I'm seriously considering getting XM radio in my vehicle in time for my upcoming vacation. There is a lot of dead space driving between Louisiana and Oregon and I can't bear to fill the void with Country music anymore.

What are the costs associated with getting an XM setup?

Is the reception good most or all of the time?

Can you use your existing antenna?, and

Where does the unit mount?

Not Me....  Fuck that.

Here's what'll happen:

It will start out good, like cable TV did, then the muthre fuggers will get greedy and it will be riddled with advertising.  (after all the suckers have subscribed and are addicted)

Not me though, I'll be damned if i'll pay for radio.  

I listen almost exclusively to digital radio at home from my cable suscriber and there is "no" talk or advertising whatsoever, only music. Have a little faith.

I don't have it, but I'm considering it.  It's a couple hundred bucks for the reciever, and $10/month for the serrvice.  There are a couple different units available, so price will vary.  They are built by quality names like Pioneer, etc.  Not Audiovox/Kraco.  You can either hardwire it or use an FM modulator, where you tune a freq into your FM radio and listen through that.  Cost will vary as to the set-up.  The antenna is a special antenna.  I've seen a thick, short one and a shark-fin type.  The shark-fin at least is a magnet mount, I don't know about the short, fat one.  I would assume you would loose transmission in tunnels, etc.  Supposedly, clouds don't block it like it can with Sat TV sometimes.  I dunno about that either yet.

There's something like 76 channels on it.  They're grouped to the genre.  BBC has or supposedly will drop it's Short Wave service to North America because they are broadcasting it on XM.  There are a host of other types of music, news and information.  Some have commercials, some don't.  

I don't think it would be worth it if you remain in a local area that has good radio coverage, and you get good stations.  I think it would be perfect if you're on the road alot, or in dead areas, or in small radio markets where the only station you get plays music you can't stand.  Sort of the same reasons really to get Cable/Sat TV.  If you spend a great deal of time in your car, it would probably be worth it.  One big advantage is if you drive a great deal, you wouldn't loose a station, then have to find another.  You just can listen to the same channel from one end of the country to the other.

I haven't been completely sold on it yet.  I haven't completed looking into it yet either.  I need to really check out details on it, but it is interesting.

Ross

I stopped by the local car stereo place to check out the affordable in dash units for my wifes car since hers took a crap last week.
Aside from the "deals" (still better prices over the net INCLUDING shipping and the flat-fee install charges) and the lies from the salesman the XM radio did look appealing.
From what the salesman was saying most people who were buying it were people who lived in the sticks and people who do a lot of long distance driving.
It's not for me, just like the cable TV "radio" is not for me.  Not until I can get me Consertive Republican AM radio over the darn things (Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, Medved).
[X]

http://www.xmradio.com

It has it's own antenna. Great reception from Mexico to Canada. No problems in mountains, or going under bridges.  Will be ordering it on an '03 GMC.

I read a really good article about XM and Sirius in a car mag a few months ago.

XM uses 2 satellites in geosynchronous orbit, one south of Atlanta and the other south of Phoenix.  This has the same problems that DSS dishes have for TV.  The radio waves don't penetrate very well so if you are in the 'shadow' of anything you will lose the signal.  They handle it by having a few minutes of cached data in the receiver and by using repeaters that broadcast over regular FM frequencies.  The receiver takes the signals from both satellites and any FM repeaters that are in your area, compares them all and uses the best signal.

Sirius uses 3 satellites that are in elliptical orbits.  This way the satellites are more directly overhead so you get less of a shadow effect that blocks the signal.  They've had technical issues though since the elliptical orbit makes it harder for the ground stations to know where to look for the signal.  For whatever reason, they have apparently had a lot of trouble getting the FM repeater stations to track the satellites correctly.

There is advertising on satellite radio, but it depends on what station you listen to.  XM has more stations with ads, but Sirius costs a few dollars more per month.

I have XM Radio in my firebird. you can check out the install i did at the url in my sig.

[url]www.clubxm.com[/url] has some good info and at least one person to avoid. his name is Exxmfan, and he has a unhealthy hatred of XM. Sirius is another player in the market ans will go live July 1. If you can wait until then I would and see which is best for you. XM has great audio quality. very close to CD. AVOID the FM mods at all costs, they kill the sound. IM me if you have questions.

I heard a commercial for XM and it said that [b][i]most[/i][/b] channels are commercial free. For $10 a month they should [b][i]all[/i][/b] be commercial free!

30 Music channels are commercial free. 30 have commercials. when they do its like 2-5 mins per hour. Sirius has all 60 music channels commercial free. but other channels have them.