Help with Sirius

I know my fellow SportsJournalists.commers can help out with this.

I'm thinking about getting a Sirius for my car (and our cars?) here pretty soon. My wife and I split driving to work because I work 3 blocks from her office and she has a free spot in front of her building.

OK..

• Are there any discernible differences between the Starmate 4 and the Sportster 4? I think the deal is, you buy one of the two for $90 and get a $50 Sirius gift card in return (4 months' worth of service).

• What does Best Buy charge to install it (I have a Honda Accord, she a Honda CRV)? About $80 or so?

• Given that we split driving, I'd like to bring the radio into her car when it's her week to drive. Would I need to have installation done in her car, too, or is there a way to Jerry-rig it so that it's listenable (stick the antenna out there somewhere, plug it in, use the built-in transmitter and go)?

Any light you all may shed will be appreciated.

 

Best Buy installed mine for free... Granted, that was five years ago when Sirius was just coming out...

Enjoy Howard...

 

I didn't have mine actually installed. I just plug it in, plop the antenae on the dashboard and away I go.
I love having it portable as I have taken it on business trips with me when I'm doing a lot of driving.

 

Second that. Install?

But if you do decide to make it somewhat permanent, you can pick up a second antenna for the other car.

 

OK, for both of you, then: How is the reception when the antenna is merely shoved to the front of the car on the dashboard?

That's one thing Sirius, on its site, says NOT to do. But if it sounds good, who cares? It's easy.

 

Total satellite radio noob here.

You mean you can get it in your car without having to install a bunch of shit? So, theoretically, I could just bring it with me in whichever car I'm using?

How's that work? How's the sound?

 

Mine's not installed either. The antenna is on the front part of the dashboard (luckily, in my car, there's some metal on the top of the dash and the antenna's magnet sticks to it.) The reception is fine - I've never had a problem.

 

I have two antennae --- one I semi-permanently installed on my car with some 3M two-sided tape, and the other I use for rentals and what-not. Never had any luck with the antenna on the dashboard.

 

OK, kids. Someone please explain to me how this works.

You mount an antenna in the car and then bring a radio with you? Does it work through the car's speakers?

 

Sirius or XM antenna plugs into the satellite radio receiver, which outputs one of two ways:

• directly to the car audio system via an aux-in jack or a cassette adapter
• via an FM modulator which can be received via the car's FM radio.

iPods can be set up the same way.

 

I tried my iPod once with one of the FM transmitters and it was shitty. Do the satellite ones work well? You guys had any problems with them?

Becuase I'd LOVE to get satellite radio, but haven't wanted to tear up my car to do it.

 

Satellite radio reception is much better than with my ipod adapter. My ipod adapter was a cheapie, though.