ideally, an antenna's size would be a factor of lambda/2, or c/2f. So, based on the frequency of the signal, the antenna can be very small. Naturally, making a bigger antenna (if its a factor of lambda/2) increases the gain of the antenna.
luckily, in this day and age, receivers are very sensitive, so small antennas with very little gain and produce very good sound. For example, if you take a look at radio's in cars, lets say an FM signal at 100MHz, for an antenna to meet the requirements of the first multiple of lambda/2 would have to be 1.5 meters in length. This is impractical for hand held walkmans.. so they have a very sensitive receiver.
also, keep in mind that siruius is transmitted digitally, so that makes decoding the signal much easier since amplification for digital bits is less susceptible to noise than when playing with analog signals.
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Well,
ideally, an antenna's size would be a factor of lambda/2, or c/2f. So, based on the frequency of the signal, the antenna can be very small. Naturally, making a bigger antenna (if its a factor of lambda/2) increases the gain of the antenna.
luckily, in this day and age, receivers are very sensitive, so small antennas with very little gain and produce very good sound. For example, if you take a look at radio's in cars, lets say an FM signal at 100MHz, for an antenna to meet the requirements of the first multiple of lambda/2 would have to be 1.5 meters in length. This is impractical for hand held walkmans.. so they have a very sensitive receiver.
also, keep in mind that siruius is transmitted digitally, so that makes decoding the signal much easier since amplification for digital bits is less susceptible to noise than when playing with analog signals.