XM Satelit Radio - on sailboat?

[Suzanne Mathieu]

Getting ready for a longer voyage, several months,maybe more. I was hoping to find a small personal satelite radio. Do any sailors receive their, music and news through a small satelite receiver. If so, us it working well?

[donradcliffe]

It depends on where your sailboat is. Look on the XM website for their coverage map.

[captd44]

Originally Posted by Suzanne Mathieu

Getting ready for a longer voyage, several months,maybe more. I was hoping to find a small personal satelite radio. Do any sailors receive their, music and news through a small satelite receiver. If so, us it working well?

Works well in the Bahamas! A real antenna is needed in southern Exumas the little button type supplied will have problems.

[Stephen Fascian]

I got one on Amazon, a XM radio with an external antenna and had it shipped to me in the Spanish Virgins. It would not work at all I tried it again in the BVIs and still nothing. But it works fine back up in Maine, perhaps it was tuned for the northern latitudes. Check the coverage.

[Seaadventurers]

Originally Posted by Stephen Fascian

I got one on Amazon, a XM radio with an external antenna and had it shipped to me in the Spanish Virgins. It would not work at all I tried it again in the BVIs and still nothing. But it works fine back up in Maine, perhaps it was tuned for the northern latitudes. Check the coverage.

We were just down in the Caribbean sailing for a month. One of our favorite pastimes is to look for satellites in the evening. We could not find a single satellite during our month long trip when we can spot them nightly in the U.S. Our theory is that there just aren't many satellites in the Caribbean. DirectTV ,XM, and others likely don't bother to have satellite coverage in this area due to low population density or lower economic standard of living. With the Bahamas just off of Florida, they would likely have satellite coverage. Just a guess on my part!

[newhaul]

OK here is the sirius websites statement about coverage
Quoted: ) Thanks to those satellites high in the sky, you can enjoy SiriusXM Satellite Radio almost anywhere - within the 48 contiguous United States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico (with some limitations), hundreds of miles out into the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and the Great Lakes . (:end quote
The xm site says the exact same thing.

[donradcliffe]

Here is a discussion of what the coverage was before the two companies merged. I've had on-again off-again coverage with Sirius down to the VI, but worthless further south.

Panbo: The Marine Electronics Hub: Sirius vs XM, the coverage footprints

[leftbrainstuff]

XM's coverage is optimized for the continental US. I've never heard anyone having any reliable coverage of XM offshore.

A HF transceiver with an external antenna will let you receive weather faxes and shortwave radio offshore.

[henryv]

I take my portable Sirius receiver to the BVIs - it works fine as long as the antenna is able to see north.


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[Sidney777]

Please research it yourself for coverage and for XM/sirus extra payment for offshore weather coverage. For me all the talk radio was great while anchored.

[Bill Seal]

Originally Posted by Seaadventurers

We were just down in the Caribbean sailing for a month. One of our favorite pastimes is to look for satellites in the evening. We could not find a single satellite during our month long trip when we can spot them nightly in the U.S. Our theory is that there just aren't many satellites in the Caribbean. DirectTV ,XM, and others likely don't bother to have satellite coverage in this area due to low population density or lower economic standard of living. With the Bahamas just off of Florida, they would likely have satellite coverage. Just a guess on my part!

The XM satellites are in geostationary orbit, 22,236 miles out in space. If you can see them, your eyes are a heck of a lot better than mine.

Anyway, they point their antennas toward the USA, because nobody in South America gives a rat's backside about Howard Stern.

[Sidney777]

Look at Siriusxm marine. Web site says it has offshore weather package for $54.99 month and a coastal weather $30mo and inland for $12.99. BUT need more detail about the Offshore..

[Seaadventurers]

Originally Posted by Bill Seal

The XM satellites are in geostationary orbit, 22,236 miles out in space. If you can see them, your eyes are a heck of a lot better than mine.

Anyway, they point their antennas toward the USA, because nobody in South America gives a rat's backside about Howard Stern.

Agree with everything you said, but trust me, you CAN see them. Satellites appear in the night sky as stars as they reflect the light of the sun. The geosynchronous satellites don't move relative to the earth, so while you can see them, you can't distinguish them from a star. The other satellites that move relative to the earth show up as fast moving stars.

[belizesailor]

Where do you plan to sail?

Ive picked up Sirrius with standard gear in Central America down to Guatemala. South of there it gets dicey. In Panama...nothing.

There are high gain antennas for Sirrius/XM. I know cruisers who have used them successfully in Panama.

[Group9]

I know they work great in the Bahamas. We love ours.