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Satellite Radio Technology
http://the-real-way.com
Satellite radio technology is the equivalent of cable or satellite television and it is definitely here to stay. There are a number of reasons for this: the quality of the transmissions is higher, the quality of the apparatus's reception is higher and the universal coverage of the channel, that is to say the so-called satellite's footprint is far greater too.
This has the effect that if you drive long distances, you will be able to stick with the same channel without having to look for a new one every forty or fifty miles as you need 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 channel may try this by playing music only of one type or from only one period or decade. This means that you may get a satellite radio station called 1970's Punk music or Twentieth Century Classical Music.
On some stations, the music controller or disc jockey will choose, say, fifty minutes worth of music, will listen to it in order to ascertain 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 replayed automatically.
Satellite broadcasting uses digital recordings and each channel is encoded on a different frequency. Similarly, each decoder, say, in your car or your home has to recognize and decode each channel separately as well. This coding and decoding is done very quickly, in fact in what is called 'real time'.
The resulting binary or digital code is then turned into into analogue signals so that your speakers can reproduce 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 potential income. One satellite would be incapable of covering the whole of the United States in that orbit.
In order to pick up satellite transmissions, you will have to use a special antenna on your decoder. This antenna must be capable of receiving L-band transmissions for it to be effective.
These new antennas are a big improvement on the satellite dishes (equivalent to those used for satellite TV) that one used to have to have in order to take advantage of satellite radio technology
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with Bose Radio Alarm Clock . If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Bose Digital Radio .
Article submitted Saturday, October 16, 2010 & read 260 times.
Owen Jones writes on many subjects and is currently running several websites. He was born in Wales but now lives in northern, rural Thailand.
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» left by Linda DeWitt (1 year 216 days ago.)
I'm not very smart when it comes to technology so I'm always amazed when I read about all the new technology that is going on today. Thanks for sharing.Respond to this comment
» left by Owen Jones(187)
It's hard to keep up isn't it?
Technology advances so quickly.
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» left by Gaurav Virk (1 year 213 days ago.)
Owen Jones, good information on Satellite radio technology , thanks for sharing.
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» left by Owen Jones(187)
Thanks, Gaurav.
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