Sirius satellite radios offer a wealth of programming free of the censoring and programming constraints that apply to free terrestrial airwaves. The company's Starmate model of radio, though discontinued as of March 2011, connects to most output jacks on car or home audio systems. Learning to use the system isn't difficult; mastering its programming functions takes a little time though. A remote control, vent mount, power adapter, antenna and docking station should have come with your Starmate.
Instructions
1. Press the power button in the top right of your Starmate radio to turn it off.
2. Tune your vehicle or home stereo to an empty FM station with no broadcasting content, preferably 88.1, since the Starmate is set to transmit to that frequency. Set that frequency as a preset channel, according to your radio's instructions, for easily accessing Sirius stations later.
3. Power on your Starmate radio. Press and hold "FM Preset" on the face, just below the "Menu" button.
4. Use the radio's directional wheel to scroll down the FM preset list to "FM1." Select the button with the dog icon in the center of the directional wheel. Reboot your Starmate.
5. Subscribe to Sirius radio after your Starmate's transceiver is synced with your radio. Upon reboot, the radio will update channel listings, then revert to channel 184, at which point a phone number should appear on your display -- (888) 539-SIRIUS -- for you to activate your service.
6. Scroll with the directional buttons to channel "000" and your radio's ID number will appear. Write the 12-digit number down before you call Sirius. Call Sirius and give a representative your ID number. Use a credit card to activate.
7. Watch your display for "Subscription Updated." Once that appears, press any button and you can scroll up and down through your Starmate's channel offerings.
8. Familiarize yourself with the display. The channel and channel name will be at the top; the category, time and preset code, if any, will appear at the bottom, and the artist name and song title will be most prominently displayed in the middle.
9. Press and hold the "DISP" button and a listing of channels will appear, which you can scroll through to quickly find the type of music or entertainment you seek.
10. Store a channel to memory by pressing and holding the "BAND" button to choose A, B or C bands, then tune the radio to the channel you'd like to preset. Press and hold the number on the bottom of your faceplate to which you'd like to assign the station. A beep will alert you that the channel was stored.
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