TUCSON(LM) >2010 > G 2.0 DOHC > Body Electrical System > Audio > XM Radio>Description and Operation | ![]() ![]() |
Introduction to XM radio
XM-Radio is a Satellite
Based Radio Broadcast System that operates around 2.3 GHz from two 15,000
watts satellites; one named "ROCK," at 115 Degrees West, the other named
"ROLL" at 85.0 Degrees West. Or another way of saying, the satellites are
positioned over the East and West Coasts of US. The service covers only
US.
Due to the limitations
of satellite transmission, the signal is not able to penetrate buildings,
so it cannot effectively cover dense urban areas. The terrestrial repeater
network extends SDARS coverage and allows providers to reach the greatest
number of subscribers and provide quality coverage. The repeaters receive
the XM signal directly from the satellites and then re-transmit it to XM
radios anywhere.
XM provides digitalized
radio programs in terms of channels. Each channel is a program that the
user can tune to. A category is a group of channels. Examples of
categories are classical, news and sports.
XM is a paid service.
That means users have to make a subscription to XM before they can enjoy
the programs. However, XM does give some free-to-air channels. The users
can listen to one of them without making any subscription.
|