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Transmitting Sirius-ly

Posted on May 4, 2005 by feeling entropy

I ‘ve had the Sirius Sportster Satellite Radio for about 2 weeks now. In this time I have installed, listened, and enjoyed. The first week of Sirius radio entertainment was channeled to my audio amplifier via a line-in stereo jack which plugs into the rear of my car stereo. Since this feature is not available on every car stereo, Sirius has built in an FM transmitter. For the second week of my Sirius experience I restricted myself to the FM transmitter of the Sirius Sportster.

The handset transmits an FM signal, chosen by the user, and fed through a wire antenna, in hopes of your car stereo picking up the signal. My limited iPod experiences with Monster Cable and Griffin FM modulators have not been satisfactory. Therefore, I did not expect much from Sirius.

Upon FM setup, I dialed into 88.7 both on the Sportster and my car FM radio. The sound came through with no interruptions, and the sound quality was higher than my initial low expectation. I wasn’t impressed just yet, could the Sportster maintain a nice strong signal throughout a day of San Francisco driving?

The FM transmitter has a very broad range of frequencies, opposed to some modulators which are limited to the low 80’s or 90’s. I found the best frequency to be 90.9 FM for city driving.

I drove the ups and downs of the city of San Francisco for half of the day listening to Jazz, news, weather in New York, Bjork, Jack Johnson, and Ludacris. After a few hours of jammin’ FM style I switched over to the original set up of the Siruis line-out to aux input. There was a very noticeable difference in sound quality. The FM transmission seems to lose the richness of the low frequency sound.

Here’s a quick video of me cruising the streets of San Francisco with the Sirius Sportster blasting.

Results:
Using the FM modulator works well, but not as solid as the aux input.
The Sirius radio is a definite plus for any driving experience.

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Posted in General | 3 Comments
« Radio Frequency, Please Identify Yourself
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3 thoughts on “Transmitting Sirius-ly”

  1. Elak555 says:
    May 5, 2005 at 11:11 am

    Good comments on the sirius radio, I’ve been trying to decide on giving it a try and seeing how it is myself. Your review gave me a much better understanding of how it works, the plus and minuses, and what could be done to improve it. I may wait a little while for them to develope the device a little bit more before going out and subscribing, but I anticipate the potential of this product and maybe I’ll be convinced to go out and get one in the future.

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    May 6, 2005 at 1:16 pm

    Video a good idea

    Reply
  3. Bay Area Sound says:
    November 23, 2005 at 8:56 am

    MONO is the key word. If you are looking for cd quality or even FM quality don’t get your hopes up. If you like the sound quality of AM radio then you’ll enjoy every flat mono moment that sirius gives you.

    Reply

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Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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