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Satellite radio
is a major revolution in radio that is equivalent to when cable tv
came out and took over from the old tv antennas. Satellite radio is
the same as a television with only an antenna compared to satellite
tv. Satellites dedicated only to radio in various orbits from the
3 major providers beam the waves from their satellites which are all
at the same approximate distance of 22,000 (35,000 km) miles up in
outer space.
100 streams distortion free that will not fade.
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Once you have listened to the distortion
free digital quality of satellite radio you will feel like
your eating stale bread when you listen to AM/FM radio again. Satellite
radio gives us around 100 streams of high quality digital music, popular
radio talk shows, news sources and sports events from around the country.
All of this is yours - and it will not
fade - in your home or wherever
you go on boat, in a plane or in your car to any part of the continental
US and beyond - after all satellite waves do not have boundaries covering
the planet from 22,000 (35,000 km) miles up in space.
Ideal for travel with no commercials. (back
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Imagine,
you do not have to miss your favorite radio station when you travel
on a long trip in your car. If you travel 40 or 50 miles from the
signal source of an average radio station the signals break up and
fade into static. Who needs to find radio stations every hour as you
travel from city to city and lose the preset that you had on the channels
you regularly listen to at home. With satellite radio wherever you
are you have crystal clear near CD quality sound on a wide range of
radio programs not only without static
but also without interruptions from radio commercials
- except maybe a few brief ones on some stations.
A great variety of programs from special
interest to live sporting events. (back
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You can listen to a wide range of music from rock
to classical and more specific music such as Christian. The same is
true of news and radio talk shows. With news you can get some of the
best sources such as CNN and BBC. Listen to live sporting events from
the NBA and NFL. If you are really into listening to radio talk shows,
satellite radio delivers up to 40 streams of exclusive original content
talk shows from around the country, from general public interest to
more specific interest, such as, a Christian talk show on XM
Satellite
Radio. Its portable entertainment and plug in adapters allow you to
use it anywhere! Its yours crystal clear in a plane, on the road,
on a mountain, in your fitness club, or on the beach and
it stays the same wherever you are in the US and other nearby
regions.
The three major providers of Satellite Radio. (back
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There are two major providers of satellite radio
in the US - Sirius and XM Radio. Both
companies offer subscriptions for individuals and business so that
you can even have satellite radio installed
at your business. XM radio was the first to launch commercial
service in limited areas in the United States with its launch on September
25, 2001 which was delayed from September 12 because of the terror
attacks on the United States. Sirius Satellite Radio is now operational
in the United States with its official launch on July 1, 2002. WorldSpace
is not in the United States but is already broadcasting in Africa
and Asia and will being broadcasting in South America soon.
Satellite Radio and its advantages. (back
to top)
XM Satellite Radio is the most popular service today with over 1
million subscribers. They provide Listener Care customer support by
telephone toll-free with simple easy activation. You can get more
information on the service at XM Satellite Radio Superstore.
XM
Satellite Radio
uses two Boeing HS 702 satellites placed in geosychronous (stationary)
orbit. Geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) is about 22,223 (35,764 km)
above the Earth, and is the type of orbit most commonly used for communications
satellites. The first satellite was launched on March 18, 2001 and
the second soon after on May 8, 2001. XM
Radio has a third HS-702 satellite ready to be launched in case one
of the two orbiting satellites fail. XM
radio receivers are programmed to receive and unscramble digital data
signals which contains up to 101 channels of digital
audio. Also, the signal contains additional information such as the
song title, artist and genre of music which are displayed on the radio.
XM is big on car radios and portables and has partnered
with Pioneer, Alpine, Clarion, Delphi Delco, Sony and Motorola to
manufacture XM car radios. GM started installing XM radio receivers
in early 2001 and has invested $100 million in XM. Honda has also
signed an agreement for its cars with XM.
XM has the lowest price per
month at only $9.99 per month compared to $12.95 per month
for Sirius. Also, if you pre-pay on a 5 year plan XM is only $7.48
per month. Some XM channels have commercials but many do not and the
ones that do have no more than 7 minutes of ads per hour. XM has a
great variety of radio and is the only one (as of 2/14/03) that been
more generous towards the very large Christian
segment by not only offering one Christian hits stream like Sirius
but a Christian radio talk show and strong Christian music programming.
XM is in the lead when it comes to peripheral devices and portability
of their service. In general XM and Sirius have
roughly the same breakdown of available channels with some different
exclusive channels which PR folks will talk-up. Opinion on
the internet is that XM tends to be more conservative and Sirius more
liberal. For a comparison of programming check this site out here!
Sirius Radio and its advantages. (back
to top)
Sirius
is the newest player of the 3 satellite radio
providers in the world. They provide subscribers with
24 hour Customer Support through email and toll free telephone.
Sirius
dose not use geostationary (GEO) satellites like XM
but rather 3 satellites rotating around the earth that form an inclined
elliptical satellite constellation. This allows each satellite about
16 hours a day over the United States with at least one over the country
at all times which delivers superior line of
sight coverage throughout the US and virtually eliminates signal
interruption. This three satellite constellation was completed on
November 30, 2000.
The Sirius
system is similar to the XM
system with programs beamed to one of three satellites which then
transmit the signal to the ground where radio receivers can pick up
one of the channels within the signal. Like XM,
signals are beamed to ground repeaters in urban areas so that the
signal cannot be blocked by buildings just like local radio waves
cannot. Sirius
is concentrating on the car radio market unlike XM
which is also big in portables. Sirius
has agreements with manufacturers to install receivers on Ford, Chrysler,
BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Volvo, Mazda, Land Rover, Dodge, Jeep,
MINI, Volkswagen, Audi, Nissan, and Infiniti vehicles, along with
trucks from Freightliner and Sterling. Sirius
also offers an adapter that allows conventional car radios to receive
satellite signals.
Sirius
delivers 103 streams with no premium streams available. They provide
uninterrupted, commercial free music
unlike XM
which does have a small amount of commercials. They provide 60 streams
of music produced by "in-house" stream jockeys with exclusive
interviews and performances from top artists and today's emerging
talent in the music industry. Sirius
beams 40 streams of talk radio with unique content programming. XM
has a slight edge on Sirius
in terms of the number of music streams but Sirius
has a stronger non music lineup. Sirius
has more sports programming diversity than XM
although both have lots of sports. Sirius
is a little better than XM
in widely divergent news offerings such as NPR, PRI, and World News
Network, in addition to the usual news channels such as CNN, FOX,
CNBC, and Bloomberg. Sirius
is also the leader in Spanish language programming while both are
strong in the talk category. Sirius
tends to have a liberal political leaning in their streams while XM
has a more conservative leaning.
The
Author :
David J. Thomson is the author and publisher
of http://www.Satelliite-Tv.info - a one stop information source for
Satellite Internet, DSL Internet and Free Satellite Tv systems.
