yeah... what Bill said!! :)

Seriously, the receiver has a small "dish" antenna that receives the satellite signal.   For my car, I have a small device that is attached to the hood of my car (by a magnet). If you have someone with knowledge of cars you can route the wire so it is invisible. I basically know where the gas goes, so I had someone install it so it would look neater.

The "dish" on my car is very small - about 1/4 the size of a computer mouse and similar in appearance.   The boombox that I have at home has a similar device on the back. For the boombox the device has a long cable so that you can put the antenna near a window facing south.

The signal can be picked up anywhere in the US.   That is one of the selling points. If you are going on a long drive you can hear the same programs without interuption.

There are two companies in the U.S. - XM and Sirius.   XM was the first out of the gate. They were actually scheduled to launch on 9/12/01, but the events of the day before caused them to postpone their launch. Currently they have about 3.5 million subscribers and it is growing. They expect to exceed 5 million before the end of the year. You can find out more about them at www.xmradio.com.

Sirius Radio launched a bit later and they have about 2 million subsribers. Both systems work on the same principle. Sirius is a bit more expensive per month but not excessively.   

I chose XM for several reasons. The folk music offering was more to my liking, simply because they offer programs like WFMT's THE MIDNIGHT SPECIAL with Rich Warren.   The general blend is very eclectic, lots of commercial folk revival material mixed in with contemporary singer-songwriters and tradtional material. I wish they had more traditional music, but they hold promise. I just wish they would not play as much John Denver as they do!

XM will also be presenting Major League Baseball this year - you will be able to hear EVER SINGLE game for EVERY SINGLE team. Very impressive!