After Market XM

You'll probably have to buy a separate receiver and run it into the AUX input.

Well I didn't even know what XM was, I had to Google it...it's the Satellite subscription radio by Sirius in the USA/Canada. Over here in the UK we have free DAB (digitial audio broadcasting) which I guess is the nearest equivalent except it's broadcastr from terrestriak masts, not satellites. How much does a subscription cost and is it worth it as compared to picking up internet radio over your cellphone and sending it to the car via Bluetooth? Just curious. And another thing, do radio receivers in the US still only show odd numbered frequencies? 15 years ago I lived in NJ and remember WDHA 105.5, WNEW 102.7, etc. and it was pointless buying a car radio in the US for use in the UK because it wouldn't pick up Capital 95.8, Absolute 105.8

azzura said:

Well I didn't even know what XM was, I had to Google it...it's the Satellite subscription radio by Sirius in the USA/Canada. Over here in the UK we have free DAB (digitial audio broadcasting) which I guess is the nearest equivalent except it's broadcastr from terrestriak masts, not satellites. How much does a subscription cost and is it worth it as compared to picking up internet radio over your cellphone and sending it to the car via Bluetooth? Just curious. And another thing, do radio receivers in the US still only show odd numbered frequencies? 15 years ago I lived in NJ and remember WDHA 105.5, WNEW 102.7, etc. and it was pointless buying a car radio in the US for use in the UK because it wouldn't pick up Capital 95.8, Absolute 105.8

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Actually we have free digital over the air broadcasting in the states as well - HD Radio, which also comes standard on the 124. Depending on one's market you can either receive a bunch of HD stations or a few. I operate a public radio network and we have 3 HD channels on our stations. A mixed NPR format, all-classical, and all news/talk. Love the technology and wouldn't have bought the car if it didn't have it.

kpoling said:

Actually we have free digital over the air broadcasting in the states as well - HD Radio, which also comes standard on the 124. Depending on one's market you can either receive a bunch of HD stations or a few. I operate a public radio network and we have 3 HD channels on our stations. A mixed NPR format, all-classical, and all news/talk. Love the technology and wouldn't have bought the car if it didn't have it.

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I don't think the base Classica has HD. I only listen to one station though and they don't broadcast in HD anyway, so no loss I guess.

I stared the original post last month. Since then I decided to just use the Pandora radio and my own I-phone. I think it still can be added but you for now have to go to a mobile radio shop and let them wire it up. You will need to add interface and a antenna to the 7.0 radio plus add a subscription to XM. I decided it was not worth investing as I use my Spider occasionally.


If you do install one I am sure we all would like to know how it came out and your costs.


Ken Young (ken8246)

It seems that this thread has died but someone has got to know if it's possible to buy the antenna and get this working or buy something else that would allow us to use the screen and steering wheel to control satellite radio.

I have run Sirius in my S2000 for a few years. I bought an antenna and ran the wires through the car. It is a separate unit that sits on the centre console and uses an unused FM freq. The only downside is it needs to be powered through the Aux plug along with the GPS/Dashcam. The 124 has Sirius like the Abarth 500 before it so not an issue anymore

I downloaded the Sirius app to my Iphone, and just blue tooth it. The app is $5/mo. and works great.

Only $5 i thought it was way more than that.

HB Dave said:

I downloaded the Sirius app to my Iphone, and just blue tooth it. The app is $5/mo. and works great.

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It's not satellite radio, though. It's just streaming over the cell network - which is fine if that's what you're after. The advantage of Sirius is supposed to be that it's available anywhere due to being beamed from a geostationary satellite.

True satellite reception requires a dedicated receiver. There are Miata OEM systems available that should fit for people who don't want the extra box in their cockpit from an after-market device.

HB Dave said:

I downloaded the Sirius app to my Iphone, and just blue tooth it. The app is $5/mo. and works great.

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Any chance that app pipes traffic data to the Nav system?

I also have an account on my other car with built-in XM. I think the internet add-on to my existing account is $5.

ameridan said:

Any chance that app pipes traffic data to the Nav system?

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I don't think so. If you could enable Apple Car Play, it might. I don't think it's available on Fiat.

@;

Rickiwithani said:

Only $5 i thought it was way more than that.

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If you piggy-back the streaming off an existing Sirius vehicle account it's something like $4.99. If you have to get a separate account (say you already piggy-back off an account for your wife's phone like I currently do) then it is $14.99 a month I believe.

I started a new blog topic on adding XM. I've ordered an antenna and we'll find out if that will allow us to get XM in our cars. If it does, I'll at least do the trial and see if live traffic data works and is worth continuing the subscription.

it would be wonderful if you can get the XM live updates to play after this antenna install but all my sources including several calls to Sirrius says XM life traffic does not work with this system. See my comments in the following post in nav card , it is what i have found to date.. the picture is from FCA training in reference to the 124 that someone provided to me.
http://www.124spider.org/forum/26-e...53-navigation-sd-card-225-a-7.html#post148505

Unknownsir said:

it would be wonderful if you can get the XM live updates to play after this antenna install but all my sources including several calls to Sirrius says XM life traffic does not work with this system. See my comments in the following post in nav card , it is what i have found to date.. the picture is from FCA training in reference to the 124 that someone provided to me.
http://www.124spider.org/forum/26-e...53-navigation-sd-card-225-a-7.html#post148505

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Sirius/XM Tech Support told me the same thing last fall. That their subscription traffic is a channel but according to him, does not interact with factory nav systems. But is that correct? The tech actually did not sound completely certain. Isn't there someone here with factory nav, satellite radio and a satellite traffic subscription who has actual experience??

I have factory nav & satellite. I originally thought the traffic data was coming down, but have since changed my mind. I have seen the nav system change routes on different days, but that appears to be coming from "historical data" pre loaded on the card. The nav system has the options apparently left over from the days when Mazda did have live traffic updates, but I have never seen any info loading into that section.


Sirius offers 2 different traffic options - first is channels in the 13x range where they have live audio traffic info for major cities repeating every 10 minutes. This I go get if I tune to that station. The other traffic option is what I would like to feed directly into the nav system. It's downloaded data. Neither Fiat nor Mazda is listed as an option for this.

Thanks for the clarifications! I remember reading that someone had it working in their MX-5 and it provided upcoming traffic alerts in the status bar without even programming in a destination (can’t find that comment now though).

I'm still going to conduct the experiment though to see if just adding an antenna will get XM going. Will have to become familiar with the trim removal procedure...