Last week I took a road trip to Las Vegas to visit with a cousin of mine who was going to be in town for a few days. From there, I drove him to Los Angeles International Airport where he left to return to his "adopted" country, Thailand (he lives in a part of Thailand that was completely unaffected by the tsunami). Thereafter, I drove home. In all, I covered about 1700 miles in the 4 or 5 days that I was gone. Also, it so happens that I used a rental car for the trip (even though I have 4 cars, I sometimes use a rental car for long road trips in the winter). This particular car had XM Satellite Radio, so I had a chance to try it out for the first time. As it turned out, giving that up was the hardest part about bringing the car back. But, my "seperation" didn't last long------the next day I went out and got myself my own XM Radio set-up-----a DELPHI Roady II which can be moved from car-to-car, used at home (I also bought a home kit to hook it up to my stereo system), or, even, used like a "Walkman" if you buy a special mini-docking unit. With XM Satellite Radio, a "permanant" installation (like a factory-installed radio with XM) is NOT the way to go. That's because with XM you pay for a subscription by the number of receivers that you have. So, if one wanted to go with dedicated receivers for, say, 4 cars, home, and portable, that would mean SIX subscriptions.
Activating the system is quite simple and can be done on-line. It takes about 45 minutes from the time that you initiate the activation to the time that it's complete and you're up-and-running. It costs $9.99 per month (or less if you sign up for longer subscription as I did).
Believe me, this thing is the best thing that ever happened to cruising. During my trip, I listened to the "60's Music" channel (channel 6) almost exclusively. I heard tunes that I hadn't heard in 30 years which is unlike most FM "Oldies" stations which broadcast the same 100, or so, old songs over-and-over again even though there are 10's of thousands of old songs from the 60's available. If I get tired of the 60's channel (I haven't yet), I have about 100 more channels to choose from. Regardless of your taste in music, "it's in there".
Best of all, the music channels are all commercial-free (if that ever changes my opinion of XM and my continued subscription may change, too). And, since it's satellite-based, you get all the stations no matter where you are in the US. On my return home from the LA area I took California Highway 33 which goes through some remote areas in the Los Padres National Forest. No problem, at all----the XM radio was with me all the way (except through a few tunnels).
The biggest challenge of XM radio installations is the antenna. I've got to come up with a "clean" and "no hole" way to install it in all my cars. The Corvettes will be a particular challenge but I'm working it out in my mind.
Activating the system is quite simple and can be done on-line. It takes about 45 minutes from the time that you initiate the activation to the time that it's complete and you're up-and-running. It costs $9.99 per month (or less if you sign up for longer subscription as I did).
Believe me, this thing is the best thing that ever happened to cruising. During my trip, I listened to the "60's Music" channel (channel 6) almost exclusively. I heard tunes that I hadn't heard in 30 years which is unlike most FM "Oldies" stations which broadcast the same 100, or so, old songs over-and-over again even though there are 10's of thousands of old songs from the 60's available. If I get tired of the 60's channel (I haven't yet), I have about 100 more channels to choose from. Regardless of your taste in music, "it's in there".
Best of all, the music channels are all commercial-free (if that ever changes my opinion of XM and my continued subscription may change, too). And, since it's satellite-based, you get all the stations no matter where you are in the US. On my return home from the LA area I took California Highway 33 which goes through some remote areas in the Los Padres National Forest. No problem, at all----the XM radio was with me all the way (except through a few tunnels).
The biggest challenge of XM radio installations is the antenna. I've got to come up with a "clean" and "no hole" way to install it in all my cars. The Corvettes will be a particular challenge but I'm working it out in my mind.
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