One for the road

Mark can be snide, but he makes me laugh; Buck's insight is limitless and thoughtful; Rob's passion is infectious, but he can be infuriating, and pretty much everything Kevin says comes from experience, not just supposition.

If you know to whom I'm referring, then you've got an XM radio in your car (or at home) and regularly tune into channel 175, which is the Major League Baseball station. Such is the connection the show makes with its listeners that devoted fans are on a first-name basis with the hosts of Baseball This Morning (Mark Patrick and Buck Martinez), which is on from 6 to 9 a.m. EST for my drive in, and The Show (Rob Dibble and Kevin Kennedy), which airs from 3 to 6 p.m. during my ride home.

Satellite radio listeners are as passionate about their favourite radio stations - and, by extension, whichever service they subscribe to - as TV viewers are about their favourite shows. The difference is that there's more content on the radio that's meant to inform you rather than just entertain you, although entertaining listeners is definitely part of the package.

And like TV, the radio you use can make a difference in your experience, which is actually an odd thing. After all, when you upgrade your TV you usually get a better picture. And generally, anyone who has upgraded a car stereo from the standard factory deck is looking for improved sound.

But satellite receivers like XM's Delphi XpressRC - a unit I've used for the past few weeks and for which I have steadily gained an appreciation - has no bearing on the sound quality inside your car.

What it does, however, is add an element of control and flexibility over my radio that I've never had before.

The XpressRC is essentially a radio PVR. The unit comes with a crisp colour screen about the size of a credit card that displays five lines of text, which is a nice change from my RoadyXT , which displays two. You can also change the display layout to show what's playing on four different channels - three small windows that stack up to the right of a large main window. In that mode you can scroll through your favourites, visually or audibly, something I found myself doing more frequently because I could scan what's playing on different channels without actually going to them.

There's an option for audible scanning, too. Select "Scan Favourites" from the menu and the XpressRC will play about five seconds of each station.

The player also comes with a remote control, the inclusion of which I found rather humorous (what kind of person is so lazy that they need a remote control for something they can reach?). But I gradually gained an appreciation for it as I memorized the button layout and could change the channel without taking my eyes off the road. My only complaint is it's hard to see it in the dark. Driving at night, you're better to use the large knob on the XpressRC until you've mapped out the remote. What it needs is touch-activated backlighting, but that might inflate the $130 price tag.

However, when it came to navigating the on-screen guide, I had no complaints. The screen is so sharp and bright compared to my Roady, it's like flipping through a comic book rather than reading text - something I suspect most would appreciate as they're bombing down the highway and can only afford to take their eyes off the road for a second. I kept thinking it would be great if I could get my e-mail on it.

Even more impressive, though, are the pause, rewind and fast-forward functions. The XpressRC has something called "SongSaver," which allows you to save up to 10 songs and pause or replay them. That means you can freeze your favourite channel while you flip to conventional radio and catch the news or even answer the phone. (Although it must be said that finding yourself with a remote control in one hand and a phone in the other just as you're trying to merge onto the highway is not the safest thing to do).

However, while the player is sort of recording, it's not saving. I've inadvertently lost parts of a show after stalling at a stop light or turning off the car at the gas station.

Another cool feature allows you to program the player to recognize certain songs with "TuneSelect"; it will notify you if the song is played on any of the available channels.

The player also lets you choose which channels are displayed. If you're never going to listen to a country and western channel, for instance, you can tell the player to skip that station when you scroll. So you can leap through your listings hitting only the stations you want - essentially extending your list if favourite channels.

Generally, I've found the XpressRC to be an excellent upgrade with very little to complain about.

The one major drawback is the installation procedure, something that will try the patience of most people. It's a plug-and-play device, which means you have to install it yourself; it doesn't come pre-installed in a new car. XM has tried to make the process as easy as possible, but there are some inherent issues that are beyond their control.

Satellite radio players connect to your car stereo either by using a tape-deck adapter or a FM transmitter in the power adapter. Both methods require using a satellite antenna - one end plugs into the player and the other, a magnetized widget about the size of an Oreo cookie, clamps to your roof.

he problem is that the U.S. regulators at the Federal Communications Commission insist that satellite radio receivers meet specific requirements when broadcasting an FM signal. The signal can't bee too strong or it might make its way into another vehicle nearby. Imagine tooling down the highway listening to Chopin only to have Howard Stern jump in every time the guy in the green Mustang pulls up beside you. So XM had to include a second series of wires that link a car's antenna to the satellite antenna.

Now, being one who rarely reads the instructions before installing something, I connected the XpressRC the same way I connected my Roady - I just plugged in the power and the satellite antenna. But reception was inaudible on every channel and I was certain that I'd been handed a lemon. What I didn't know was that the broadcast regulations where not in effect when the Roady hit the market, so its transmitter is quite a bit more powerful than the newer models.

It took a call to XM support for the answer. And they were very helpful.

So, in the freezing Toronto cold, I connected the sticky side of a little fob to the back windshield of my Civic, strung the wire to the front of the car where I connected the new wire to the wire that I have wrapped around my rear view mirror and snakes out the passenger side to the roof magnet. I now have wires cluttering up the front seat and the back.

And while XM includes instructions on how to hide the various wires under floor mats and behind seats and such, I can't be bothered until it gets a little warmer.