Approaches in Satellite Radio

Satellite radio service helps us in many ways by providing the latest stuff. It is a technology that for the most part has been around for many years. For example, many television studios have been using satellites to beam TV signals from far away locations to viewers for decades, however satellite radio has been in operation in America and other parts of world since 2001. This radio is pretty easy to describe, the programs for satellite radio include music, talk shows, live sporting events and sport analysis shows. This type of shows are usually sent from one central location, where they are sent from the ground to satellites rotating in space that then broadcast the signal to those listeners with the hardware such as special antennas and receivers to pick up the signal. Here it is important to note that satellite radio initially starts from the studio, where the programming is put together.

Programs such as music, talk shows, sports analysis shows, etc are created and then transmitted usually from a main source to two satellites over head, it is also possible that live events such as news or sporting events are sent individually directly from the location where they are happening to the two satellites overhead. Habitually programming is digitized and then compressed to fit lots of data into a small bandwidth of radio frequency which XM satellite is allowed to operate on. Satellite radios have two satellites that are in geostationary orbit located above the equator. The Geostationary orbit means that the satellites are moving at the same speed as the earth turns, making it able to be in the same position as the earth at all times. In this way, XM satellite radio can always be pointing to their satellites and feeding them programming and the satellites can easily broadcast their signal to the millions of listeners that have antennas and receivers pointed towards the geostationary satellite. One special antenna is necessary to receive satellite radio signals. Regularly these antennas are very small in size, smaller than a normal tennis ball and can be placed on top of car roofs, in an office or at home. These are not that expensive and cost usually less than $50.

The antennas make it possible to catch the specific digital radio signal that is broadcasted and send it to the special Satellite Receiver. As satellites that are in geostationary orbit, their antennas must have a clear line of sight to the southern sky to pick up signals clearly. Apparently not everyone will have a clear line of sight especially if you live in an urban location so a technique used to increase the likelihood of anyone using this technology to have good reception are repeaters. The repeater is a large antenna located in key positions around the country, where a satellite signal can be received and then repeated or re-broadcasted to antennas facing any direction, south, north, east, and west and in between.

About the Author

Tymon Hytem has worked in the electronics field for the past 15 years. He enjoys helping people decide on electronic gadgets from telephones to XM Radio and choosing the perfect XM Satellite Radio system for their needs.

by: Tymon Hytem
Total views: 41 Word Count: 500 Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 Time: 1:58 AM 0 comments