{"id":900,"date":"2020-07-29T12:32:51","date_gmt":"2020-07-29T12:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/?p=900"},"modified":"2021-12-15T09:03:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T09:03:34","slug":"an-introduction-to-satellite-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/an-introduction-to-satellite-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"An Introduction To Satellite Radio"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

1. What is Satellite Radio?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two satellite radio companies, XM Radio and Sirius\nRadio, operate over North America. Each provides well over a hundred channels\nof 24-hour-a-day content, mostly music, news, sports and talk shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both systems cover Alaska, Canada, the continental\nU.S.A. and northern Mexico, but not Hawaii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Satellite radio is beamed down from communications\nsatellites to receiving antennas, as in satellite television; similarly, the\nreceiving antenna must be pointed toward the satellite. At only about two\ninches across, a radio antenna is much smaller than a TV dish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To listen to satellite radio, you buy a receiver, and\nthen pay a subscription fee to get an activation code, which enables your\nreceiver to decode the digitalized content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subscription fees are around 13 per month — less with\nlonger commitments. XM Radio charges a 10, one-time activation fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choosing a satellite radio service is not simple, so the more you learn about the two services, the more satisfied you will be with your decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It comes down to personal choice because, to the user, XM and Sirius are quite similar in equipment, pricing and — most importantly — content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Satellite Radio Receivers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Satellite radio receivers are marketed for mobile and\/or home use. People often carry them between home and auto, as most receivers are the size of a hand-held calculator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A receiver must be nestled into a docking device in order to work. Called a car kit or a home kit, the dock supplies power to the unit and provides connections for antenna and output devices. These tiny satellite receivers have no built-in speakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most models are designed to slip into car kits, home\nkits, or boom boxes. A huge market is emerging for pocket radios with\nearphones, and which double as MP3 players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both brands contract with sound system manufacturers\nto build home tuners with satellite receiving circuitry. You have only to hook\nup the satellite antenna and pay your subscription fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Automobile manufacturers can now supply pre-installed,\nin-car satellite radios. XM Radio partners mainly with General Motors, Honda\nand Suzuki. Sirius Radio has Ford, Chrysler, and VW as partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Choosing a Satellite Radio Receiver<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, XM and Sirius equipment are not\ncompatible. Each employs its own, proprietary electronics and software, so\nneither receiver can work with the competing system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brand-for-brand, similar products are priced competitively. Prices tend to drop as newer models arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dealers regularly hold sales, and generally keep prices between the two brands competitive. Deeper discounts are often found at the manufacturers’ websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

XM have existed longer, and have published studies\nshowing that their sound reproduction is superior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirius hosts the most helpful website with more\nproduct information including online user and installation manuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New buyers, though, are seldom able to make decisions\nfrom such sales information alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talk, rather, with sales people and listen to systems\nin different stores. Ask their installers for advice, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although both companies offer free trial periods,\nwatch out! You’ll need to buy a receiver and docking kit (a 100 outlay) before\nyou can “try it for free”. Are you willing to do that … twice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Satellite Radio Programming<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

XM Radio boasts over 170 channels. Sirius Radio\ncarries over 130 channels. Simply comparing numbers serves little purpose,\nhowever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you absolutely need the 15 sports channels on XM,\nor could you live with the 12 from Sirius? Choose carefully here: competing\nsports channels differ greatly in what they cover!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

