AbstractThis paper provides estimates of the frequency of occurrence, duration and probability of satellite EHF communication outages due to attenuation by rain. These can be used to determine optimum frequencies, power levels and the need for space diversity of terminals or other alternatives to maintain reliable communications. Ten years of 1 min rain rates at each of 12 U.S. cities were used in conjunction with an attenuation model to quantify communication outages at locations representing a variety of climatic regimes. Analyses of the 1 min rain rates and outage estimates at 10, 30 and 45 GHz for elevation angles of 10°, 30°, 50° and 70° are presen