How good are those satelite radios in the air?

[Captain Josh]

I have a few friends with xm radios and I think they're pretty cool. The thing is I don't know how well the portable ones work in the air. I know a lot of airplanes have them installed but I wanted to know if any of you had any experience with portable satelite radios and could offer some input. And which one is better, Sirius or XM?

Josh

 

[Loafman]

Can't speak for XM, but my handheld GPS can't see thru heated windows.

 

[Diesel]

they work Awsome

 

[snowman]

the g1000 has an xm radio option that works like a champ.
oh yeah glass in a 172 is pretty fun.

 

[NW_Pilot]

Mine works very well some times in IMC it don't work?

 

[mullet]

I cant get a signal above 10,000 or when I'm sitting on the ground at out stations with my delphi portalbe xm (delphi). I can only listen to the prerecorded music . Previous posters what's your secret on getting a signal.

 

[Captain Josh]

XM has the aviation weather available. Its a little pricey starting at $30 at month but man that would give me a nice warm feeling in the middle of the night in some dogsh!t 310 to be able to pull up anything I wanted. I think you need to spend a lot more on hardware if you want that though.

http://www.xmradio.com/weather/aviation.html

Too pricey for me. I think I'll just stick to music and turn the volume up when the weather turns to sh!t.

 

[NW_Pilot]

XM has the aviation weather available. Its a little pricey starting at $30 at month but man that would give me a nice warm feeling in the middle of the night in some dogsh!t 310 to be able to pull up anything I wanted. I think you need to spend a lot more on hardware if you want that though.

http://www.xmradio.com/weather/aviation.html

Too pricey for me. I think I'll just stick to music and turn the volume up when the weather turns to sh!t.

Yep, turn the volume up when the weather turns to sh!t and enjoy the ride!

 

[RockbrigadePC1]

1 vote for XM Comedy.

Lose the commercials and short skits - that channel would rock.

 

[LSU Fan]

1 vote for XM Comedy.

Lose the commercials and short skits - that channel would rock.

Try XM 202. Hilarious.

 

[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.

 

[spudskier]

ya... good point

Supposedly in March a new XM radio is supposed to come out that is about the size of an MP3 player, does all the stuff the current portables do and also hold mp3s. If this is true, I'm buying a new radio, but I admittedly already have an account with XM and LOVE it. Keeps me sane in all the driving I do (10,000 miles in the last 3 months) and the biggest seller for me is being an O&A fan plus the comedy channels with 24 hrs of stand up

 

[ACT700]

Can't speak for XM, but my handheld GPS can't see thru heated windows.

What do you mean? The antenna won't get a signal?

I have a Garmin 195, and it does fine with the heated windows.

 

[av8rbama]

What do you mean? The antenna won't get a signal?

I have a Garmin 195, and it does fine with the heated windows.

I've used my XM in a B200. We didn't have the windshield heaters on though.

Oh, and I've used it with a 210 that has a hotplate. No problems there either. Also used it in the soup, no problems. Maybe I'm just lucky!

Here's a pic of my setup.

 

[mtrv]

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.

With a hundred and twenty channels or so, the commercial time is with those direct feeds from nationwide talkshows, etc, where fill time is required.

There are many music channels such as the 1940's to 90's, where the only commercial might be a period commercial, such as a smoking or beer commercial from the 1960's, which is interesting to listen too, anyway.

The real advantage of Satellite, is the ability to drive or fly hundreds of miles across the U.S. with a constant signal and no loosing a fading station, as with AM/FM.

 

[Diesel]

XM202 at 490. Plus also in an older style king air with the thick heated winshield. Old time hocky style with thick elements.

XM is a godsend. I play monster rain every day.

My buddy Steve from Yellowstone says it's the best thing he's ever used. He has a boat out in Modesto with the XMWX and he said he really loves the weather.

 

[ACT700]

When the price of subscription finally drops, and when they'll be more flexible with the amount of receivers...then I think I'll spring for one.

 

[Sim Sweat]

XM is a godsend.

Absolutely friggin' right! Never a problem, never a hiccup, and it's on the FO's checklist: Cruise checks complete, XM on.

 

[Weasil]

I fly the CRJ701 and I have a XM Portable (not the delphi.. the new one from panasonic). It works in the back while dead heading if I hold it up to the window, it works in the cockpit on the ground (seems to be picking up a terrestrial boost signal.. not the satellite) and it never works in the cockpit while flying. don't know why. I've even tried bringing the large home antenna and setting it up in the cockpit window. I do know that our windows are not only heated but also they contain a layer of metallic film that is designed to block out radiation and may be blocking the signal. I wish it did work though.
At least the portable one works when I'm in the hotel van or sitting in the gym and it does have that record function.

 

[spudskier]

P.S. New unit on sale for XM, sweet ass that also plays MP3s... might wait for the price to come down

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000E43518/sr=8-2/qid=1140646186/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-5983410-3454549?_encoding=UTF8

 

[Hadhafang]

I don't know about the entertainment option of XM, but the weather option is really good. The flight school where I instruct bought two Cessna 172's with the G-1000, and they paid for the weather subscription. It is incredible to be able to pull up METARs and TAFs for airports by just moving a pointer around a screen. I'm happy with that feature of XM so far.