kaneman23

Thanks for the info. I will check out the local stereo shop this weekend. How hard do you think this is to install? I would rather do it myself, but I don't want to bust up the plastic pieces.

midiwall

Jason;

Do you have any of the hiss issues that some people report (including one of my installs)? Did you use Delphi's FM mod?

midiwall

Travis (and other folks);

I thought of a couple of things that I wanted to pass on to prospective buyers.

• Auto power supply (turboale: this answers your question!)
  The XM setup in the car comes with a lighter plug adapter. Do _NOT_ just cut this off and hardwire it into 12v. That adapter is actually a regulated step-down circuit. The car adapter runs off of _6_ volts, not 12.
  
  What I did to avoid having the adapter hanging out in the lighter all the time was to take it apart and replace the "nipple", spring, and side band with two 18gauge leads. Then I hardwired it in behind the dash.
  
  Other folks have gone to Radio Shack to get a lighter socket, wired the socket into 12v (behind the dash) and left the adpater itself intact.
  
  
• Power-on with ignition.
  The way that the receiver is designed, the power button can not be bypassed. When you kill power to the unit (turn the key off) the unit will power down and _not_ turn on by itself when you turn the ignition back on. XmFanStore.com sells a cute little "hack" that will work around this (ref: http://shop.store.yahoo.com/xmfanstore/auonadforsk.html), but personally I think it's overpriced at $35.
  
  For those interested, the hack is a small PIC processor and an IR emitter. When it powers up, it waits 5 seconds and then sends a "Power On" command to the receiver just as if you pressed the power button on the remote.
  
  
• Everyone loves undocumented commands. With the unit starting powered off, try these:
  Press 1-2-3 XM (on the receiver, not the remote). The unit will power on in a canned DEMO mode. You'll have to pull the power to get it to turn off.
  
  Press 2-0-7 XM. The unit will seem to power on normally. Press DISPLAY until you find a new set of screens. These screens show a number of different pieces of info:
  Screen 1:
  SAT1: East Satellite at 85 degrees west longitude.
  SAT2: West Satellite at 115 degrees west longitude.
  TERR: Terrestrial Repeater signal
  DEMOD: A check mark means you have demodulator lock. This means the receiver is locked on the signal from that source.
  TDM: A check mark means you are synchronized with the Time Division Multiplexed signal from that source.
  BER %: Percentage Bit Error Rate. This is the percentage of received data bits in error. For satellite this value should be less than 3% for error free audio. For terrestrial, it should be below 6%.
  AGC: Automatic Gain Control Level. This is an indication of the amount of internal gain needed to recover the signal. The more negative, the higher the signal being received.
  
  Screen 2:
  BER: Raw Bit Error Rate. This is the number of received data bits in error. This value divided by the maximum number of errors in a measurement interval is the BER % on Screen 1. Max number for SAT1 and SAT2 is 5440. Max for TERR is 6800.
  AGC: Same as on Screen 1.
  C/N: Signal to Noise Ratio measured as Carrier Power divided by Noise Power. For SATs, this value needs to be greater than 7. It does not apply for TERR. This is a good satellite antenna pointing indicator.
  RSBK and RSBY: Reed Solomon Block and Byte Errors. They should be 0.

Have fun!

midiwall

Someone else answered the FM mod question so I'll skip that.

There _IS_ another way for you. Check into the BlitzSafe adapters:
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/xmfanstore/blauxad.html

They're not cheap, but they work really well. According to Blitzsafe's guide:
http://www.blitzsafe.com/blitz_appgu...hi_052003.html

They do make one for a '98-03 4Runner. To be sure though, I would drop a line to Blitzsafe and ask. I don't know how (or if) it will work if you have a CD changer.


if you're handy with mechanical things, then the install is a snap. The fun points will be opening up the center console in the dash to get in-behind the radio so that you can do cabling and run power.

Also, you'll have to run the antenna wire from outside to inside. I ended up with my antenna in the middle rear of the roof, and ran the wire through an access hole at the rear hatch, along the edge of the headliner, down the windshield post, under the dash and to the car cradle. It sounds worse than it is.

rondo221

Sorta O/T
XM and the like "Sound" like cool systems.. I however use my 10GB iPod.. with Tons of music on it. From all my Beatles Albums, Doors, Bob Marley, Queen, Stones, Jazz, Hip-Hop, 70's and 80's as well as Soundtracks like the Matrix, best of 007, and the Godfather. these are all playlists along with some of my New Favs like Kinky and Ozomatli..

I got over 1500 songs on it and its only 1/2 way full. Plus I can use it as a BU and portable HD from home to work..
I have the stock Stereo CD/Tape unit.. and I had to dig out my Old Cassette adapter from my first portable cd player so I can use the minijack plugin on it.. Man I was glad I never threw that away..
I WUV my iPod.

midiwall

As we move WAY off topic...

The last company I worked for designed the core chip that makes the iPod an iPod. I have code that's in there... I wrote a database engine, part of the file system, and miscellaneous utility and connectivity functions.

rondo221

I did say sorta O/T
You sir are my new hero!! iPod ownership is a life changing event!

midiwall

I thought that might be read wrong... What I meant was that _I_ was gonna push this further off-topic.


Well, "thank you" but there are another 5 guys to thank for creating the core code, and then a layer of folks for designing the chip itself, and another layer for doing magic with the encoder/decoder, and you don't _REALLY_ want to see our internal documentation , and...

In some ways, "it's a job" - I have a lot of code "out there" in places that you may use every day (e.g., if you make a long distance call east of the Mississippi). In other ways... yeah, it was cool to do.

Have fun!

Billrunner

sorry but I am anti-xm..why?
Another monthly bill.
lets see since 1990 we pay monthly for drinking water,TV, pager, internet, cell phone-(which never works right) Besides everything else.
I am not being cheap and I can afford it but I have to say no.
Soon we will have to Pay for AIR next--bad enough I pay 60 bucks a month for TV which is 95%crap.

Well thats my .02 cents or more like 80.00 in daily living expenses

Billrunner

sorry but I am anti-xm..why?
Another monthly bill.
lets see since 1990 we pay monthly for drinking water,TV, pager, internet, cell phone-(which never works right) Besides everything else.
I am not being cheap and I can afford it but I have to say no.
Soon we will have to Pay for AIR next--bad enough I pay 60 bucks a month for TV which is 95%crap.

Well thats my .02 cents or more like 80.00 in daily living expenses

MD4Runner

So that's why you get rid of cable/satellite TV, and get XM instead.. In my opinion, a much better investment....

Billrunner

that would be great, but I have a wife and kid @ home,XM cannot keep them entertained.

MD4Runner

I have a wife and 2 kids, one is almost 6, the other is almost 2. XM definately keeps them entertained, and for those few shows that my wife MUST watch (she's a reality TV junky) we have rabbit ears.

SLC Punk

Another question.
How is the reception when it is raining/snowing? Does it get fuzzy like satelite TV does?

shazaam

I have not seen rain have any effect on it. I don't know about the snow, ask me in a few months

MD4Runner

I had XM during an 18" blizzard this past winter, and drove around during the blizzard, and had no signal drop whatsoever.. Also no major signal drop during the recent hurricane.

crazyhick

I use ... www.villagephotos.com for free ... it's a really easy sign up. and haven't been bombarded with any junk mail

shazaam

k I hope this works.

satellite radio

let me know what you think

midiwall

Sorry...
"You do not appear to be the owner of this album.
Make sure you are logged in."

shazaam

damn ... so how do I fix this.