Satellite does Sirius and Xm use?

[Chrome69]

What satellite(s) does Sirius and XM use to broadcast their signal to our radios? and can we get it or is it encrypted?

 

[Juan]

well gee .its a subscription service

 

[Chrome69]

well gee .its a subscription service

You think? Guess thats why they take money off my credit card every month...

 

[LER]

each is encrypted. They each (XM / Sirius) use their own birds. The info is on each one's sites.

 

[Chrome69]

I am actually interested in what Birds they use....

 

[navychop]

Look here for info on the 3 satellites Sirius uses (only 2 are transmitting at any given time). They are in a "Tundra" orbit, and are the only known users of such an orbit. But this unusual orbit allows them to get by with fewer terrestrial repeaters than XM requires. They keep one on ground spare.

See here for coverage maps and animations of the orbits for both Sirius and XM.

XM uses two geostationary satellites and has two in orbit spares (which seem to be suffering from failing solar panels due to a design or manufacturing flaw). More here.

I am unaware of any very detailed info on the satellites themselves, but you may want to google for it.

 

[Chrome69]

Cool thank you

 

[xzi]

XM uses two geostationary satellites and has two in orbit spares (which seem to be suffering from failing solar panels due to a design or manufacturing flaw). More here.

I am unaware of any very detailed info on the satellites themselves, but you may want to google for it.

XM's satellites have both been replaced, XM-3 ("Rythm") and XM-4 ("Blues") are now live at 115 and 85 respectively, with XM-1 ("Rock") and XM-2 ("Roll") as in-orbit, powered-off spares in the same locations. The new satellites do not suffer from the failing panels. Sirius' satellites are also affected by this same issue to a lesser extent is my understanding.

Full details on XM's birds:

XM provides digital programming directly from two high-powered satellites in geostationary orbit above the equator: XM Rhythm at 115° west longitude and XM Blues at 85° west longitude in addition to a network of ground-based repeaters. The combination of two satellites and a ground-based repeater network is designed to provide gap-free coverage anywhere within the continental U.S., the southern tip of Alaska, and in the southern part of Canada. The signal can also be received in the Caribbean Islands and most of Mexico (reports have stated that areas north of Acapulco are able to receive a steady signal[15]), however XM is not yet licensed for reception by paid subscribers living in these areas.
The original satellites, XM-1 ("Rock") and XM-2 ("Roll") suffer from a generic design fault on the Boeing 702 series of satellites (fogging of the solar panels), which means that their lifetimes will be shortened to approximately six years instead of the design goal of 15 years.[16][17] To compensate for this flaw, XM-3 ("Rhythm") was launched ahead of its planned schedule on February 28, 2005 and moved into XM-1's previous location of 85° WL. XM-1 was then moved to be co-located with XM-2 at 115° WL, where each satellite operated only one transponder (thus broadcasting half the bandwidth each) to conserve energy and cut the power consumption in half while XM-4 ("Blues") was readied for launch. Subsequently, XM launched ground-spare XM-4 ("Blues") ahead of schedule on October 30, 2006 into the 115° WL location to complete the satellite replacement program. On December 15, 2006 XM-1 was then powered down and drifted back to its original location at 85° WL, where it will remain as a backup to XM-3. XM-2 as well was powered down and remains as a backup to XM-4. This makes the current active satellites as XM-3 "Rhythm" and XM-4 "Blues" with two in-orbit spares.[6][18]

On June 7, 2005, Space Systems/Loral announced that it had been awarded a contract for XM-5.[19][20] XM-5 will feature two large unfurlable antennas. Sirius' Radiosat 5, also to be built by Loral, will have a similar single large antenna.

 

[xzi]

XM: XM Satellite Radio - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sirius: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius_Satellite_Radio#Sirius.27_satellites

 

[navychop]

XM's satellites have both been replaced, XM-3 ("Rythm") and XM-4 ("Blues") are now live at 115 and 85 respectively, with XM-1 ("Rock") and XM-2 ("Roll") as in-orbit, powered-off spares in the same locations. The new satellites do not suffer from the failing panels. Sirius' satellites are also affected by this same issue to a lesser extent is my understanding.

That is exactly what I said. XM-3 & 4 are the new, in-use sats. XM-1 and 2 are the in orbit spares, which have the suspect panels.