Sxm radio handset
- Thread starter Aka-none
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SXM has always had handhelds and car kits, but to get an actual satellite signal they'll need a clear line to the sky. The metallic coating on the Gravity canopy glass blocks a Starlink signal so I assume it would do the same for SXM.
You can mount an external SXM antenna and run the cord inside, or have it professionally installed, but I didn't want a sloppy retrofit. And you'd have to control it via the receiver, not the car's native app.
Just all too sloppy for my tastes on my $108k luxury car.
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If you have an SXM subscription, then you have free access to the app. Why wouldn’t you just stream the app from your phone via Bluetooth? This also avoids needing another radio specific subscription.
The car can already do that natively. I suspect they are trying to avoid the whole "streaming" part and get back to using an actual satellite receiver that works whether there's cell signal available or not.
I think he's talking about where there's no cell signal. That's been a problem for some of us. Without a consistent cell signal, streaming is useless. And in this car, streaming and FM are the only content options they gave us (short of providing your own downloaded content).
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I guess I’ve been lucky in that my AT&T signal has been strong enough that I almost never lose the signal, though we did in some areas in state and national parks on our way to Telluride a few weeks ago. For what I would say has been 99% reliability it’s nice to not have to pay for an additional radio subscription, plus I can listen to shows and go back to the very beginning, plus skip any commercials or boring segments, versus just listening live.
Yes, when streaming works it's nice.
But when it frequently doesn't (signal problems), it's really annoying. It's a single point of failure that all the audio content (except FM) is dependent on. You quickly realize how hooked you've become on a lifetime of consistent audio playing in the car. The silence is deafening.
The signal was cutting in and out on us on I-70 from Denver up to the Eisenhower tunnel, which surprised me a bit. I figured that would be well covered. Still not sure half of the issue isn't the car's receiver/antenna (as another poster pointed out). But then as I got to NV, the signal started becoming more consistent. I was actually able to go an hour or two without signal loss.
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