How good are those satelite radios in the air?

[av8rbama]

It is the best dang thing since sliced bread!!! It works for us on the ground and up to FL230 in our 210 while taking pics. The only time it cuts out is when we're in a steep turn (>45 bank angle) while the dash is facing the northwest. All else it's great!

I've got a little setup with a XM Roady on a flexible suction cup mount and the antenna is zip-tied to the mount so there's only the power wire to deal with. I got a DC plug from Radio Shack that works on 12~24 VDC so I can take it from our 206 to 210 or to any other plane without worrying about the difference in voltage. I'll post a pic tomorrow. All in all, I figure I've got $40 in the radio/antenna, $15 in the power plug, and $10 in the mount and about an hour in labor shortening the antenna and the small charge per month for an additional radio.

Beats the heck out of a walkman or CD player or ipod (I've killed 2 ipods taking them up to FL180, thank goodness for the extended warranty)!

 

[Midnight Flyer]

Is it true that some satillite radio stations are already starting to place ads and commercials in their programming? I hope not. I thought the whole idea for paying for the subscription was to eliminate the commercial nightmare that is on the AM/FM dial now.
Anyway, still awaiting the thumbs up from the wifey so I can get Serious.
Midnight

 

[Midnight Flyer]

(I've killed 2 ipods taking them up to FL180, thank goodness for the extended warranty)!

Hey Av8rbama, what do you mean you've killed 2 of them at fl180?? Just curious.

 

[av8rbama]

Is it true that some satillite radio stations are already starting to place ads and commercials in their programming? I hope not. I thought the whole idea for paying for the subscription was to eliminate the commercial nightmare that is on the AM/FM dial now.
Anyway, still awaiting the thumbs up from the wifey so I can get Serious.
Midnight

It all depens on the station. XM will have a 15 second blurb about upcoming programming or how to request a song on most music stations. Other stations, like 165, the "ask" channel plays Paul Finebaum, a southeast sports-radio guy from 5-6 every afternoon. It's the exact same feed you get on AM750 in Birmingham, therefore you have commercials for local banks and mortgage companies and such.

I've also noticed a lot of commercials on any of the news or sports stations.

Hey Av8rbama, what do you mean you've killed 2 of them at fl180?? Just curious.

If you read the specs of the ipod, it says max pressure altitude is 10,000 ft.

The ipod is a hard-disk and the head floats (or flies as it were) a few microns above the spinning disk on a ribbon of air. When the air isn't dense enough, the head crashes into the disk, permanently ruining it. I didn't realize this until I'd killed the 2nd one... They seemed to work pretty well until you go above about 12000 msl, then they start to have problems like randomly soft resetting. At 180, I ended up getting permanent disk error icons. Also, the white top and metal bottom of the ipod seem to be very permanently attached, but once I took each one up that high it was like it popped open, you could almost peel the 2 halves apart... I didn't so applecare would still replace it. The ipod stays plugged into my Alpine car deck or on my arm at the gym nowadays.

 

[CA1900]

Is it true that some satillite radio stations are already starting to place ads and commercials in their programming? I hope not. I thought the whole idea for paying for the subscription was to eliminate the commercial nightmare that is on the AM/FM dial now.

That's exactly what happened with cable television, too. I remember when we first got it -- I think it was around 1983-84 or so. And I distinctly remember lots of the "basic cable" channels didn't have any advertising -- they were funded by our subscription fees, which were around $15 or so. ($28 in today's dollars.)

We see how long that lasted.

I remember it was such a novelty back then, too. Our cable system, Warner Cable in northern VA, actually ran two cables to the house. There were separate "A" and "B" channel lineups, and part of the basic package was a cheap mechanical switchbox to select the one you wanted. If I recall, I think "A" went to the mid-20's, and "B" went up to 13.

A few years down the road, we got a Mitsibishi TV with two coax inputs, and you could switch it with the remote control. We didn't have to get up to change the switchbox anymore; we were in heaven!

