MacGregorSailors.com

My son recently installed a Sirius Satellite radio in my Mazda Tribute. Wow, I am impressed with the sound quality and being able to have great reception in areas I previously had almost no reception of any kind.
Sets me thinking, maybe I should take the unit on the Mac as well, especially as there is a Maragaritaville station for us Parotheads.
Does anyone use a Satellite radio? Any problems with the reception? do the mast and sails make a difference for reception?

We bought a Sirius radio last spring. We just have the standard $49 special with the car kit (we a have a home kit as well). It is mounted in the cabin using the car kit and plugged into the Pioneer stereo installed in the cabin. I wire straight into the aux jack on the stereo so I do not have to use the FM anttenna arrangement.

Last year I just left the antenna on the dinette table with the wire wrapped around the table fastners. The radio works excellant at all times, even with the cabin hatch closed, sails up etc. Reception is not a problem. We love and use it all the time on shore, at anchor and sailing / motoring. This spring I plan a little better set-up to hide wires etc.

If you do use the FM antenna hook-up near a major center the reception can be a PITA. Using an aux jack on the stereo is much better.

We also have the Ipod on board but mostly use the satelite radio.

Strongly recomended!

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Hi Jasper,

I have an XM radio intslled on DreamChaser. Initially I used the home installation kit's antenna. Reception was OK as long as I stayed within 50 miles of the Florida coast. At 150 miles offshore, reception was poor.

Last summer I installed a Terk XMS marine antenna.
http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=22654
Reception is much better with this antenna.
I now have no problems with reception 100 to 150 miles offshore while in the Bahamas.

Fair winds,
Luke
DreamChaser

Luke wrote:I now have no problems with reception 100 to 150 miles offshore while in the Bahamas.
Fair winds,
Luke
DreamChaser

You are making me VERY jealous

Is your boat kept in FL or do you trailer from OH?

Rick

I just got a I pod, 80G, it holds thousands of songs, and plays thru my am/fm/cd player on my Mac,

I have an XM radio and it is working very well in Abacos, The marine antenna is extra sensetive and you should get it. Also, depending on where you put the radio and antenna you may need an extension cable. The hardest problem is where to put the Bose speakers. The need to be 7 feet apart. I do love the sound quality, full wave, and different channels.

I am in Little Harbor, Abacos Bahamas typing this and the XM works well as does reports of sirus.

Thanks guys. I think I will stick with the Sirius as I can use the same unit in the boat as I use in the Tribute. I am buying a CD AM/FM stereo to install in the spring.
I am thinking of mounting my Stereo below my VHF using the same mount as the VHF. What I have seen done is 2 - 1/2 inch x 4 inch spacer blocks used to separate the two units and mounted stacked fashion one on to of the other. The mount for the Sirius would then be the suction cup on the cabin side of the bulkhead. Anyone done it this way?

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Question ????? Being a satelite system why doesnt it pick up offshore. DO they use some sort of land based boost or is the signal that directional from space?

just looked up satellite radio and its not available untill 2010 in the UK

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We have an XM radio. The antenna is a magnetic mount on top of the in-dash automotive type CD player near the dagger board well. In other words it's under the deck. The signal strength through the deck appears to be sufficient; it works 99.9% of the time. Sometimes when we heel over too much we loose the signal. I also have my GPS antenna under the deck.

Question ????? Being a satelite system why doesnt it pick up offshore. DO they use some sort of land based boost or is the signal that directional from space?

The XM satellites are in geostationary orbit above the east and west coasts of the US (actually above the equator) and their footprints are stationary and don't move so have limited coverage due to their view of the earth from the sky. The Sirius satellites are in geosychronous orbit so they move in the sky but still don't ever get to where they cover Europe even though the coverage may be somewhat better than XM. Terrestrial repeaters are used to cover some areas where obstructions like buildings block the signal.

This is kind of a neat animated site showing the orbits: http://flyinglester.blogspot.com/2006/1 ... ation.html

Great website for understanding these satallite thingys.

Although we don't have XM and Sirius in Europe there are loads of other satellites that beam digital TV and radio so maybe someone knows if a similar set up works on those in Europe?

Do the XM/Sirius need a dish and line of sight? (sorry if this has already been covered above)