Peter Maus wrote:
snip


Depending on the market, you may have local terrestrial repeaters to
fill in weak spots where satellite isn't visible to the receiver. We
have them in Chicago, so I rarely see dropouts even with underpasses,
and similar obstacles. Over the weekend I was on the road where
terrestrial repeaters were not available. Dropouts were moe common than
in the city.



Hi Peter

Nice to see you.

None of the areas I'm likely to spend much time in are apt to have
repeaters.

I haven't been able to find a signal strength map, but some areas get a
strong enough signal from the satellites to punch through a canopy of
trees. Rockland County NY is an example. Great place for HF too.

I'm somewhat surprised I haven't seen ads for "high performance" XM
antennas to reduce dropouts.