XM Radio?

[FlagPole]

I am interested in hearing if folks are using satellite radio on board. If so, do you just use it as a radio, or are you subscribed to one of the marine packages. If you use a marine subscription, which one and do you think it is worth it?

It is hard trying to find good FM stations every day in a different places, and then found out about the weather reporting marine XM subscriptions, Since we do not have an SSB, I thought XM may be good for going over to the Bahamas and such when we are out of range of NOA forecasts.

SiriusXM Marine Packages - SiriusXM Radio

Thanks
Joe
Solshine L420 St. Augustine FL

[2Hulls]

Hi Joe - we use a Sirius/XM radio quite a bit. Not as much as we used to because we had to replace the unit a few years ago and the new one did not receive as far away as the old one. On the original I was getting reception in Grenada, although there was a "hole" of no reception in St. Martin. I did have to play with the antenna position a bit the further away we got. But with the new one we lose reception before getting to the Virgins. Bahamas are OK.

We do not use the weather stuff as we're usually too far away to justify the investment and we get what we need from SSB.

2 Hulls Dave

[belizesailor]

Downside for cruising of course is that SirriusXM official area of service is only in the USA. Outside the USA you only get reception because the foot print of the satellite happens to overlap there.

We get it in Belize & Guatemala, but not in Panama for example.

There are hi gain antennas available which should help, but I've not tried one yet.

[a64pilot]

I've had the aviation subscription for years, and found out the hard way that at least the aviation weather does not go that far off the coast, did not show a line of level 5 thunderstorms that were between me and San Salvador.
There is no level 6, 5 is as high as it goes.
I'd verify coverage before I bought it, my experience was some years ago, it may have changed.

[belizesailor]

OP: Where do you plan to use it?

[FlagPole]

I was thinking the Bahamas and Caribbean and east coast when I come back.

[belizesailor]

The "Caribbean" is a big place...many places where you likely wont have coverage. That's OK for just listing to news & music, but not OK for weather info. For that I would go with something with more universal coverage, like an SSB receiver and weather fax software.

[upnatum]

Anyone know whether the weather aspect of XM works between Newport RI and Bermuda?

[Amapola]

We subscribe to SiriusXM and Master Mariner. It works well for us in the Bahamas.

[socaldmax]

About 9 or 10 months ago, I bought a used demo XM/Sirius satellite receiver on Ebay for $250. It came with a lifetime subscription and a guarantee that if the subscription got canceled within 2 yrs, he'd replace it with a current model that also had a lifetime subscription. I bought 3 cradles, antennas and 3 remotes for it so I could just pop the one unit into my home system, car or truck. So far, so good.

[ka4wja]

Joe,
There is a wealth of info on this subject/service in many threads here....have a look and all your questions will be answered...
(just be aware that eventhough Sirius and XM merged a few years back, they still use different satellites, and have different coverage areas....Sirius is the one that does work quite a ways off from the US...XM is lucky to be good 200 miles off...)


http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ice-66940.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...her-97305.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...lse-96472.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...sea-37731.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...s-36564-2.html

SSCA Forum • View topic - Offshore / Hi-Seas Weather data / forecasts



I hope this helps...

Fair winds...

John
s/v Annie Laurie