"2xmornot2xm" wrote in message
om...

I have been reading some of the various postings on xm radio, and one
of the common threads I keep returning to is that the quality of the
stations vary city to city. I was wondering if anyone knew
specifically about Penna, and Florida?

Of course those are states, not cities.

XM is a hybrid satellite/terrestrial system. Out in the countryside away
from topography and structures that create north-facing shadows in the
satellite coverage which comes from the south, XM just works.

So, say in Indiana or Florida you can reasonably expect XM coverage just
about everywhere. Florida is particularly easy because its pretty flat,
there aren't a lot of cities with really big buildings, and the satellites
shine down from a pretty high angle. Indiana is further north but there are
even fewer tall buildings and again the terrain is very flat.

XM would be iffy in northern cities except that they have added a number of
terrestrial fill-in transmitters. These cities have a number of large
buildings and the satellites shine down from a relatively shallow angle.
Trees and even freeway depressions, particularly on east-west freeways, can
block satellite coverage.

If you're on the north side of a large structure in a city or of a large
hill anywhere, you are going to have to rely on terrestrial "fill-in"
receivers for reception, if there are any. These booster transmitters are
primarily going to be in urban areas.

Therefore, there may be parts of the Pennsylvania countryside where the
topography blocks line-of-sight to the satellites, and XM drops in and out
because out in the countryside, there won't be many terrestrial sites to
fill-in.