I am new here (a passerby really), and I was hoping you guys may be able to help me. I want to buy an XM Satellite Radio for my dad's Freightliner Columbia for Christmas, but I have no clue what to buy. We live in different cities, and I haven't been able to sneak a peak at the radio set-up. Any ideas? Worst case scenario, I may just buy him a iPod and use the iPod/XM satellite dock, but I would love to get something that is compatible with his unit. It's brand new, but that's all I know.

Any ideas? Many thanks in advance.

I should add that I found an old thread on this topic (from 2004), but I was hoping for some more recent insight.

many if not all of the new units have a small radio transmitter in them. That would allow him to tune to a specific channel on FM and pick up the XM. I have a dock in both of my trucks and take the radio to which ever one I'm driving. One is through a 3.5mm aux input and the other truck has an adapter.

By the way, welcome

I don't like those re-transmitted signals tho. You have to find a clear frequency to set it to. Then when you come into a town that has a radio station working anywhere near that freq you get interference. Plus the sound quality isn't as good as a direct hard wired input. It sounds like you're loooking for a unit that has sat built in? I'm pretty sure the trucks all have a standard single din opening that should work fine for whatever radio you pick. For sure I'd also make sure it's got a front panel aux input. That makes it very easy to plug in the ipod. And if you just got one with that it's easy to plug in a external sat unit and have good sound and no interference. Then he can use his sat unit in other vehicles easily.

In our columbia, I went to freightliner and bought the xm module, it is an easy plug into the radio and works with the existing factory radio. Very easy and worked great. Bought a mirror mount antenna for the xm which ran into the door under the dash. Quick clean and easy

Thanks for all the responses. Look like it's time to do a bit of shopping!

I just found the XM Snap, which basically just fits into the lighter/power source. This would be nice, because he could easily use it in multiple vehicles (with an antenna in each, of course). Is there a power source that is within easy reach? I want him to be able to reach the buttons, if that's the way I go. I did some sneaky investigation and found out that his Columbia is a 2008.

Again, many thanks in advance and a Happy Thanksgiving.

I use one of those XM tuners that I plug into the cigarette lighter. As for the antenna I just toss that magnetic puck antenna up on the dash and it works fine. I don't even bother putting it outside.

2008 should allow for the plug in module. Do you want him to be able to move it or just use it? That is the question