While driving home yesterday I radio station went out. I changed over to the other station I usually listen to and they were out too. I checked all the stations that I had saved and didn't get any. I thought to myself, oh great, the radio is dead. Triied my favorite station again and it finally came back in. Seems this whole end of the country went dead from the power outage. Looks like my radio is OK afterall. So far my truck has been trouble free.

 

Did you loose the power at your house Jim, or are you far enough away from Detroit

 

Yah, we got hit. Electricity was out from 4:15pm Thursday till 5:00pm Friday. When the electricity finally came back we lost our water. Not low pressure mind you, nothing, nada drop. We didn't get water back till this morning (Saturday), and now it's still dirty. We'll have to boil it for the next few days. I'm glad I'm not in the electrical business, those guys are taking a lot of heat at the moment.

 

Glad you got it back, hopefully it didn't cost you more than just the inconvenience. We lost ours for about 36 hours during a freak snowstorm in May up in Massachusetts back in 1977 I think it was, but we had the snow to keep our food and stuff cold.
Hope it gets back to normal soon for you.

 

LOL good way to get me to read this thread not what I expected

 

I've noticed that these radios we have really don't have much power in fact it seems that my 01 F150 XLT Stock Ford Radio was louder and didn't clip out from being too hot like these Kenwoods. I am not impressed with the performance of these radios, I figured they would at least have more STABLE power than that of a Stock unit but so far mine looses its juice after about 15 mins of being on Vol level 27+ its gets quiter an seems to be over heating.

I guess I will need an amp now and of course take these stock speakers out and use them for a paper weight as they were intended from the get go!

-Adam

 

Interestingly, I have had no problems on my Z828. It never cuts out, the speakers in the rear do vibrate some though.

I also have the Sirius satellite radio hooked up and it sounds great!

 

Z828? Is that the radio in our trucks? I don't think the radio does very well at high volume either, although it has never lost power. I blame the speakers. I think the rear speakers are terrible, I can barely hear them (have a reg cab). Maybe one day I can get the speakers changed, even have been looking at sub boxes that may fit.

What do you need to do to hook up the Sirius? I'm not a radio minded person so use layman's terms.

 

Yes, we have the Kenwood Z828 CD/MP3 receiver in the 03 STX.

To get Sirius Satellite Radio in there you need to buy the Kenwood KTC-SR901 , the satellite tuner. It plugs into the CD changer port on the back of the Z828 (and most other recent Kenwood units). It came with everything to do the install minus the antenna. I got mine when it was on sale for $20 at Circuit City. Anyhow, I ran the changer wire through the dash and through the driver's side kick panel and down under the scuff-plate, then I came over in the same place that the seatbelt sensor wires come up through the vinyl matting (XL doesn't have carpeting). I mounted the tuner directly to the floor of the truck by drilling holes and running the self tapping bolts through afterwards. The hardest part was running the antenna wire back through the various panels because I almost broke one of the plastic panels. Then I ran it over the headliner and through the third brake light grommet. The antenna had adhesive on it and I just stuck it on the roof and it is on there firmly.

I have no problems drilling holes, I have done a lot of custom work on my 74 Nova and it doesn't scare me on this truck. In fact I installed a power port for the radar detector in the overhead console so that I can easily remove it with no wires hanging down. Looks pretty nice.

Oh yes, and I ran wires from the battery directly to the Sirius tuner under the seat. There is a very large grommet up and to the right of the gas pedal, and I just punched a little hole in it and fed the positive cable through there, very handy. I don't suggest doing any of this without removing the driver's side seat though. You just need a torx bit I believe to get those bolts out, 5 total I believe. At least it is on mine with the 30/60 split bench.

If you have any questions give me a shout. My next project when I can afford it is a 5 or 6 channel amp under the passenger seat, and two 10 inch subs under the rear bench. That will take care of any volume problems the stock deck may have..

P.S. I like the Sirius much better than XM, I plan on pulling the Pioneer out of my 74 Nova and putting a Kenwood in so i can have Sirius in both cars. I don't like the display on my Pioneer anyways, so I'm waiting for the next gen of players, and hoping someone comes out with an awesome menuing system.

 

Mark, Excellent post. The links are great. The tuner you bought at the Shack for $20, is that really the same one as on the Kenwood site for $160 to 200?

For the cost and convenience of Sirius I am getting closer jumping on this wagon.

 

Yes, its the same one, and I bought it at Circuit City, I don't believe radio shack carries them.

It was on a sale that week, its now up to like $100 IIRC at the same store.

I don't have the link to the antenna on kenwood's website, but thats extra above and beyond the tuner.

I really like the fact that I can listen online to the same music I get in the truck, very handy.

 

Mark, Can you make a pick of your antannae(sp?)? I would like to see where you put it and how you oriented it. I bought the set up today and will be installing it this week end. Also, how did you get the subscription?

 

Yeah I can take a picture.

I set up the account through their website.