Sirius Weather Service ?

[MehmetCan]

Hello all;

This may be old news for you but I just discovered that Sirius offers a naval weather radar service. Do you have any experience about that? Does it work only for US or on global scale? Thanks for your answers in advance...

Best Regards;
M.

[ka4wja]

M.
I'm assuming you're referring to Sirius Marine Weather and "nexrad" radar (not "naval" radar)????

If you are, then yes it has been around for quite a while (5+ years).....and there's been quite a bit written about it.....

It is NOT global, mostly US "coastal".....
{And of course, as radar is line-of-sight, and there are no weather radars floating around at sea , the radar coverage is from land-based radar, and hence radar coverage is "coastal"....}
Most select the $29.95 / month plan.....so figure on $360/yr plus the cost of the receiver unit (> $500) and a compatible chartplotter...so it isn't cheap!!!


It is designed and intended for mainly US coastal waters, and near offshore waters (out approx 200 miles)....
Many US coastal and bay sailors find it very nice....and it even provides some offshore marine weather (from the US NWS) thru the Bahamas, and into the Caribbean, etc...I have good friends that used it all the way from the US to the BVI...as well as further down island, but found sporadic coverage south of Martinique...they used HF radio as well, and found the HF radio (WeFax and voice broadcasts) to be just as useful, and cheaper (free), so they've discontinued their Sirius Marine service....


(and some report it's useful along the Pacific coast of Mexico, etc....

Yes, it's working GREAT. Of course, there are no marine text forecasts in Mexico, but the pressure, wind and sea state forecasts are all functioning, as well as the animations, and the results have been extremely accurate.

but I have no first-hand experience with it there...)

Here's the Sirius Marine Weather page...
Sirius Marine Weather - SiriusXM Radio



And, here are some links to previous discussion on this subject.....and some "coverage maps" (but, please understand this "coverage" is where their satellite signal goes, and be aware that weather info/forecasts for many of these areas, outside of the US coastal and near-offshore waters, are sparse or non-existant...)

http://www.freewebs.com/vo1one/siriu...%20antenna.JPG
http://www.freewebs.com/vo1one/siriu...%20antenna.JPG
http://www.freewebs.com/vo1one/sirifoot.jpg
http://www.freewebs.com/vo1one/sirius_handover.jpg

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I hope this helps....

John
s/v Annie Laurie

[capecuddy]

I use it via the LWX-1 receiver with HDS-10. It's OK. I like the lightning symbols best. The radar data is low-res, but available where there is no cell coverage, plus it integrates with my chartploter via an overlay which is nice. LWX-1 is more like 200 dollars. I'm paying 22.95/month for both weather and music which is great on long no wake zones!