Explain Rayleigh Fading in plain English
For cellular phone mobile communication, the effect is that signal change for 15 to 30 dB when handset move over a distance of a few inches (order of 1 wavelength). Dropping signal by 15 to 30 dB has huge negative effect on coverage range (distance).

To reduce the negative effect, space diversity antenna are widely used at cell site receiver. Two antenna separated by a few feet will ensure that each antenna has very different fading profile. Chance of both antenna fades to the bottom of signal is rare.

Many Euro digital boardcast (DAB, etc.) use many carrier frequencies (frequency diversity), hence, they will not faded to the bottom level at the same time.

Google  https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=rayleigh+fading+in+mobile+communication&amp;safe=off&amp;start=20

This year 1993 book has good descriptions of the topics,
http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Communications-Design-Fundamentals-William/dp/0471574465/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1405367216&amp;sr=8-16&amp;keywords=mobile+communication

Hope this helps