satellite rcvrs

[ted s]

Anyone know about free to air satellite receivers ?

[Tim]

I have XM Radio. My first three years was $12.00/month. I just signed up for 3 more years for $9.00/month. One word says it all "negotiate".

But I must say I am not happy with the Jazz/Blues selection of channels on XM. One channel plays there real old jazz (not my style). Another channel plays more R&B than Jazz/Blues. Yet another plays acid jazz. I personally like today's smooth jazz type music.

I should have looked into Sirius Radio before signing up for 3 more years of XM radio.

Look at both worlds before selecting. They all play something different.

[Bloozcat]

Anyone know about free to air satellite receivers ?

Here's a site that explains it pretty well, with FAQ's, and links.
http://www.tech-faq.com/fta-receiver.shtml

Basically, you can get whatever channels that are free to air on one of these dishes, but not any of the pay programming like Direct TV or Dish Network. The channels and satellite coordinates apparently change frequently.

I don't know about Canada Ted, but here in the States there are many channels that are broadcasted in HDTV over the airwaves. All you need to pick them up is a UHF or an HDTV/UHF antenna. The number of stations in a particular area varies. Here where I live, it's about nine stations right now (maybe more), most of them being the network and UHF stations. I haven't gotten into this yet (soon though), but one of the IT guys at work who's a real audio/video nut told me a lot about it. He lives only a half mile from me as the crow flies, so that's how I know how many stations are available in my area.

[Big_Rob]

You have a PM about the subject.

[Big_Rob]

I have XM Radio. My first three years was $12.00/month. I just signed up for 3 more years for $9.00/month. One word says it all "negotiate".

But I must say I am not happy with the Jazz/Blues selection of channels on XM. One channel plays there real old jazz (not my style). Another channel plays more R&B than Jazz/Blues. Yet another plays acid jazz. I personally like today's smooth jazz type music.

I should have looked into Sirius Radio before signing up for 3 more years of XM radio.

Look at both worlds before selecting. They all play something different.

My inlaws have XM in their car and I have Sirius. I have listened to both and I can honestly say,,,,


Sirius > XM

You're right about XM's very crappy blues channel. They play more R&B instead of real blues such as Sirius 74

[guitartist]

Maybe I'm just a hopeless conspiracy theorist, but it seems like as far as commercial radio here in Atlanta goes, they are slowly but surely phasing out the decent free music stations, so you have to pay to hear the good stuff.

Our oldies station went extinct a couple of years ago, then our only decent classic rock station bit the dust last year after being on the air 30 years...its ridiculous I tell ya, that you have to pay to hear the good stuff nowadays. A city this size with no Chuck Berry, Motown, Stax, early Beatles, Elvis, etc on our airwaves....you're darn lucky when you hear the occasional Stones, Floyd or Zep tune these days on free radio.

For instance, I have never, ever heard Joe Bonamassa on the radio here (not even on either of our college radio blues shows, or our public access station's 3 hour blues show every weekday morning!) --- but my boss, who has XM radio, says they play Joe B. all the time! Haven't heard any of the new Mavis Staples cd either ( with Ry Cooder playing on it) on the radio here either, until I rode in my boss' car! Guess I'll have to break down and get Sirus or XM one of these days. (..darn it, I hate having to pay yet another bill every month...grumble grumble....dadgum corporate America...)

[Tim]

After reading Big Rob's post I did some research on Sirius radio. Sirius seems to be the best pick when it come to jazz and blues. I am trying to figure out how to get out of a three year ($9.00/month) commitment with XM radio. I have heard that both stations are owned by the same company. Maybe that's my way out.