Here are pix showing the relative sizes of the Satellite Antenna to familiar items. Sorry about the shadows its the best I can do... Photos shot with a Verizon LG Cell Phone. The antenna actually is not wider than the beginning of the letter "R" in the word "Dollar". The center of the Torx screw on the top is dead center right to left. Its not much wider than the Motorola V-60 cell phone.

 

Tell me Barry, Does the sat system receive signals in rural areas??? I'm interested in getting it but I'm worried it will not funtion properly where I live....

 

all sat radios work fine as long as they have clear line of sight to the sky. The system also has a buffer incase you pass under a bridge

 

All it needs is a view to the sky. That's the beauty of satellite..."1 station, across the nation". No drift, no fade, no static. I think Satellite is great around the neighborhood, and awesome in the rural areas. If you want to see how it works in the country, go there & stop into an independent car stereo shop & check out one of their display radios for reception. They won't have anything in the shop that can fetch a signal that your car can't.

There is a 6 second buffer in the broadcast stream wich covers momentary lapses in signal, but you will not have any dead air. If you pull into a Mobil station under their full pump area canopy, you will most probably will lose the signal, depending how far under you go and which direction the tail of your car is facing. When I go thru my bank's drive thru teller window, which is a drive tru, so it has a roof, I don't lose signal even when I sit still doing my transaction..

 

So, When traveling home in canyon areas where lets say, I see sky from about 10:00 to 2:00 on either side I will still get reception??? Is the satellite 12:00 high or lower in the horizon...

 

Sirius's satellites are low ish on the horizon, but the radio waves "radiate" sort of like pouring water in thru the pointy end of a funnel & the water coming out wider at the big end, filling the air. ) ) ) )
I would say you will get reception, but you can e-mail sirius & ask them the technical question.
Its not line of sight like, say a laser pointer having to hit a bullseye. If it was THAT directional there would be more dead air.

 

Thanks for your valuable information and time...

 

In my Sirius prospectus, it says they use repeaters is most areas, where permitted. But they are interfearing with cell phones and cant get many permits on them, or have to turn down the strength.

 

I somehow managed to clean up the photo & sharpen it upso you can see the relative size.