Woot XM alert

Code for "reconditioned."

 

Ah, thank you. Knew it had to be too good to be true.

Though I gotta say, it's still kinda tempting...

 

My iPod is reconditioned, and I've never had a problem with it. When stuff is reconditioned, they replace what should be replaced, and it should have the same life expectancy.

 

The XM signal is strongest (in the absence of ground repeaters) where there is a clear, unobstructed view of the southern sky. My guess is that the signal would be a lot stronger in the middle of nowhere, with limited trees, than in a mountainous, wooded area.

 

This should answer some of the XM questions:

Reception: The only place I've had trouble is driving through the Redwoods, where the trees block the signal. I've gotten great reception the entire length of Interstate 10, including BFE West Texas.

Antenna: I put mine on a tab of Velcro at the front of my dashboard, next to the windshield. That works great. If you ever get a rental car with a tab of Velcro on the dash, I probably had that car and put it there.

This product: This is an XM receiver that will work in your car either through the FM radio (you pick a frequency that isn't used in your area) or through a cassette player if you have one. I've never used the cassette adapter, but my neighbor did and it worked OK. This also comes with a boom box you use at home.

 

For those who have to have their own music, and might want XM, try the SkyFi 3.
You can listen to live XM, record up to 10 hours of it for future use AND use a micro SD card to put your own music on it.
It also comes with antenna headphones so you can listen outside, like I do when I mow the lawn. I can switch between baseball and a Casey Kasem AT 40 in seconds.
You can get one for under $150.

 

Hmmm selling stuff cheap before the merger hits?

 

I use the cassette player (that's how old my car is ) and it works just fine.

 

I'm pretty sure that connecting through the cassette player provides the second best audio signal, next to actually hard wiring it to your system. Unfortunately my cassette adapter broke, so I'm stuck with the FM.

 

That's my understanding of it. Hard wired is best, followed by cassette adapter, wired FM adapter and then wireless FM adapter (they're weaker than they used to be since they caused intereference with radio stations, I believe).

Just bought an Audiovox Xpress for $60, with a $30 rebate coming, using a $50 Circuit City card. Thought about getting something handheld, but I do most of my listening in the car (if you have XM or Sirius, you can listen online for free from their website). Until and unless the signal gets good enough that a handheld can work in the middle of a building, then I probably won't do it.

 

The merger's all but DOA.

Though I did take the opportunity to use a NAB-sponsored form letter that they would kindly pass on to the FCC for me. Except I wrote that perhaps instead of the NAB using its resources on a PR campaign against satrad, maybe they'd be better off telling their members to put out a better product.

 

There's one problem with that line of thinking. It makes sense.