Sirius Radio users

[Viben' round]

How is your reception, like going through large stands of trees, or around mountains? I know my dad's XM cuts out occasionaly and is a pain in the (removed), I was just wondering if Sirius does the same? I have A prety sweet Sirius ready JVC HU adn was contemplating getting it for myself sometime in the near future. Any feed back from ya'll would be appreciato!

[NSimkins]

A little background - Sirius and XM use somewhat different satellite technologies - in general, XM's satellites are fixed in 2 permanent spots over the US while Sirius' 3 satellites move in a figure-8 over North/South America, but there are usually always 2 satellites over the US at one time. Also, XM's satellites sit in a lower position in the sky, whereas Sirius' are up a little higher (I don't have the exact technical %) - the only advantage with Sirius' position is that blockage from trees and tall buildings would be reduced.Unfortunately this means that reception with Sirius in certain areas will vary depending on the time of day since the position of the satellites is constantly changing.I've had experience with both XM and Sirius in vehicles, and they seem to be pretty much equivalent (depending on location and the type of blockage you may be near (ie. trees, etc.)). I have Sirius in my vehicle and don't really have many issues from trees, but with either XM or Sirius, if you don't have proper line-of-sight to the satellites, reception will be spotty. Now, if you're lucky to have a ground repeater in your area, you won't have reception issues, but repeater locations aren't common outside of large cities.Personally, I'd say you would have a little better reception with Sirius' satellite position when trees or tall buildings are in play. Don't hold me to this as your mileage will vary (my disclaimer ).

[Kari]

Also, in my very short experience lately, even if you only have 3 bars of reception on the antenna aiming screen, the music doesn't cut out unless you try to change channels, then it takes it a few seconds to go over to the new channel, but that's it.I kind of live in the mountains, and my reception varies from 3 bars to full throughout the day and on different days. Yesterday I had awesome reception, full almost all day. So it basically just depends on what day you catch it at. James and I were using it driving around in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where there are lots of mountains *and* tall trees, and I don't remember it ever cutting out, actually. There could be repeaters from Knoxville, I dunno, we didn't look, but the reception was fine.Get it, it rocks, you'll be addicted shortly, I promise. Edit: I should probably specify that the "3 bars to full" comment was in relation to signal in the house...I think I always get full, or at worst 3 short of full, in the car.

[Kari]

A little additional info, courteous of Sirius Backstage...a nice animation showing the path of the satellites in relation to XM's stationary satellites as well as the sun. http://www.siriusbackstage.com...18888

[NSimkins]

Quote, originally posted by Kari »http://www.siriusbackstage.com...18888I was looking for that Kari - thanks for posting! I've been a member over at SBS for a cpl years now. Good group of Sirius-lovers there too.

[Viben' round]

hey thanks for the info folks. I just may get it sooner than later! I am going on a trip out toColorado later this month or early June so that would be a nice thing to have!

[Kari]

You're welcome I just sort of stumbled across it while surfing the "geek info" forum on SBS, which I find very interesting. I'm one of those nerds who will go out at night when ISS is passing over to watch it move across the sky...pretty cool. Wonder if these are large enough to be seen in the night sky if you knew where to look? I'll have to look into that.Anyway, back to the topic at hand...it would be great for a long trip, you wouldn't have to change stations at all, and you should have great reception pretty much the whole time, I would think.