# Driving downtown with XM



## Chris Blount (Jun 22, 2001)

Just wanted to share my experiences on something. Today I drove into downtown San Antonio, TX. It's not a big city but there are many tall buildings to make receiving XM quite a challenge. 

Since I was in a hurry to catch a 3D IMAX movie, I wasn't even thinking about the music I was listening to and just concentrating on driving. After arriving into the main downtown area and parking in a very large parking structure, it suddenly dawned on me that my XM signal never dropped out. I immediately went into the menus and checked the signal strength. I had no satellite signal at all but the terrestrial signal strength was maxed out. While this is no big deal I was still amazed on how well the terrestrial signal was reaching into the parking garage. 

When I left the garage and while driving right down the middle of the city through the tall buildings, the satellite signal dropped in and out but the terrestrial signal stayed rock solid. Then, while driving out of the city, the terrestrial started dropping off while the satellite signal came back to full strength. Obviously there must be a repeater somewhere downtown.

I was very pleased on how all of this went. It got me wondering how many cities have repeaters. It was quite obvious to me that without repeaters, satellite radios would basically suck in large metro areas. Is there a listing somewhere on which cities have them? 

Anyway, it was a great "test" to see how well XM functions in our city and it came through with flying colors! Very cool stuff!


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## Scott Greczkowski (Mar 21, 2002)

Yes Chris, it is exciting to know how well it works, my company runs two XM Repeaters here in Connecticut (One on Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington which is just outside Hartford, the other in New Haven)

When I got mine I was unaware that the repeaters were even on yet and was surprised when I went 3 floors underground to my offices parking garage and my XM was still playing.  

I have found a new channel which I like, it's Fine Tuning channel 104, where else can you hear Beethoven then next song hear Pink Floyd. Its a wild mix!


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