Reply With QuoteYea Zig, it is prewired but I thought I would go the other route to cover everything.
I hear ya, doing the same myself...
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With BMW its all Sirius and with my Saab's its XM....I have access to both systems.
Can you guys tell me why you say they have better technology? Why does XM need so many more terrestrial repeaters than Sirius? Is more repeaters better? Does anyone know and understand the orbits both constellations fly in? Why did each company pick a different type of orbit?
I used to work for Sirius as a spacecraft analyst (fly the satellites) and I know and understand each companies systems. It's mind bogoling (sp?) to me how people can spout off on a topic when they really don't know or understand the concept or technology behind the different systems.
The companies can only add as many channels as the techonolgy allows them to compress in their own bandwidth. The companies, I know Sirius for sure, will be offering video with there system before too long. They demonstrated that at several CES shows.
In the next year or so, the FCC mandates back in 99-00(Don't remember specific dates) that each company trade information and develop an interoperable receiver. This way the consumer is not potentially bound by the car they buy but can choose their service provider based on content. This is a way to level the playing field and have companies really compete for there content.
Anyway, just wanted to add my .02.
Cool, someone I can ask this question to...
It's been said (hell, I've parroted it a few times) that XM's satellites are on a lower inclination, that's why the need the terestrial repeaters to fill in low signal strength in the mountians and where there are tall structures. Where as Sirius satalites are farther up from the horizon, ensuring a little bit better signal. Any truth to that??
Also, I've heard rumors that XM has no spare satellites.
I've got Sirius now and have never even turned on the local stations in over a year and a half. I will never go back to broadcast radio. Sirius has better music IMHO, and some of the talk programs are better as well (gota love Maxim radio...)
Yea Zig, it is prewired but I thought I would go the other route to cover everything.
I hear ya, doing the same myself...
.
With BMW its all Sirius and with my Saab's its XM....I have access to both systems.
sirius has all the nascar and baseball games i have it and also have three docking stations very happy with it
Cool, someone I can ask this question to...
It's been said (hell, I've parroted it a few times) that XM's satellites are on a lower inclination, that's why the need the terestrial repeaters to fill in low signal strength in the mountians and where there are tall structures. Where as Sirius satalites are farther up from the horizon, ensuring a little bit better signal. Any truth to that??
Also, I've heard rumors that XM has no spare satellites.
I've got Sirius now and have never even turned on the local stations in over a year and a half. I will never go back to broadcast radio. Sirius has better music IMHO, and some of the talk programs are better as well (gota love Maxim radio...
Hey Sleek,
That is correct. XM's satellites are parked out at GEO (Geostationary) like the DirecTV and Dish Network (Echostar) birds (I used to work with the guys that flew the birds for Dish). That being said, XM's have relatively low elevation angles and are more suspectable to blockage. So they need alot more repeaters than Sirius to get around obstacles. One thing that helps is the power of their satellites. They are putting out ~30% more power at Beginning of Life (BOL) than Sirius. So XM's birds from Earth look like they aren't moving because they are at the right distance to have the same rotation rate as the Earth. So their orbits look like dots.
Now Sirius uses a highly inclined geosynchronous orbit. Their orbit is basically a modified Molniya orbit that the Russians used for their spy satellites. Sirius made some slight modifications to the Molniya and in essence created a new orbit called the "Vader" orbit. The reason for this is the satllites create a figure 8 with respect to the Earth. The cross occurs in over southern Minnesota and the top of the top loop of the orbit occurs in the north. Sirius has two satellites in the northern hemisphere at any one time with each satellite spending 16 of the 24 hours in the northern hemisphere. Given the shape of the orbit and having two satellites in the northern hemispere provides Sirius customers with the lowest elevation angle of ~60 degs. With that high of an angle, the need for terrestrial repeaters goes down significantly which gives Sirius a much better advantage. The majority of the time, Sirius customers have a satellite at a > 80 deg elevation angle.
Sirius operates with 3 satellites in orbit and one spare on the ground. To my knowledge XM has two in orbit and no spares. They are working with Boeing on a new satellite. One other thing to note is XM does not fly their own birds, Sirius does. It doesn't mean much to consumers, but a little trivia.
So when both companies were coming to market, there were a handful of articles that actually posed the question of whether XM was really Satellite radio due to most of there feed to the customers was actually reaching them via the repeaters. It's really left to the customers to decide.
Bottom line, everything comes down to content. That's what people are listening and that's what they care about. There's been quite of few head to head competition done by magazines between Sirius and XM. Both have one different contests, however last I knew Sirius has won more.
I'm not in anyway bashing XM. Both companies need to do well for both to survive. Both are way ahead of the game compared to what satellite TV had to go through and how long it took them to get the number of subscribers they have.
Anyone know that the Sirius solar arrays are in the shape of a cross not a straight array? More trivia...
Anyway, I could go on and on about the satellites and orbits and stuff. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have more questions. I might have some simulation pics that show the orbits.
Can you guys tell me why you say they have better technology? Why does XM need so many more terrestrial repeaters than Sirius? Is more repeaters better? Does anyone know and understand the orbits both constellations fly in? Why did each company pick a different type of orbit?
I used to work for Sirius as a spacecraft analyst (fly the satellites) and I know and understand each companies systems. It's mind bogoling (sp?) to me how people can spout off on a topic when they really don't know or understand the concept or technology behind the different systems.
The companies can only add as many channels as the techonolgy allows them to compress in their own bandwidth. The companies, I know Sirius for sure, will be offering video with there system before too long. They demonstrated that at several CES shows.
In the next year or so, the FCC mandates back in 99-00(Don't remember specific dates) that each company trade information and develop an interoperable receiver. This way the consumer is not potentially bound by the car they buy but can choose their service provider based on content. This is a way to level the playing field and have companies really compete for there content.
Anyway, just wanted to add my .02.
Well God Damn!!!
It's about time someone actually spoke from their brain and not their ass. BLACKSHEEP...thank you for that refreshing bit of information. As for the AlphaOmega, Sirius is it...not any better, not any worse...much better content and music selection. AO uses it in all applications and see no reason for the jibberish of broadcast media. This is not my opinion, it's the gospel. XM is technically bigger, but when it all shakes out, Sirius will end up winning the war. However, choose what you like, in 5 years it won't matter.
If my radio head unit (on the boat) says it's "xm ready".....what do I need to get xm-radio??
I've got a portable xm unit and the sq does suck but ti does the job.I think the xm lacks good rock music IMO.I also like country so that it is good for.I think some of the music is very repetitive.I seem to hear the same songs over and over.Between xm,cd,and fm I can keep busy in my truck.
My advice before you buy is go to where they sell both units and listen to them for an hour if you can then go from there.
Sirius has three sats in orbit. XM has three sats in orbit. Both companies have a spare on the ground ready to go up in the event of an emergency.
Here's a couple of links for tracking the sats:
http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/satellite.html
http://www.stoff.pl/
Here's Sirius's orbit pattern:
http://www.cashflowbusiness.net/siri_orbit.htm
Fungas and ethyl and nascar X M all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow, thanks BLacksheep. That's exactly what I wanted to know.
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