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Taking Sirius on the road, hotels, etc.
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| Taking Sirius on the road, hotels, etc.
- Click HERE to go to the original thread with graphics
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| sonador3 |
My job takes me on the road often, living in hotels and so forth. Can somebody give me a suggestion on which Sirius Radio will work best for dudes like me who live on the road? All hotels have FM radios. I'd like to be able to listen live in the mornings and evenings.
Price is not an issue, but portability and ease of set-up in hotels is.
Thanks in advance!! |
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| drboogie |
| I have the Sportster Replay with the boombox and love it. You could also get a home kit that you carry with you, which would be cheaper, but you'd have to carry the receiver, antenna, and A/C plug and would have a mess of wires. The boombox is nice and compact. It runs off of A/C or batteries. |
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| Lush Rimbaugh |
| I have the Starmate replay, but I think the sportster boombox is just what you need. |
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| RobbyRoo |
| W Hotels have Sirius in many of the rooms. |
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| Hugomarink |
| The sportster boombox isn't exactly tiny and would probably be a hassle to travel with. Plus it doesn't get reception unless you're in a prime area or can put the antenna outside. This might not work so well in some hotel rooms. I think the travel options for Sirius subscribers are limited at this point. I guess the S50 is currently the only compact portable option. Otherwise just use your laptop to listen to the Sirius online streams (and hope they begin to stream Howard's channels soon). |
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| sonador3 |
Thanks for the quick replies. I appreciate it!! If I'm driving to a meeting, then a boombox will work for the hotel. But most of the time I fly, which makes the boombox unpractical.
The S50 is intriguing, but I've been shying away from this particular unit due to hardware issues I've heard about.
Streaming (or a PodCast) is the best solution for me as all of the hotels these days have broadband. I hope Sirius can put this together.
For now I think I'll go with the Sportster with the home unit and drag the wires and crap with me.
Again, thanks for the help!! :tu: |
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| MoMMaLoID |
I work outside (landscaping) and I have to leave my house at 7am and I'm in my work truck by 7:30, So I have a 1/2 hour to listen to Howard in my car on my way to work! I don't think so!!!
I have a Starmate Replay and I started scraching my head how can I make it like WalkMan Portable.
I have 2 solutions, Both of which I use (I don't have pictures yet, I will soon)
SOLUTION 1
I took a 9 volt battery and 2 AA Batteries (for a total of 12V output) which is is the same amount of juice the car adapter puts out.
I went to radio shack and bought a "2 AA battery holder" (Radio Shack Part #270-408), and a "9 volt battery snap connector" (Radio Shack Part #270-324) for the batterys, to connect it to the Starmate Replay I also bought from Radio Shack a "Replacement adaptaplug Socket (Radio Shack Part #273-1743) and a "adaptaplug 'H' " (Radio Shack Part #273-1711). The total for my Parts was about $20 with out the batterys (those I had)
I recomend Using Rechargeable Batteries as they burn out kind of quick (Check the mAh the Higher the # the better, and don't use Ni-Cad Batteries use Ni-Mh Batteries)
the 9v battery clip and the AA battery case both have a black wire and a red wire, connect 1 red to 1 black and tape together with electrical tape.
take the other red and attach to one lead on the adaptaplug adapter and the black to the other, tape each one separately.
Next push the adaptaplug H adapter on, and insert the batteries. YOU WILL NEED TO TEST THE POLARITY (use a voltage meter, and test it against your car adapter or home adapter), IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS IS, DONT JUST PLUG IT INTO YOUR RADIO, YOU MAY SHORT IT OUT.
If the polarity is reversed take the adaptaplug H out and turn it so the pins go in opposite holes.
so now that you've made your battery pack and put your batteries in and tested your polarity, take your radio and plug it into your home or car adapter and go into settings and turn your backlight all the way down, turn your FM transmitter off, and turn your audio level all the way up. Doing this will cut the power your unit needs down some what and will extend the life of your battery pack a bit.
now plug in your new battery pack, plug a pair of headphones into the audio port, and plug in your antenna wrap up your excessivly long antenna wire down to about four feet.
ok I know this question is comming, So where do I put my antenna? Get a snug fitting hat, like a baseball cap put the antenna on your head and the hat on top of that! Crazy! But it works!
put your headphones in your ears and hit the POWER button.
It should last about 1 & 1/2 to 2 hours depending on how good your batteries are.
SOLUTION 2
the other solution is A DuraPRO ZipStart battery pack. You can get more info at www.durapro.com
I got the DuraPro Pack for Christmas, but I was told it was about $40
With this battery pack you can plug in a car adapter plug right into it, Use your radios car plug plug it into the pack and the radio, plug in headphones. And the antenna, well see the above solution for the antenna.
the DuraPRO ZipStart pack I have lasts a little over 3 hours.
PLEASE NOTE: any info in this post is for those who know what they are doing, If you fry your radio, dont blame me. Also the radio will shut off and try to turn back on when the battery is dead, at that point unplug the power.
And so between the 2 I get to hear Howard whole show.
I Have a 3rd solution I'm working on so stay tuned. I hope this helps people get out of their cars, homes and offices and get some got damn work done! :D |
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| Dr. Fong |
| Starmate replay with an antenna, a power supply, and some headphones. Won't help you on the go, but in the hotel it'll work just fine. |
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