[Swprograms] Sirius Reception in Europe

["joseph.buch"<joseph.buch@xxxxxxx>]

There was an inquiry here a few days back about the possibility of receiving
Sirius satellite programs in the UK.  The unanimous opinion was that it would
be impossible.  Here is a contrary view.

Sirius uses satellites operating in a Molynia type orbit.  This orbit gets its
name from the Molynia satellites operated by the USSR to bring TV to the hinterlands
of Siberia.  These orbits have a low perigee south of the equator and a high
apogee over the northern latitudes.  When the USSR was using this technique
their broadcasts to Siberia were received in New York City at the Columbia University
institute for Soviet studies or some such name.  There the broadcasts were received,
recorded and analyzed to gain clues about what was happening behind the old
Iron Curtain.  The antennas were aimed north from New York over the pole.

The Sirius satellites use the Molynia orbit to get higher look angles from the
USA than are possible from satellites operating in geostationary orbits over
the equator.  The higher look angles reduce the need for terrestrial repeaters
to fill in the shadows in large cities caused by tall buildings.

The Sirius satellites have an apogee over Manitoba.  It is quite conceivable
that they could be seen from the northern latitudes of Europe and Asia.  Of
course Sirius uses some directional antenna patterns to enhance the ERP in the
direction of North America.  A receiver antenna on the ground would have to
have some gain to make up for the off-pointing loss of the satellite pattern.
That implies the receive antenna would be directional and might need to be steered
depending on the amount of gain and the narrowness of the receive antenna pattern.


I doubt that an automobile-mounted antenna would work but given a hearty budget,
Sirius reception in Europe might be possible.  

The need for a subscription would require a US address and credit card for monthly
billing, but if this ever takes off, there would likely be several gray market
entrepreneurs willing to make a buck by acting as your intermediary.

73,

Joe Buch

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