XM Satellite Player in the boat?

[JimBuck]

I have a portable XM player and was wondering if I can use this with a wireless FM transmitter in the boat or if I need something specific? I'm heading out of town this weekend and was hoping to use my XM player on the boat. Thanks Guys.

[Farley]

I use my Sirius in the boat up north but I need a vehicle adapter kit. My unit is not portable in the sense I can just run it without antenna or power supply.

I would go to radio shack with the player and see what they can hook you up with but you need to know what kind of hookups you have on your boat radio as far as inputs. If you have aux in on your boat radio it makes it pretty easy.

[Dbl]

I use my XM RC Express all the time in the boat. Which model are you using? I use the XM Sureconnect which means I mount it to the radio antenna, then to the XM and use a power plug to power the radio. Tune to a clean FM channel on your FM and it works like a charm. One thing I do is use a plastic baggie and put that over the XM radio and a rubber band around the bottom to keep water from getting on the receiver, you don't want to get it wet.

[JimBuck]

Thanks for the response guys. It is an XMP3i. My hangup is that it is not my boat so I'm looking for something very simple and installation free to just plug-in and go.

I'm assuming he does not have an AUX plug-in on his unit but has FM capabilities. Would an FM Transmitter work?

[Dbl]

You will need at a minimum;

-A power connector because you only get a few hours of battery life with that unit.

-An audio cable to connect through the XM to the FM radio and since your antenna is built in you should not need an external antenna.

If you don't have an Aux plug on the radio then it is more complicated. XM radios are not like an I-Pod that you hook up a wireless FM transmitter, I believe that is what you are asking. You need a Sure connect kit (easy to do and uses FM), a cassette adapter (not many current radios have cassette anymore), or an FM Direct module (not cheap and permanent).

[Farley]

You need the shureconnect thing available on XM's HSOforum (probably best buy or radio shack also) to transmit to FM unless your unit already does that on its own. Also like DBL said you'll want a power supply.

But if you're lucky and the boat has an aux in, you should be able to get a minijack cord (again, just go to radio shack) and plug in from your headphone jack directly to the stereo with that cord.

[spearchucker]

Why wouldn't the IPod type FM transmitters work? You just run audio into it and it retransmits it in the FM band.

[Dbl]

Why wouldn't the IPod type FM transmitters work? You just run audio into it and it retransmits it in the FM band.

Older receivers have built-in wireless FM modulators like the Roady XT, meaning you could just tune your receiver and FM radio to the same FM station and you would get XM programming through your car stereo. It was actually built into the power chord if memory serves me correct. Sound quality was not all that great with this method either. The problem was these wireless modulators were too strong and due to complaints, the FCC passed a law against them. Newer receivers require some other way of connecting with your FM radio, the only options are cassette tape adapters, SureConnect, and hardwired FM modulators all mentioned above. The SureConnect actually attaches to the radio antenna and routes that signal through a wire back to the XM unit at such a low power it won't interfere with a vehicle next to you.

Someone likely has come up with a work around but it could be the cost would be more than the cassette adapter or SureConnect. I went to a hardwired setup to take advantage of the AUX/CD input on my truck stereo. I had no Aux in jack, plus the sound quality improved ten-fold.

[spearchucker]

The FM modulator that I am talking about is a separate unit that just has an audio input from a headphone jack. These should work with this as long as the XM unit has audio output. I agree, the sound quality is bad with these, but they work.