My, how things have changed.

 

[Midnight Flyer]

It all depens on the station. XM will have a 15 second blurb about upcoming programming or how to request a song on most music stations. Other stations, like 165, the "ask" channel plays Paul Finebaum, a southeast sports-radio guy from 5-6 every afternoon. It's the exact same feed you get on AM750 in Birmingham, therefore you have commercials for local banks and mortgage companies and such.

I've also noticed a lot of commercials on any of the news or sports stations.



If you read the specs of the ipod, it says max pressure altitude is 10,000 ft.

The ipod is a hard-disk and the head floats (or flies as it were) a few microns above the spinning disk on a ribbon of air. When the air isn't dense enough, the head crashes into the disk, permanently ruining it. I didn't realize this until I'd killed the 2nd one... They seemed to work pretty well until you go above about 12000 msl, then they start to have problems like randomly soft resetting. At 180, I ended up getting permanent disk error icons. Also, the white top and metal bottom of the ipod seem to be very permanently attached, but once I took each one up that high it was like it popped open, you could almost peel the 2 halves apart... I didn't so applecare would still replace it. The ipod stays plugged into my Alpine car deck or on my arm at the gym nowadays.

I was under the assumption that the monthly fee was the price you pay to get away from those annoying commercials that free radio has.
I listen to FM talk radio all day long, and yes-my peni$ is long enough, no-I don't want to lease an automobile, I haven't been in a car wreck and I don't need an attorney...blablabla, every 9 minutes.
It's disheartning that commercials are showing up on sat radio.

Regarding the ipod..I fly with mine all the time, no problems yet, but we keep the cabin down way under 12000 feet. I guess if we ever have a rapid decompression, I should start looking for a new ipod, huh?

 

[Midnight Flyer]

Yeah, well at least they havent started to put commercials into the middle of movies on HBO or Showtime yet. I enjoy watching a movie uninterrupted on a layover w/o 20 commercial breaks.

I recently went to a theater to see fun with dick and jane, and they actually had regular commercials in the theater mixed in with the previews. Yeah that's right. Regular car advertisement, even those stupid government message about not smoking..For now on, if a movie starts at 7:30, I'm showing up at 7:45. uke:

ca1900 you're avatar is still my fav...LOl

 

[agpilot34]

We've got XM in all our pipeline patrol aircraft, and it works really well. Like someone said above, sometimes the service isnt good in the soup, but for the most part, it rocks.

 

[spudskier]

XM vs Sirius:

All depends on what you're looking for. Signal is basically the same, also the equipment is similar (XM has a few more options for portability, and can more easily transfer accounts to different units) and so is the price

The major differences are the shock jock offerings and the sports covered. XM has NHL, MLB, College Hoops and College Football, NASCAR... Sirius has NFL, NBA, etc.. XM has Opie and Anthony, Sirius has Stern. Both are a FANTASTIC replacement for broadcast radio, both have EVERy genre out there as well as talk, news, comedy, etc... If I were you I'd base your choice on what kind of equipment is more appealing for your use, and the channel line up. (grab channel line ups here:
XM: http://www.xmradio.com/programming/full_channel_listing.jsp?sort=number

Sirius: (Goto Sirius.com and click on Channels in upper right corner... it's a flash web site)

XM has a free trial online of their service, not sure about Sirius, I think both (at least XM) offer their subscribers ALL channels online as well as in the radio. Nice perk

On a side note:

Try XM 202. Hilarious.

O&A Forever!

 

[Captain Josh]

yeah I looked at both and xm has more channels. I do like the sirius though because one of their portables has the ability to hold mp3s. I never cared much for stern so at least that isn't going to be a deciding factor. Its funny...you could probably post a thread asking the same questions about handheld gps and get fewer responses than mp3s and satelite radio. I guess that just shows you whats more important to pilots. Its cool to be lost as long as you're rockin out.