Since XM is satellite ... does it suffer from the same reception problems home satellite (TV) recievers do? I know I had DirectTV and it honesty went out everytime it rained and sometimes with just cloud cover. How do buildings and hills affect it as well? I would never want to go through that problem again. This would definately help me decide to NOT get it, otherwise it will be whether I want to waste money on the installation to have it integrated with the car. Thank you

I've never had a problem with weather. Reception would be spotty in my house garage or in a parking garage, or for a split second when going under a highway, but that's about it.

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The one time it's rained since July, I didn't have any problems.

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XM came with my dearly departed Honda Element, which had an XM antenna on the roof. Never had an issue with reception with it, with the exception of a brief blip under overpasses.

I now have an XM Roady for my new Civic which I like, and just have the antenna laying on the dashboard. I have had a few occasional moments of static during some snowstorms the past few weeks, but otherwise is has been excellent. When I did get the static, it was just a few seconds here or there. I suspect that If I were to mount the antenna permanently on the roof as recommended, reception would be better. I have also noticed the occasional static while passing tall buildings in downtown Indianapolis.... again I did not have this problem with the permanent antenna on the Element. I have never had issues with simple cloud cover though.

Satellite communications are always line of site. So are regular radio waves, however due to the distance the signal must travel, in spite of the broadcast power from the satellite, the receiving antenna must have a clear "view" of the sky in order to receive that signal. When that clear view is obscured by anything the radio will cut out. I compare this to driving around in a parking garage. Your regular radio will usually work fine, however your satellite radio will not necessarily work fine.

Part of this is also due to the difference in transmission. Regular radio is analog, so if the signal becomes weaker the radio will continue to broadcast what it receives even as sound quality reduces. Satellite is digital and as such if the information stream coming from the satellite must be decoded by the receiver and then turned into sound. If the data stream is missing information because reception is spotty the radio will not have enough data to complete the conversion to sound and will just stop converting altogether.

I wouldn't let underpasses and parking garages and the occasional spot of bad weather keep you from getting XM. It works as advertised.

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Please note that XM and Sirius both use land based transmitters to fill in the gaps for areas like large metro areas with tall buildings. Also around most interstates. They are usually along side of the same towers used for cellular communications. I have had my XM in the Escape Hybrid for over a year now and have had it work even while in the carwash.

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I will get it knowing I don't have to worry about the same problems as the tv kind. Nice to know they also use 'boosters' around metro areas and interstates.

Thank you for all the information and explaining things so well.

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