XM sends about 70 commercial-free music channels,\nwhile Sirius sends about 30. Sirius claims 23 rock stations, yet includes\nreggae and hip-hop in that category; XM lists 14 rock stations and 6 separately\nlisted hip-hop channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While most receivers have 30 channel presets, can you\nrecall where you have stored your 30 favorite channels? Would you even have 30\nfavorites? How many of those are you likely to tune into on your drive home?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. The Installation Challenge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The easiest installation by far is with the home kit:\nthe instructions show how to locate your antenna for strong, clear reception\nusing the built-in signal strength meter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The receiver can be situated at a distance, thanks to\nthe long antenna wire (and optional extensions). For best sound, plug the\nreceiver directly into your stereo with an audio cable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More versatile is the XM Radio’s Wireless FM Modulator\n(or Sirius Radio’s FM Frequency) function, which re-broadcasts the satellite\nchannel out to any FM radio in your home. The instruction manual explains this\nclearly, and it is not especially difficult to set up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Car installations are more challenging! The easiest\npart is positioning the magnetic antenna onto your car roof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, if all goes well, the FM re-broadcasting antenna\ncan push enough signal from your receiver (inside the car) to your regular car\nantenna (somewhere on the outside, wherever the auto designers thought\nappropriate).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For best listening quality use an audio cable directly\nbetween the satellite receiver and your car radio AUDIO IN. If that socket is\nhidden behind the dashboard, you may want skilled help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirius Radio offers many more optional devices for\nimproving receiver-to-car-antenna transmission within the tricky environment of\nan automobile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prudent purchasers may prefer to let the dealer do the installation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Satellite radio reception is not without its\nchallenges. Yet, with nearly 14 million receivers in operation, satellite radio\nis here to stay. As with satellite television, not everybody wants one. But\nthose who do have them love them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News Update: Xm Radio & Sirius Radio to Merge?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recent announcement about the two North American\nsatellite radio companies’ merger plans has certainly thrown plenty of\nexcitement into the picture. But don’t expect to see any changes for at least a\nyear or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time the House Judiciary Committee is finished\ntheir oversight, and then all the other regulatory committees in the alphabet\n(S.E.C., F.C.C., J.O.C., et. al.) have their say, nothing will change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither do the two companies have a clue yet about how\nthey will integrate their two technologies. They say that they plan to maintain\ncurrent services way out into the future. One thing for sure, they do not want\nto scare away any customers, new or old!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have been planning on joining the move to satellite radio, go ahead; you might as well enjoy it. Because, truthfully, nobody really knows exactly how or when this will all shake out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s highly unlikely that you will see any downgrading of programming, whichever company you choose. Big incentives may even be forthcoming, just to keep potential customers confident … and buying!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the next year or two, nothing will change at all –\nand beyond that, you can be certain that the new, combined XM\/Sirius entity\nwill do everything in its power to hang on to every single subscriber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole message with this merging is that they want\nto survive, and that their real competition is not between each other, but\nbetween them and the dozens of other systems for selling sounds to ears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. What is Satellite Radio? Two satellite radio companies, XM Radio and Sirius Radio, operate over North America. Each provides well over a hundred channels of 24-hour-a-day content, mostly music, news, sports and talk shows. Both systems cover Alaska, Canada, the continental U.S.A. and northern Mexico, but not Hawaii. Satellite radio is beamed down from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAn Introduction To Satellite Radio - Ezilon Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/an-introduction-to-satellite-radio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Introduction To Satellite Radio\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"1. What is Satellite Radio? Two satellite radio companies, XM Radio and Sirius Radio, operate over North America. Each provides well over a hundred\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/an-introduction-to-satellite-radio\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ezilon Articles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-07-29T12:32:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-12-15T09:03:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Satellite-Radio.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"404\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michelle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ezilon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ezilon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michelle\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/an-introduction-to-satellite-radio\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/an-introduction-to-satellite-radio\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michelle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/#\/schema\/person\/66eb0b60c02302c1efe6a5483e974e74\"},\"headline\":\"An Introduction To Satellite Radio\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-07-29T12:32:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-12-15T09:03:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/an-introduction-to-satellite-radio\/\"},\"wordCount\":1160,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/an-introduction-to-satellite-radio\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/an-introduction-to-satellite-radio\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ezilon.com\/topics\/an-introduction-to-satellite-radio\/\",\"name\":\"An Introduction To Satellite Radio - 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