Portable XM Radio ok on train?

[eblend]

Hello,

I work downtown, and take the train every morning. I got an ipod but too lazy to keep up with whats hip and new and downloading it. I am interested in one of those portable XM radios that are on the market. Anyone use one of these on calgary transit system? I know that in cities there is terestrial XM so that the signal doesn't actually come from the satellite but rather is relayed locally, however, do any of these devices have any troubles when going through the tunnels on ctrain? I am also aware that many of these devices cache the music ahead of time up to a certain amount of time, does it apply to the portable ones?

The one I am looking into is one of these
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10074150&catid=23638

just want to get first hand experience to see if it works good on the trains and such.

Thanks

[googe]

even FM radio drops out through tunnels, so dont count on it. for the amount of time the trains are in a tunnel though, you probably shouldnt worry about it...

[EnRich]

I have Sirius, satalite radio in my car, I even have a separate antena on the outside of my car, I'll still lose my signal, even under small tunnels, like the one in Airdrie for example.

[rage2]

^^^ That's because the terrestrial repeater doesn't cover Airdrie.

[redline]

Originally posted by eblend
Hello,

I work downtown, and take the train every morning. I got an ipod but too lazy to keep up with whats hip and new and downloading it. I am interested in one of those portable XM radios that are on the market. Anyone use one of these on calgary transit system? I know that in cities there is terestrial XM so that the signal doesn't actually come from the satellite but rather is relayed locally, however, do any of these devices have any troubles when going through the tunnels on ctrain? I am also aware that many of these devices cache the music ahead of time up to a certain amount of time, does it apply to the portable ones?

The one I am looking into is one of these
http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetail.asp?logon=&langid=EN&sku_id=0665000FS10074150&catid=23638

just want to get first hand experience to see if it works good on the trains and such.

Thanks

you can record 5 hours of programing on the Mifi and the new ino you can record upto 50 hours so even if you dont have live coverage you can still listen to XM.

When i take my Mifi biking i will listen to prerecorded stuff, you can set them up to record in the night and listen to new stuff all the time.

I have not tried to walk around with my mifi since it went legal in canada and the repeaters went up, but it sucked ass before the repeaters...

[redline]

And all this US vs. Canada activations is all BS, i bought a roady XT at future shop and activated it on a US account with a CDN. CC.

[digi355]

I don’t mean to thread jack, but another question along the same lines.

I have a bowered Sirius radio in my car right now. I bowered it to try it out. My installation is crap, the antenna is mounted in the back window, the receiver is in the center console and I am using the FM tuner to receive a signal.

I am impressed with the content, but find the sound quality to be somewhere between AM and FM, kind of like internet radio, and nowhere near CD quality. Is this because of my FM tuner / crappy install? Or is Sirius sound quality really this poor? Or a combination?

[94SSEi]

Mostly because of the FM tuner IMO. I had XM in my Bonneville and had the "FM direct adaptor" which put the signal in line from the FM antenna, and it was nearly CD quality on music and FM quality on talk.

The best solution would be to do it with a deck that had aux-in or was XM/Sirius ready (although the latter option is expensive).

[QuasarCav]

Originally posted by 94SSEi
Mostly because of the FM tuner IMO. I had XM in my Bonneville and had the "FM direct adaptor" which put the signal in line from the FM antenna, and it was nearly CD quality on music and FM quality on talk.

The best solution would be to do it with a deck that had aux-in or was XM/Sirius ready (although the latter option is expensive).


You can find XM/Sirius decks for under $200.

[EnRich]

Originally posted by QuasarCav



You can find XM/Sirius decks for under $200.

Thats fuckin BS... I purchased one of these decks, cost me alot more then $250. Anyway, regardless of the type of install, or how your hooking it up, you'll never ever get CD quality sound. I hate it when ppl advertise, especially when their trying to sell you this shit, that XM or Sirius has CD quality sound. Its BS. I have an amazing system in my car. And my install was done, top notch, and it still dont get CD quality sound, as a matter of fact, I dont even get better sound then radio. There was a thread about this in the summer, where most beyonders agreed with me. Search it up. I wont be re-subscribing to sirius even though the content is very good. I can burn MP3s.

[msommers]

I'm also interested in something like this, I'm basically in the same boat as the OP. Anyone with personal experience with it in general?