Satellite Radio Technology

Satellite radio technology is the equivalent of cable or satellite television and it is definitely here to stay. There are several reasons for this: the quality of the broadcasts is higher, the quality of the apparatus's reception is higher and the general coverage of the channel, that is to say the so-called satellite's footprint is far greater as well.

This has the effect that if you travel long distances, you will be able to stay with the same channel without having to look for a new one every forty or fifty miles as you have to do with AM or FM radio stations.

In order to reach this quality, the recording and playback speed needs to be around the 384 kbps level. The music tracks are catalogued in a comparable way to the MP3 system, which uses names called ID3 tags.

Each station on satellite radio attempts to create its own identity. A music station may try this by playing music only of one type or from only one era or decade. This means that you may get a satellite radio station called 1970's Punk music or Twentieth Century Classical Music.

On some channels, the music controller or disc jockey will choose, say, fifty minutes worth of music, will listen to it in order to determine that the quality and the order are correct and then let the computer play it over the airwaves. This allows ten minutes every hour for the news and then the sequence can be repeated automatically.

Satellite transmission uses digital recordings and each station is encoded on a different frequency. Similarly, each decoder, say, in your car or your home needs to recognize and decode each channel separately too. This coding and decoding is done extremely quickly, in fact in what is called 'real time'.

The resulting binary or digital code is then translated into analogue signals so that your speakers can replay it. This process produces sound which is just about of CD quality.

The transmitting satellites are in a geo-static orbit at 23,000 miles above the equator and have a large footprint which is the name given to the area of ground that is capable of receiving their broadcasts.

In America, for instance, the two areas concentrated on at first were the densely populated east and west coasts in order to maximize possible income. One satellite would be incapable of covering the entirety of the United States in that orbit.

In order to receive satellite transmissions, you will have to use a special antenna on your decoder. This antenna must be capable of receiving L-band broadcasts for it to be of use.

These new antennas are a huge improvement on the parabolic dishes (similar to those used for satellite television) that one used to have to have in order to take advantage of satellite radio technology.

Satellite Radio - Making Waves With New Age Technology

Radio is one of the old time favorites for the news, music and comedy channels. Before televisions and before HD-TV the radio was king, providing people with an insight to how the rest of the world lives in a time when seeing the rest of the world was very unlikely to ever happen to you.

The radio provided comfort and it also provided sadness what with its news broadcasts, it was and still remains to be one of the best inventions known to mankind all over the world.

Now, just like the rest of the world, radio is evolving and becoming something a lot more powerful and reliable than its predecessor. We're now living in the age of the satellite radio, this is also known as subscription radio.

Satellite radio is a digital signal for radio broadcast through a communications satellite. This service aims to provide and successfully does provide a larger geographical range than global radio.

The benefit this has is that someone can listen to the same radio station in different states, unlike with terrestrial radio which will change channels depending on the broadcasting area you are in. Being able to listen to the same station wherever you are can be a very attractive feature in the radio, as its often frustrating when the station suddenly decides to change itself which is a common problem with terrestrial radio.

Currently, this type of radio is more widespread and typical in the USA and this is due to the communication satellites available around the USA rather than in the UK and other countries in Europe, while it is cheaper to reach such a large population with a terrestrial radio. But it is said that in the near future, they will become more popular all over the globe.

The differences between satellite radios and terrestrial radios are that terrestrial radio is free to listen to where as the satellite radios may incur a small monthly charge of around $7 but when you consider some of the other features available with this product, it doesn't sound too bank busting.

The availability of signal between satellite radios and terrestrial is significantly different. Satellite radios cover millions of square kilometers making the signal strength fantastic whereas the signal strength of terrestrial signal is quite low often leading to a hiss or scratched sound when listening to a terrestrial radio.

The sound quality of satellite and terrestrial radios can vary depending on area. Often satellite has fantastic quality yet FM radio can also provide high quality sounds depending on where you are at the time of listening and the signal coverage in that area.

One of the most annoying things when listening to the radio is advertisements or DJ's speaking over the music meaning, less quality sound time is heard. This is a common problem for terrestrial radio as this is often how businesses and other marketing companies advertise, which can be frustrating when you just want to hear music.

When listening to satellite radio there are no advertisements due to the subscription fee, this makes the subscription fee seem that all more worthwhile! A radio experience free from aggravating adverts you're not interested in. Generally, satellite radios are the optimum choice yet unfortunately they're currently only available in USA due to their satellite coverage. But let's hope in the future, satellite radio becomes available to everyone.