About 5 or 6 years ago, I had a removable Sirius radio in my car and I had a plug in unit in the house as well.

I live in the NE corner of Rhode Island and the satellite appears to be SE of my home. My home is oriented on the Southerly side of a street generally facing WNW (330 degrees). The street runs approximately NNE to WSW. When I had the home unit working, it was outside the house above a window on the WSW (240 degrees) end of the house generally facing WSW. The reception was terrible! However there is a large Pine tree just SWS (220 degrees) of my home on a neighbor's property.

I now have an installed Sirius in my Chrysler 300C and I would like to have Sirius in my home. Last night, I bought a new Starmate radio and an antenna that looked like it was designed to work from within the house, however after reading the set up directions, I see that it must go outside!

I called Sirius and they told me that based on my address (12 White Hill Lane, Cumberland, RI 02864-4259), I should orient the antenna to the NW???

I have four questions:

1, Why the Northwest?

2, Given the fact that the large Pine is not going away, would I be better off installing the antenna on the roof at the EAST end of the house (facing in the correct direction) to gain a better angle to clear the Pine tree?

3, I read on the forum about using a high speed internet connection for home reception, How is that achieved?

Thank you to anyone that can help me understand and get this working Of course, I understand that I need a second Sirius account!

Thanks again, Don laVange

unfortunately, sirius is very difficult to receive from home, especially indoors. the only reliable reception is with an antenna outside. they have an outdoor antenna with mounting hardware that uses RG-6 coax to go inside the house, if that is more convenient to you, or if you wish to pair it with a satellite dish & cables. the package comes with a cable that has a female F-connector on one end and the standard satrad antenna connection (SMB?) on the other.
the portable Stilettos have the added convenience of accessing Sirius thru the Internet using WiFi.

1) Sirius has 3 sats in a highly elliptical orbit. Therefore, with respect to the earth, the sats appear to us to move in a figure 8 pattern. 2 sats are always on in the northern hemisphere, while the 3rd goes into the southern hemisphere and powers down and recharges. That said, the middle of the "figure 8" is above Minnesota. So the golden rule is "point to minnesota". One sat will likely be north of that, one will likely be south of that, but that's a good position to point to.

2) With the multiple moving sats, Sirius is very easy to tune in. The pinetree might not matter at all, unless it it very close to the antenna. The sats are VERY high up in the sky, not like sat tv where a tree can kill you. Give it a try. Really, pointing the antenna straight up will more than likely work just fine. I use mine in the house. I simply put the antenna outside on a post in the ground, and run the wire through my window, under the screen, and close the window on it. No problems. 1 year without a single drop out.

#3) Once you are a paying Sirius subscriber, you can listen online at www.sirius.com for no extra charge. You can pay a couple of extra bucks a month and get the premium internet stream if you wish.