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Satellite Radio, WHAT IS IT? (UK)

post #1 of 11
1/31/06 at 6:15am
Thread Starter 
Hello their, im in the uk and love gadgets so i got all the mac stuff blah blah. But I keep seeing on programmes like 'pimp my ride' people getting satellite radio in their blingged out pieces of crap. Can someone enlighten me how it works, can I get it here in the Uk? In the UK the new radio is this DAB, and the BBC is annoying everybody to change their old fm recievers. Ive been on the sirrus website or whatever its called and just confused me even more.

Cheers
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post #2 of 11
1/31/06 at 7:55am
Satellites in orbit beam music to the earth... a couple hundred digital stations from a single satellite... but you need a special receiver.

In the US, there are two major services (Sirrius and XM). You have to pay a monthly fee to keep your receiver active. There are also data services available for a fee over the same satellite... for an additional fee (such as weather, etc.).

The communications are line-of-sight limited... so a satellite over North America would not be useable in Europe. I don't know if anyone has such a service available in Europe.
From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, "Look at that!" -...
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post #3 of 11
1/31/06 at 8:34am
I'm working on the European roll out

I'll be in your heads in a couple years, no worries.. muahahaha
I'm having deja-vu and amnesia at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before.
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I'm having deja-vu and amnesia at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before.
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post #4 of 11
1/31/06 at 9:16am
Thread Starter 
ok so thats cool what the european system going to be called? will it be the whole of europe or just mainland
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post #5 of 11
1/31/06 at 9:30am
Quote:
Originally posted by KingOfSomewhereHot
In the US, there are two major services (Sirrius and XM). You have to pay a monthly fee to keep your receiver active. There are also data services available for a fee over the same satellite... for an additional fee (such as weather, etc.).

It's become popular enough that I've seen highway signs that tell you to tune to particular XM and Sirius stations for local traffic updates as well as the regular FM and AM stations.

Canada now has XM and Sirius, but Sirius had to agree not to broadcast Howard Stern to Canada for whatever reason.
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post #6 of 11
1/31/06 at 9:53am
Quote:
Originally posted by KingOfSomewhereHot
Satellites in orbit beam music to the earth... a couple hundred digital stations from a single satellite... but you need a special receiver.

Just a side note which in no way negates the basic point about where you need to be to, in general, be a customer for a given satellite service...

To improve reliable reception, both XM and Sirius employ ground repeaters to fill in where large buildings and terrain might block direct reception of the satellite signal. Not having used either of these services myself, I'm not sure how thorough the ground repeater system is and often users experience reception drop-outs.
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We were once so close to heaven
Peter came out and gave us medals
Declaring us the nicest of the damned -- They Might Be Giants          See the stars at skyviewcafe.com
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post #7 of 11
1/31/06 at 10:07am
no names yet.. its on the drawing boards

We still have to buy the satellites and what not..
I'm having deja-vu and amnesia at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before.
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I'm having deja-vu and amnesia at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before.
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post #8 of 11
1/31/06 at 11:10am
Thread Starter 
ooooh sounds swanky, ill love a job setting up the service in europe. ZO you in the UK?
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post #9 of 11
2/1/06 at 7:23am
I'm in France. I work with satellites. If you look at Sky via a dish, then you "use" me every time ;-)
I'm having deja-vu and amnesia at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before.
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I'm having deja-vu and amnesia at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before.
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post #10 of 11
2/1/06 at 7:47am
Thread Starter 
well i am honoured sir.
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post #11 of 11
2/1/06 at 8:57am
XM and Sirius both use terrestrial repeaters in all major metropolitan areas so that you can listen to their "satellite" broadcasts. Antennas are dual purpose and can receive both terrestrial and satellite signals. Radios automatically switch over to the signal which is more stable.

The braodcast sounds like a heavily compressed mp3 to my ears. Music stations sound about like 64kbps and talk stations sound about 32kbps.

But it is still worth it. It's amazing how entertaining radio is when it isn't the same old stuff rehashed and repeated.
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