Satellite radio is one of the biggest improvements in broadcasting since the introduction of FM. Satellite radio signal can be broadcasted further than 35,000 kilometers (22,000 miles) with total clarity and high quality sound. You'll certainly not have static interferences while listening to more than 100 radio stations. The idea behind satellite radio came out in 1992, once the United States Federal Communications Commission granted a spectrum from the S band (the 2.3 GHz frequency) for Digital Audio Radio Service. The license to broadcast in that band was allocated to Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio in The late nineties. Now there are three companies which provide satellite radio Sirius and XM in Northern America and also WorldSpace in Asia, Europe and Africa.
All these firms offer different broadcasting systems, because the radio transmission of each one is proprietary. This means that you'll have to buy different equipment based on your subscription to one of these companies. Nevertheless, you will find 3 components common to all or any satellite radio providers: the satellites, the ground repeaters and the radio receivers. Different satellite radio firms send out the radio signal in different ways. For example, XM satellite radio utilizes geostationary satellites which have orbits which are synchronized with the motion of Planet. These types of satellites are located over the equator. In order to allow subscribers to receive crystal-clear signals despite obstacles such as structures, hills or even bridges, XM satellite radio service has installed a network of repeater antennas which get the radio transmission through the satellites and retransmit it to the clients receiver Sirius, on the other hand, makes use of satellites that have special elliptical orbits around Planet. These kinds of orbit enable satellites to get higher in the sky compared to geostationary satellites and that stops loss of signal. This is actually the reason why Sirius has fewer terrestrial repeaters than XM.
Satellite radio providers have got digital broadcast centers where a lot of of music in digital format as well as CD format is stored. Radio programmers have the job of selecting which song has to be played at which time. There are lots of studios maintained by digital radio firms in which artists perform live. All songs and material is transmitted to the satellites in digital format so the transmission contains very high quality sound. The transmission is actually encoded by the satellite and then retransmitted to the repeaters antennas, which then transmit it to the radio receiver that decodes it and plays the sound. The entire process is actually very quick and also reliable. Satellite radio would not be feasible with out digital compression. Digital compression is actually a method which uses sophisticated algorithms to shrink as much material as possible for the available bandwidth. When you get a subscription to a satellite radio provider you will need the right radio equipment. Conventional radios cannot decode the transmission received through satellites so you will need special equipment.
The worldwide recognition of satellite radio has exploded because of numerous technical breakthroughs which enabled manufacturers to offer the receivers at extremely attractive costs. The fact that satellite radio is actually commercial free for many of its channels can be an important marketing issue.