A question about Satellite Radio / Television

[PhoenixRising]

Now that I have your attention...

Why is it that I can listen to my XM in the car, perfect, almost all the time, in all kinds of weather, under bridges, and all, yet, when it rains a bit here in SOUTH FLORIDA, the DIRECTV goes out?

I don't understand. So, can anyone explain this?

[Alan From NYC]

Different satellites.

[Toad]

Let me forst go on record as saying i have no experiance or have done any real studies on how satellites and other transmitting devices transmit signals.

First off, i think your directtv dish might need some fine adjustments go get it a better signal.

[BS]Otherwise, i think it might have to do with how wide hte singnal is. the TV signal probably has alot wider signal wave than the radio, so most likey it has a harder time penetrating thru obstacles. [/BS]

Thank you for reading this post that was mostly [BS]

[PhoenixRising]

Originally Posted by Toad

Let me forst go on record as saying i have no experiance or have done any real studies on how satellites and other transmitting devices transmit signals.

First off, i think your directtv dish might need some fine adjustments go get it a better signal.

[BS]Otherwise, i think it might have to do with how wide hte singnal is. the TV signal probably has alot wider signal wave than the radio, so most likey it has a harder time penetrating thru obstacles. [/BS]

Thank you for reading this post that was mostly [BS]

Well, my DIRECTV gets clost to a 90-95% signal, which I am told is good. And it's not all the rain, but most of it. Since we can get some Serious Downpours around here, it happens enough. Heck, the rain can even mess a bit with ye old rabbit ears, which I have for off air HDTV.

I get a 88-90% signal with those, BTW.

But XM, never gets messed up, unless I am deep in a parking garage.

[Toad]

[BS]Like i said before, I think it has to do with how wide the wave of the signal is, TV waves are genreally wider than audio waves, and therefore would need more power to fight thru obstacles (walls, clouds) to reach the receiver. I could be 100% wrong about it. But that's just what i think.[/BS]

[TommyK8]

I can't explain the technical reason for it, but you are not alone. DirecTV does get affected by heavy cloud cover, while it I have never lost the XM signal regardless of weather conditions. It will be interesting to see if someone here knows why.

[AmyJane]

Hey TJ! When you're ready to post your question about sex I'll be here waiting to answer it!!

[spdbump2001]

In the case of Sirius, many metro areas have terrestrial repeaters. Perhaps XM has the same setup and you're actually receiving a land based signal in your area.

[FineExampl]

mary poppins was here

[squeebug]

what it is, is that for Direct TV, you have to point the dish at the satelite, because the type of signal that comes from that satelite, is more of a directed type signal which is the same for any satelite that is has a dish for antenna. For XM, it is more of a broad spread out signal, such as GPS or Iridium satelites.

[PhoenixRising]

Originally Posted by CyberGreenBaby

Hey TJ! When you're ready to post your question about sex I'll be here waiting to answer it!!

Cool! I need all the help I can get....

(now let's see...it says here in the instructions, that slot 'a' goes into slot 'b' then....dang it, it's not as easy as it looks on the box...)