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Looking for SIRIUS (not XM) receiver

2K views 10 replies 5 participants last post by  FLHT02 
#1 ·
I'm having a devil of a time finding a SIRIUS receiver to add to my soon-to-be arriving Electra. I'm not looking for a full head unit replacement, just a bar mounted receiver. It seems that all of the add on units are XM only. I have zero interest in XM because 1) A talk channel that I listen to 90% of the time is not on XM and 2) XM satellites are lower altitude than SIRIUS, thus is much more susceptible to interference from horizon obstructions like mountains, of which there are many where I live.

Can anyone suggest a unit? It's very frustrating shopping for these because they are all advertised as "SiriusXM" because that is the name of the company, but programming and technology behind them is NOT the same. I would also be happy with a dual-band receiver that has both Sirius and XM, but so far I have only seen that in a handful of very high end automotive head units.
 
#2 ·
XM satellites are lower altitude than SIRIUS,
The reason for the lower altitude is that SIRIUS satellites are orbiting while XM are geostationary directly above the equator, and thus you will never have a XM satellite directly overhead, while on SIRIUS you can.


XM satellite altitude 35786 km
SIRIUS satellite altitude varies between 1000 km and 35786 km depending on what part of its orbit it is in.


When the SIRIUS satellites are over the US, they are at the same altitude as the XM satellites.

They only go to lower altitude to speed up when they are in the southern hemisphere to quicken their return to the northern hemisphere where they increase altitude and slow down.
 
#3 ·
Thanks Kainam; a little different from what I had heard but I'll roll with it. One thing I can tell you for sure; when I traded in my car with Sirius for one with XM, I had a whole lot more issues with signal cutting out every time I passed a hill (which one does often living in the mountains). Other than going through a tunnel, I struggle to remember a time in 150,000 miles of driving where my Sirius radio cut out, while my XM is constantly going in and out, especially near my house.
 
#7 ·
Yup. Biggest thing is SIRIUS always has 1 (of 3) sattelites overhead, while XM are stationary to the south over the equator.


I can see how SIRIUS would be better for moving vehicles, but in the home you can get high gain directional antennas and point them right at the stationary XM satellite.


My truck came with XM, no issues here on the plains of Kansas. But I didn't drive the truck enough to continue to pay for a subscription.
 
#4 ·
My Sirius cuts out at the bank and in the car wash. My cell phone gets calls going thru the car wash !!!
Satellites are up in space and cell phone towers are ground plane, took me a while to figure out why my phone works in the car wash !
 
#5 ·
#11 ·
Your local Radio shack generaly has all kinds of Srius radios also it depends on the ant you have and use
 
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