gofar99 Messages: 1942 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, The satellites receive the signal from a ground station and re-transmit it back toward the ground. The power is not huge, but enough for the receivers to pick up. Sensitivity of receivers has gone up by an enormous amount in the past ten or so years. What used to require a dish (for radio) now is done with something the size of an ice cube. The quality of sound in satellite systems like XM and Siris is about equal to a mid level MP3 with a sample rate of about 192. It is not hi-rez, but certainly is sufficient for most uses.