

Bill Hamilton <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Steve Christensen <[email hidden]> wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

I have XM satellite radio in my car and I love it (xmradio.comxmradio.comOpen ↗). I figure it's just a
matter of time before I figure a way to have it on the bike too. Anybody try this? You'd
obviously have to be a tourer/commuter as well as a hopeless gadget freak like me to even think
of this.

Bill Anton 2001 Vision R-40 SWB, OSS Lubbock, TX, USA

I've been considering the XM or Serius (sp?) for use on my boat, since I spend a month each year
anchored out in places where there is little radio coverage. But what I really want is a small
package that is just receiver with a headphone outlet, not the boombox, or a receiver that is
meant to be hooked up to a sound system. And it ocurrs to me that such a small package would be
just what you would want on a bike too. (Assuming you listen with headphones or an earphone, and
don't pollute the countryside with amplified music.)

Last I heard about the various satellite radio services (and this could be outdated info, been a
while since I looked into it) they were having serious coverage problems. In actuality, in many
places the "satellite" broadcasts were being sent out by ground stations instead, much like a
normal radio station. There were large areas (usually rural) that got no service whatsoever.

I'm afraid you've been misinformed. This is absolutely NOT true, at least for XM (I have no
experience with Sirius). I have had XM for about 8 months now and have driven all over the country
without so much as a hiccup in the service. XM actually performs best in rural areas, since there is
nothing to block the line-of-sight signal from the two geostationary satellites orbiting above the
equator. Only place it goes out on me is in parking garages or when I'm driving on the North side of
a tall building here in Lubbock. When I'm in a bigger city, however (like Houston or Dallas), the
terrestrial repeaters fill in for the signals blocked by the buildings. Underpasses and tunnels are,
obviously, problematic (though some tunnels have repeaters now), but there is a 3-second buffer
(similar to CD oversampling, I assume) so if you're just passing under the bridge at speed there is
no interruption in service at all. There are some parts of West Texas where you're lucky to pick up
a weak AM station and FM is totally blank (we're talking endless auto-seek here). But with XM I can
drive coast to coast and never change the station (unless I want to). As for coverage, even though
the satellites are above the equator, their antennae are optimized for broadcast to the lower 48
states only. You might get a little coverage in Canada and Mexico, but no guarantees.

XM and Sirius have become so popular with truckers that some of them hardly use their CB anymore
except in traffic jams.

Bill Anton

[email hidden] (Bill Anton) wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Bill Hamilton <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Last I heard about the various satellite radio services (and this could be outdated info, been a
while since I looked into it) they were having serious coverage problems. In actuality, in many
places the "satellite" broadcasts were being sent out by ground stations instead, much like a
normal radio station. There were large areas (usually rural) that got no service whatsoever.

I'm afraid you've been misinformed. This is absolutely NOT true, at least for XM (I have no
experience with Sirius). I have had XM for

As I said, it was dated info. I'm glad they've gotten the bugs worked out.

-Bill Hamilton

Holy cripes, a lead-acid storage battery for a portable radio - we've just gone back 50 years.

Do XM receivers really need that kind of battery capacity?

"David Elliott" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bill,

Try looking at the XM FanStore ( store.yahoo.comskwkit.htmlOpen ↗ ). It is on the
heavy side, mostly battery weight I think. I've bought some things from them and had

no

Quoted message said:

problems. Good luck.

David Elliott

"Bill Anton" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I have XM satellite radio in my car and I love it (xmradio.comxmradio.comOpen ↗). I figure it's just a
matter of time before I figure a way to have it on the bike too. Anybody try this? You'd
obviously have to be a tourer/commuter as well as a hopeless gadget freak like me to even think
of this.

Bill Anton 2001 Vision R-40 SWB, OSS Lubbock, TX, USA

"jim h" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Holy cripes, a lead-acid storage battery for a portable radio - we've just gone back 50 years.

Do XM receivers really need that kind of battery capacity?

The Manual for my Pioneer unit says maximum current consumption is 2 amps. That means 2 hours of
play on a 12V 4 amp-hour battery. 10 "D" size NiMH rechargeables would give you 4 hours of play at 8
amp-hours. These receivers were designed to be installed in cars and houses only. Won't be too long,
however, 'till they come out with a Walkman-sized unit that can play 8 hours on a pair of "AA"s. But
it doesn't exist just yet, so.... if you want to be the first one on your block with an XM bike
radio, I guess you'll just have to bring along a couple of Night-Rider headlight batteries or a 12V
lead-acid gel cell. One year in the Houston to Austin MS-150 I saw some teenager on a mountain bike
towing a BoB trailer loaded down with a huge boom box and a lead acid battery that looked like he
swiped it from his dad's diesel pickup. I guess he was more into entertainment than climbing hills.

Bill Anton 2001 Vison R-40 SWB, OSS Lubbock, TX, USA

[email hidden] (Bill Anton) wrote in :"]news:[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

"jim h" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Holy cripes, a lead-acid storage battery for a portable radio - we've just gone back 50 years.

Do XM receivers really need that kind of battery capacity?

The Manual for my Pioneer unit says maximum current consumption is 2 amps. That means 2 hours of
play on a 12V 4 amp-hour battery. 10 "D" size NiMH rechargeables would give you 4 hours of play at
8 amp-hours. These receivers were designed to be installed in cars and houses only. Won't be too
long, however, 'till they come out with a Walkman-sized unit that can play 8 hours on a pair of
"AA"s. But it doesn't exist just yet,

Apparently, it does in the form of a boombox
xmradio.compr 2002 12 10.htmlOpen ↗

pics and such at crutchfield.comSOpen ↗
NJQA22BkIcK/ProdView.asp?i=040SA10001&g=80000&s=0

and cheaper here savinglots.comlotprod.aspOpen ↗

Probably kind of large, as it uses 6 "D" cells. A bit costly, rounding out to about U$300, if you
include the cost of the reciever module.

rorschandt