RatDog

I have an XM Onyx portable satellite radio I'm going to be using in my motorhome. I'd also like to use it in my C2.

If anyone has had success in doing this, I'd be curious to know where you put the magnetic antenna. I'm thinking of putting it on the speaker grill since it's metal but don't know if that would work well enough to get decent reception.

Thanks,
-- Steve

wmf62

i believe that is where Frank put his.
Bill

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c1-a...ite-radio.html

Frankie the Fink

Yes in my 61. If you have a roadster it should receive perfectly. In a coupe? Can't say. Mine did work fine with the hardtop on though.

RatDog

OK, thanks. I'll activate the XM account and give it a go with the antenna on the speaker grill.

I'd like to use the portable Onyx XM in the C6, too. That will be a bigger challenge since there doesn't seem to be any metal anywhere on that car. However, since that car already has XM capability, there must be an existing antenna in there somewhere I can use.

Take care,
-- Steve

Nowhere Man

Yep the speaker grile will work just fine. I used it there and on the convertible header bar. Also used it on the metal dash of my Chevelle just fine.

MarkC

Steve, I had Sirius in my truck and Z06 and would have put it on my boat if they had a better price for multiple units. I finally cancelled all of them. I opened an ITunes account and bought iPods. I am now hooked on Bluetooth with an iPod or your phone. I got really tired of fighting with Sirius to get a decent rate.

cbernhardt

I use a satellite radio in my wife's '62 and attach the antenna to one of the soft top latches on top of the lid. Also use it in a C5 coupe and just lay the antenna in the cargo area behind the seats.

Charles

Frankie the Fink

In the interest of total disclosure - I ripped the Sirrus/XM equipment out of my '61. The "all music" subscription service was going the way of cable TV and in the 4+ years I owned it the service degraded IMO. Instead of a wide selection of 50s/60s hits I could listen to non-stop it devolved into a pretty narrow bunch of music (prob a licensing issue) all too often interrupted by DJs with music trivia, sports scores and audience call ins and "quasi" commercials. They quietly 'redefined' the lifetime subscription I initially bought so that a bunch of stuff was no longer included.

I use Pandora and iHeartRadio in all my cars now via bluetooth. Pandora is like $4 a month; a fraction of the cost of XM and I can 'roll my own' playlists and stations...and NOTHING but music...

Oh -- BTW -- just try to cancel Sirrus/XM; its nigh impossible. My credit card got compromised last year and the number changed, the old card was canceled and Sirrus still renewed me -- billing against what ? I have no idea.... I quit calling trying to cancel - I was getting nowhere...

RatDog

I have to agree with about the XM programming. It's not a huge problem if you're making short trips in the car but it's especially noticeable when you're taking a cross country trip. Each day when we'd get up and hit the road, we'd turn on the XM to the 50's or 60's stations and they'd be playing the same songs we heard the day before. That happened day after day.

-- Steve

LouieM

When I had XM I stuck the mag antenna to the outside of the windshield surround on my 67 roadster, so even with the top up there was no metal above the antenna.

LB66383

I'm using a portable XM radio in my coupe. I have the antenna attached to the back panel behind the rear window. No metal there, but a piece of velcro stuck to the antenna base works fine on the carpet. I have a flexible arm attached to a front passenger seat mounting bolt for the radio to sit on.

As for the programming, I listen to the "Deep Tracks" channel almost exclusively. It occasionally repeats itself, but overall there is a lot of variety in music and artists.

Zoomin

How do you connect the portable radio to the speakers? Just hardwire to the single speaker, or a portable set of speakers?

vetteLT193

Plus 1!

I currently have both in my newest car (Volt). The difference is Pandora has cost me 36 bucks per year. I use it to stream not only to the Volt but to bluetooth headphones while doing yardwork and a Bose Soundlink Mini that we take on trips and use around the house. It gets streamed to my phone, my wife's phone, both our ipads, both our work PC's (we both stream while at work).

XM is $169 per year, per device. If there is a tree, building, or slightly large shrub to the south of me XM goes out. Cruise the beach in Panama City and every condo you pass causes XM to drop. Even overpasses cause XM to drop for a second. It's the least reliable service I have ever used.

Pandora works off the basis of data, not a live feed, so even in times of transition it manages to keep up. It buffers data and uses the buffer when signal is lost. When I mow the lawn I go in and out of my home's wifi and it seamlessly handles the constant network changes. Even in podunk nowhere I manage to get enough of a data feed where XM is constantly in and out.

LouieM

So, to use Pandora or iHeart Radio in my 67, I would need to get my stock 67 radio updated to connect via Bluetooth with my iPhone, right?

JMG2

or you could get a replacement cover for the jack right behind the seats, mount some speakers, amp and blu tooth receiver to that, and not have anything visible, and it will also be completely removeable. and you get to keep the original radio the way it is :-)

I have a post on this -- I was going to build it, but one of the board members had already done it, and it was less of a headache for me to just buy it off him :-)

LouieM

Sounds like a good suggestion for a more complete system than I have in mind. I'm far from being an audiophile; I'd just like to get more than local stations when I drive a couple of hours to and from autocrosses, and for trips farther afield.

cbernhardt

If you are looking for something simple, no bluetooth, no need to hook up external speakers, here is the one I have used for a few years. A little large (4.5" x 5.25" x 8.4") but it is self contained, runs off 12V, fits right between the seats on the '62. It also comes with a 110 VAC power supply so I use it for a shop radio also.

Charles

LouieM

I assume that I'd still need a paid subscription to XMSirius with such a radio. I got tired of paying for XM in my C6. I'd like to simply link my iPod or iPhone to my stock 67 radio somehow, I suppose via some Bluetooth adapter or modification to my radio. I don't know if I'd need to send my radio off to be modified, or if something simpler is possible. A few years ago I had a standalone XM radio that got power from the cigar lighter and transmitted to my stock 67 radio, which I had to tune to a certain FM station. It worked well, but I'd like a cleaner installation now. Anyone done this?

JMG2

if you want to make it even simpler, same idea as what I previously said, mount a small, 25 watt amp, two decent speakers, and use a mini-stereo to twin rca adapter and plug your phone directly into the amp (some amps even have a mini stereo input just for this). That way, whatever you stream over your phone, you can hear. and you don't have to deal with either a receiver or a blutooth module (although connecting a blutooth module is dirt simple). You don't need to be an audiophile to do this, just semi-handy. It's a power wire to the amp, ground to the amp, and then connect the speakers to the amp, and you're done.

I'll also second what everyone has said about xm... My jeep srt came with 6 month sirusxm, and also comes with iheart/Pandora/slacker. I will *never* use xm again-- the quality is horrible -- they compress the living hell out of the signal, and the digital artifacts are absolutely terrible. And it's gotten worse over the years... FCC gave them a set bandwidth, but both XM and siruis has added more and more stations over the years -- whiel keeping the pipe the same. You don't need to be an audiophile to hear it. In my opinion it sounds far worse than FM these days.

cbernhardt

OK a question for you Pandora users. You need an internet connection to use Pandora, right? I went to the Pandora site and played a 2 minute Doors tune which took 5 MEG of data. At that data rate, and assuming a constant playing of tunes, you could play 20-30 tunes per hour which would be 100-150 MEGs of data per hour. My internet service is limited to 5 GIG per month so a long 7 hour trip could easily eat up 1/5 of my monthly data usage in one day. So do you Pandora users have unlimited data usage or am I missing something?

Charles