Sirius radio

[fasternu]

My wife is thinking about buying me a Sirius subscription for our anniversary. A few questions about it:

1. I have a 2005 Ford Explorer that is capable of running it. But, do I need anything else to make it work, or just a subscription code when I call Sirius?

2. Any other additional costs besides the actual subscription fees?

I have some experience with Sirius, and think I will like it, but just not sure if I should go for it or not.

Thanks in advance!

[steffanf]

If your car came with a free year subscription to Sirius, you need not do anything else or add anything else. They should have all the information you need. However, if your vehicle never came set up with satellite radio in the first place, there may be other steps to take. I'm not exactly sure what you may or may not need then. Personally, I would call Sirius and ask them to be sure.

After my car came with the free year subscription, I found I could not live without it. I never listen to regualr FM stations anymore. Channel 20 (Octane) kicks butt...

[fasternu]

No, it did not originally come with it that I know of. I bought it about a year old.

[DTro]

fasternu

I have not used Sirius, but unless you have a Satellite ready stereo you will need a tuner to receive the signal and some way to get that signal to your speakers.

If you have that, yes you will just need to buy the subscription.

If not you will need to buy some additional hardware.

[steffanf]

Sirius is also doing some changes. I believe some of them involving having to eventually use a more direct connection to the cars' radio to receive the satellite signals and broadcast them through the stereo system. If that is the case, you would definately need some hardware, in addition to the subscription. Being an '05, I would think you should be able to see if there is any kind of external satellite antenna on the roof of the car (looks like some kind of black ractangular faceted puck about 2"x 3"). That way you would know wether the car originally came with the satellite radio installed. That is the only way you would only need the subscription...

[Farley]

My wife is thinking about buying me a Sirius subscription for our anniversary. A few questions about it:

1. I have a 2005 Ford Explorer that is capable of running it. But, do I need anything else to make it work, or just a subscription code when I call Sirius?

2. Any other additional costs besides the actual subscription fees?

I have some experience with Sirius, and think I will like it, but just not sure if I should go for it or not.

Thanks in advance!

You need an antenna, usually mounted on the roof but I think some vehicles it's mounted near the AM\FM antenna under the dash? But that would only be if the vehicle came equipped with Sirius. And like someone else said unless your stereo is Sattelite Radio ready you'll need a seperate unit. Then your satellite antenna plugs into this unit along with power cable. All this comes in the package with a new unit (Unit, power cable, antenna, mounting hardware). The only thing you'll need that is seperate is a connector that goes from the Unit to the antenna input on your factory radio, (your factory radio antenna plugs into this wire, then that wire into your stereo).

As far as any other fees, it's roughly $13.00 per month or you can pay $142.00 for a year. There are no other fees.

But I installed mine myself, if you have Best Buy or whoever do it that will cost more. The install is pretty easy if you can figure out how to get those ford radios out. All you need is a wire hanger and something to cut it with.

[PierBridge]

Do you have a Sat button on your Stereo? if not you'll probably need additional hardware. You could call your Ford dealer to have them check for sure.

[steffanf]

Or you can just dump that stinky Ford and get a Dodge... like all good sane people would do...

Uh, oh... did I open up a can of worms...

[fasternu]

Oh no, worms all over the place........!

Yes, I do have a SAT button, so the radio is satellite ready, just didn't know if I need anything extra besides the subscription. (like an extra antenna or anything).

[steffanf]

The radio does have a satellite button? Well then, I am sure the car came with a year subscription to Sirius when purchased by the original owner. In that case, you will likely not need any other equipment. Go ahead and get that subscription. You'll be glad you did, especially up there in (quality radio-lacking) Bemidji...