Sirius satellite radio on board

[Jeff S]

Does anyone have Sirius satellite radio (Or XM radio) on their boat? I was thinking about this because I can install it in my truck with a base and antenna, then have a base and a marine antenna on the boat so I can easily plug it into the boat. I have a Clarion marine radio and 4 speakers already, this would tie in to that- I also have a 6 disc CD changer on board, but a satellite radio would make that less used.

I need to check the power draw of the system. I really didn't want to pay the monthly service fee for just the boat, but since I can use it in the car, at home and in the boat it may be worth it.

Jeff S

[jmdefino]

I just purchased an extra car kit for my Sirius Satellite Radio on ebay. I intend to mount it in our boat. Then I just need to move the small head unit from the car to the boat.

[baldbaby2000]

We have XM radio. The antenna is inside the boat and out of sight. We also have a home kit for our stereo so we use it in either location for the same subscription fee. We looked at both XM and Sirius. The subscription cost is about the same. We're not really into sports which seemed to be Serius' forte so we went with XM and have been happy.

[Idle Time]

we had XM on the truck and in the motorhome...havnt gotten it into the boat yet ..but plan to. I like "classic radio" and "sonic theater" . Listening to them in the dark would be kinda like when I was a kid..that's all we had then.

[zuma hans]

I installed XM into my 99 X in 2001. I was the fourth person in the U.S. to buy and activate an XM and I am relatively sure to have done the first marine install.

The first radios were sold with instructions to make sure the antenna had a good, flat metal ground plane to rest on.

I was sure I would have to put a sheet of tin on the boat somewhere.

When first installing the XM, I turned it on before messing with the antenna.

Naturally, it worked just fine, even with the antenna rolling around where the bilge would be if 26X's had bilge. No ground plane necessary.

The antenna works great and never loses the sats even though it is just sitting down in the battey cabinet.

Do not let anyone sell you on the necessity of a marine antenna. The fiberglass XM does not block any signal. The water acts as a great plane.

[Tom Spohn]

Jeff,
I have the same Clarion setup as you, but have not installed the Sirius yet. One of the things that would tip me over would be if I could get weather reports on Sirius. Do you know if this is possible?

[baldbaby2000]

Do not let anyone sell you on the necessity of a marine antenna. The fiberglass XM does not block any signal. The water acts as a great plane

I think this may be true. Our CD/radio is mounted in the compartment above the mirror (see mods) and the XM antenna is actually on top of the metal on the CD/radio case which is probably acting as somewhat of a ground plane. We lost signal once when healed up the other day but that's the only time we've lost signal.

[jmdefino]

I have the Sirius mounted in my boat now. The antenna is inside, just behind the head unit.
Tom, there are regional Weather Channel weather reports on Sirius.