Interestingly I was in Asheville, NC this weekend and experienced
dropouts in a city not known for high rises. And of course when out in
the hilly countryside reception on the XM receiver was disappearing
like a kid playing hand 'n seek. And all the while good old FM was
steady and I enjoyed bluegrass on an NPR station about 40 miles outside
of Asheville on the Blue Ridge Pkwy.

So far I'm not impressed with and an not sold on the value of
subscription satellite radio when standard FM and AM offer a wide range
of programming with stable reception.

Mark S. Holden wrote:
matt weber wrote:

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 11:23:37 -0400, "Mark S. Holden"
wrote:


John S. wrote:

I had my first taste of XM radio reception via satellite this past
weekend and was less than impressed because it drops the signal around
tall buildings and tall trees. For the Grundig to not have xm
capability is no great loss based on my experience.


On a portable, you'd probably have less frequent dropouts than in a
car because odds are you'll put it down in one spot while you listen.

Of course if you pick a spot that can't see the satellite, you'll
have to move or listen to something else.



Actually untrue. In major cities, XM has repeaters in the city proper
because all sat based services have problems with urban canyons.


It is true if you're in an area that isn't served by a repeater.

In my neck of the woods, trees are more likely to be a problem than
buildings.


Yeah, trees are a big problem at the house. Worse than the
canyons in the city.



My wife loves the XM radio in her car. If it was in my car I'd be
trying to figure out how to improve the signal to avoid the dropouts.



One of the guys at the airport has Sirius in his R-44. Patched
into the intercom, he can to tunes but gets a priority overide when
ATC needs his attention. Makes a lot more sense than the cassette
player in the Bonanza.

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.

Peter Maus wrote:
snip

One of the guys at the airport has Sirius in his R-44. Patched into
the intercom, he can to tunes but gets a priority overide when ATC needs
his attention. Makes a lot more sense than the cassette player in the
Bonanza.



Aircraft are probably the ideal vehicles for sat radio.

Odds are if trees or buildings are between you and the satellite, a
signal dropout will be the least of your worries.

Mark S. Holden wrote:

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.


Thanks. And 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.


They'd have to be larger. And more unsightly. Remember were
talking about a culture here that, in the main, prizes cosmetics
above everything else.

I've even heard complaints that the satellite antennae on cars
are too big, and too unsightly.

Mark S. Holden wrote:

Peter Maus wrote:
snip


One of the guys at the airport has Sirius in his R-44. Patched into
the intercom, he can to tunes but gets a priority overide when ATC
needs his attention. Makes a lot more sense than the cassette player
in the Bonanza.



Aircraft are probably the ideal vehicles for sat radio.

Odds are if trees or buildings are between you and the satellite, a
signal dropout will be the least of your worries.



LOL! Talk about your pucker factors.

"Mark S. Holden" wrote:

My wife loves the XM radio in her car. If it was in my car I'd be
trying to figure out how to improve the signal to avoid the dropouts.


You would have to do it like the earth stations for tracking deep
space satellites. You use a diversity system built with two or more
receivers and a combiner.

--
Former professional electron wrangler.

Michael A. Terrell
Central Florida