XM Radio Add on to my Alpine radio

[originalbadbob]

I recently was given an XM Roady, which I am enjoying immensly. What I don't like is all the wires, hanging it on a vent and having to change the channels on my commute to work, but not on the way home for some reason.
I have an Alpine 9805 which was in my car when I bought it. It says it's XM ready on the face, so in doing some research, I found two different units that interface directly through the unit and mount under the seat. I think I would like to get one, but there isn't a whole lot of info that I could find about them. My main question is how do you tune it on the radio?
I like being able to punch in the numbers on the Roady to get to a channel, but wouldn't like having to scroll through every one to change a channel.
Does the radio have the ability to preset channels?
Thanks for any info.
Robert

[boogetyboogety]

The XM Roady (if it's like the one I got on eBay a month or two ago for $20 shipped, with a $20 rebate, ergo, free ), is a small receiver with a plug-in power source, a tiny little magnetic antenna, and a cradle. It will wirelessly transmit the sat signal to your radio head, you just choose an unused frequency in your area (I use 89.1fm) and dedicate one of your tuner buttons to it. Then program the frequency on your Roady, and voila, XM on your radio without wires. Scroll through your menus, you'll see how to program the transmitting frequency on your Roady.

I hate clutter, so I found the unit on the cradle friction-fits prefectly, and I mean perfectly, inside the little tilt-out storage bin on the lower left of the dash. It was a simple matter to drill a small hole in the back of the container, I ran the appropriate wires through and connected the Roady XM, and pushed it into place. Is the display readily viewed? No, not tremendously, but it's reasonably visible when you leave the tilting storage bin open (and doesn't interfere with entry/egress or braking even when I leave it open). It's out of line-of-sight, so don't go checking song titles when driving (much). Biggest plus: When the bin is closed... it's invisible!

The antenna, of course, will not adhere magnetically to the body. I could have put it inside the hatch somewhere, but I chose to use double-stick tape (paint the edges black with Magic Marker©®™) and placed it just below the rear squirter (I never use it, but it still squirts, or rather dribbles, water out onto the back window with no problem). Aim the wire to the back of the car, give it a couple-three of inches of play so the hatch can open, then start running the wire under the water gasket until you reach a body panel joint, then hide it inside body panels. I stored the approximately ten yards of extra wire length by winding it, zip-tying it, and storing it inside the driver's door kick panel. Use your cigarette lighter plug, which is only on when the engine's on (there's an option on your Roady so it turns on automatically when you fire up the car). CAUTION: Do NOT hard-wire the Roady, it's 5 volts, your 12v will fry it without the cig lighter plug . Fire it up and you're done.

No, I don't have pictures. Yes, I'll take some soon.

[originalbadbob]

Thanks Boogety,
I may do that, but I think I would rather have one controller, but am not sure how the alpine controls the xm. I know I can show the channel number, the artist or song, but I am curious as to how the channels get changed. If I have to scroll through them, I'll just keep what I have.

I made a little metal bracket that mounts off the struts for the rear hatch for the antenna, so it's inside and it works fine.
If I keep the roady, I'll use a direct connection to the radio as there are no unused channels that work entirely for my commute. I hate having to change the fm transmitter channel every day.

A friend of mine has a Sky fi, and lost her remote so she bought another one. When she found the original one, she gave it to me and it works with the roady just fine.
robert

[boogetyboogety]

Well, see, as you've probably guessed, the Alpine head will not control the Roady add-on. The Alpine will play the Roady through whatever frequency the Roady broadcasts on. Just like a cable or sat box will play on your TV's channel 3 or 4, but your TV remote does not control your cable or sat box channels.

The Roady has three choices for frequency storage, with ten buttons for each, plus a "direct access" choice, so you can go from 123 (CNN Headline News, e.g.) directly to 49 (Big Tracks) directly, without scrolling through 70+ channels. Or you can just enter your faves in memory on A, B, or C settings. I seldom change frequencies that, well, frequently, so my hidden XM receiver trick works for me... but I'm sure it's not for everyone.

You must be in a heavily-populated area to have your FM radio frequencies so filled. Bummer... I believe the Roady remembers your last 4 or 5 frequency choices for rapid changing without going through the menu each time, useful for travel, but it's a feature I haven't used yet.

I really like your inside-the-hatch mount solution for the antenna, just what I like, sweet, elegant, and hidden. Very very cool engineering!

Hmmm, just another thought... if you get reception that differs with direction, you may have a reception problem regarding the antenna orientation... most mayor metro areas have land-based repeaters to eliminate the problem of sat reception under bridges, short tunnels, etc., but if your antenna is partially blocked (as it might be during your commute home), maybe that's the problem... who knows...

[originalbadbob]

I guess I didn't explain myself too well. I'm looking to replace the roady with an alpine or terk unit that will interface directly with alpine head.
The direction didn't change when I had the antenna on the dash either. It may be a local college station or the way it bounces off the sky.
It's easy enough to convert to a direct connection to the alpine, but if I can control the entire thing with the alpine head, then it'll be worth the extra money for me.
Thanks for your input.
robert

[foxfire235]

I have an alpine cd/mp3 receiver in my insight. It used to be in my xterra, but when i sold the truck I moved the stereo over. I had the alpine xm receiver under the driver's seat, and the alpine Ipod adatper daisy chained into the xm receiver. They connect to the alpine unit through that Alpine auxiliary port ( I can't remember the name they give it). The XM worked great with the alpine unit - good sound quality etc. There was no easy way to punch in desired channels, but you can "preset" the stations to whichever channel you like. You switch between am/fm, cd, xm, and ipod by using the source button. Station/song names scrolled across and looked great!