The Kenwood Here2Anywhere Sirius receiver is very similar in design to the Sony XM Portable receiver. They are also both first generation receivers. As with all first generation portable receivers, it lacks a numeric keypad on the receiver itself. This fact is somewhat mitigated by the existence of the remote control and the fact that you can access programmed station presets using the preset keys. The best aspect of these older first generation radios is their price.

Price: $99.95
Use: Car/Home
System: Sirius Satellite Radio

Features

* Four line, 36 character display
* 24 song save memory
* Stream preview, see before you change
* Full-function remote including numeric keypad
* Display brightness adjustment
* Output level adjustment
* 24 stream presets
* Search by category, stream, artist, and song title

In the Box

Receiver, remote control, manuals, and batteries.

Overview

As mentioned earlier, the Kenwood Here2Anywhere receiver represents the lowest price you will find for a Sirius portable receiver when you factor in the rebate. The radio only gets three stars primarily because of the small display and lack of number keypad on the receiver itself but you might consider these luxuries and the receiver is certainly technically equal to the Audiovox line of receivers. Another factor to consider is the antenna is going to be a larger, first-generation antenna but again, the music is the same. Kenwood was the first portable offering to build an FM modulator into the car mount. This saves room and removes the need to deal with mounting and running wires under a seat.

The receiver offers a full compliment of controls minus the numeric keypad. The unit has a power button which provides the obvious on/off functionality but also offers exit functionality when in various modes such as category, stream, or menu views, a memo button to save songs, view songs, and enable a parental lock, a display button to toggle the display mode between normal and large fonts, and a four-way rocker switch for navigation with a select button in the center to select displayed options. The receiver also offers a PRE button which enters and exits channel preset banks (four total) and six preset channel buttons for a total of 24 preset channels available from the receiver for instant tuning.

The display is a blue dot-matrix LCD and offers current stream, category, and name as well as the preset bank and preset number in normal mode. Artist name and song title are provided in a scrolling format. The second display mode offers four lines of information dedicated to the current song title and artist.

Navigation options are numerous. You can navigate up and down one stream at a time or choose an advanced display option to view stream by category, artist name, song title, or stream name. You can also navigate using the channel presets and by direct numeric entry using the remote.

Using the setup menus you have the ability to adjust the audio output which is useful if you move the radio from car to home or even between two output sources in your home. You can also adjust the backlight level, check antenna signal strength, lock channels out using a four digit code, and mark channels for skipping (you can still direct tune).

The Remote

The remote has all buttons present on the receiver itself and adds a numeric tuning pad and a direct button for direct channel tuning.

Available Kits and Accessories

You will need to purchase at least one home or car kit to use the Kenwood Here2Anywhere receiver.

Home Kit - the home kit is available for $49.99 and includes a home dock, a power supply, an antenna, and a mini-stereo to twin RCA output cable for connection to standard RCA input sources. For connection to most computer soundcards, you can purchase a mini-stereo to mini-stereo cable from Radio Shack and the like.

Car Kit - the car kit is available for $29.99 and includes a car dock, a power lighter adapter, a magnetic-mount car antenna, carrying bag, stereo patch cable (mini-stereo to RCA) and an audio cassette adapter. You mount your receiver somewhere convenient and then power it using a cigarette lighter adapter. You will need to mount the magnetic antenna and the satellite signal is delivered to your radio using a cassette adaptor so your car radio will need a cassette player unless your car stereo has CD inputs but does not have a CD player. This is typically indicated by the presence of a CD button in car without a CD player. If you don’t have a car radio with a cassette player or CD inputs, you can purchase the FM Modulator option described below.

Car Kit w/FM Modulator - the FM modulator provides rebroadcast of satellite radio signals on one of four FM frequencies and is priced at $49.99. The FM modulator kit includes a car dock with integrated FM modulator, a magnetic car antenna, stereo patch cable (mini-stereo to RCA) for use with CD input, a power lighter adapter, . Its’ benefit is it removes the need to use the cassette adapter resulting in a much cleaner installation. The downside is that your signal clarity will only be as good as FM signals since the modulator broadcasts the satellite radio signals on an FM frequency to your car radio. You may notice a very slight difference. For most, it does not matter.

This is part 11 in a series where I look at the current state of satellite radio technology, satellite radio services, and satellite radio hardware.