SiriusXM Marine Weather to OpenCPN ?

[CatLove]

My apologies if this was asked before , my search didn't turn out anything .
Is it possible to connect a SiriusXM marine weather radio to a PC/Raspi ?
The idea is to eliminate the need for a Raymarine/Navico/Simrad/B&G/Furuno MFD.

If this is not currently possible, is there a plan to develop it sometime in the future?


Thanks,
Matt

[wholybee]

What does the SiriusXM weather do, why would you connect it to a raspberry pi and what does it have to do with not needing an MFD.

Excuse my ignorant question. But I just looked up the costs of SiriusXM Marine Weather. It's $110 per month for the level that allows app access. Plus you need an expensive MFD AND a reciver that costs nearly $900. Starlink or Iridium Go! both have far more features and usability. And SiriusXM only works in N. America. So I guess I am confused why anyone would use SiriusXM. I personally have never seen a boat with it.

Anyway, to answer your question, if OpenCPN is to support it, SiriusXM would need to have an open and free API for the programmers to use, and some programmer would need to be inclined to add the support. Both are fairly unlikely.

[stevead]

I am not aware of any plans to incorporate Sirius XM Weather into OpenCPN.

I am not aware of anyone who has reverse engineered the protocol used by the WM-4/SR-200 receiver module, let alone captured the TCP/IP data stream.

Furthermore the following "Patent Information" from the WM-4 manual would likely be a deterrent (or perhaps a challenge) to any developer:

SiriusXM Patent Information
It is prohibited to, and you agree that you will not, copy, decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, hack, manipulate, or otherwise access and/or make available
any technology incorporated in this product. Furthermore, the AMBE® voice compression software included in this product is protected by intellectual property
rights including patent rights, copyrights, and trade secrets of Digital Voice Systems, Inc. The software is licensed solely for use within this product. The music,
talk, news, entertainment, data, and other content on the Services are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws and all ownership rights
remain with the respective content and data service providers. You are prohibited from any export of the content and/or data (or derivative thereof ) except in
compliance with applicable export laws, rules and regulations. The user of this or any other software contained in a SiriusXM radio is explicitly prohibited from
attempting to copy, decompile, reverse engineer, hack, manipulate or disassemble the object code, or in any other way convert the object code into humanreadable form

That being said, nothing to prevent you from asking Sirius if they would make their API's available to the developers of OpenCPN. It wouldn't obviate the need for an expensive receiver or monthy subscription.

[CatLove]

Originally Posted by stevead

I am not aware of any plans to incorporate Sirius XM Weather into OpenCPN.

I am not aware of anyone who has reverse engineered the protocol used by the WM-4/SR-200 receiver module, let alone captured the TCP/IP data stream.

Furthermore the following "Patent Information" from the WM-4 manual would likely be a deterrent (or perhaps a challenge) to any developer:


That being said, nothing to prevent you from asking Sirius if they would make their API's available to the developers of OpenCPN. It wouldn't obviate the need for an expensive receiver or monthy subscription.

The WM-4 receiver is much cheaper and draws significantly less power in comparison with modern radars .
The coastal weather subscription is $38/month for up to 25 mile from coast, the offshore is $65/month for up to 150 mile out. Covers US, Canada, islands . The subscription is month to month, so one could buy just for the cruising months . It can also be paused for 6 months/year at no cost.
Using SiriusXM weather with OpenCPN would eliminate the need for a MFD from Raymarine/Navico/Furuno , which costs $3k+ for a half decent size display. This is important especially for smaller boats or situations where available power is limited .

I'll try to contact Sirius but also Navico, Furuno and Garmin to see what can be learned about the web server connection . It shouldn't be that difficult, a lot of devices connect to MFD's over Ethernet and are viewed basically in a web browser on the MFD.

[wholybee]

Originally Posted by CatLove

The WM-4 receiver is much cheaper and draws significantly less power in comparison with modern radars .
The coastal weather subscription is $38/month for up to 25 mile from coast, the offshore is $65/month for up to 150 mile out. Covers US, Canada, islands . The subscription is month to month, so one could buy just for the cruising months . It can also be paused for 6 months/year at no cost.
Using SiriusXM weather with OpenCPN would eliminate the need for a MFD from Raymarine/Navico/Furuno , which costs $3k+ for a half decent size display. This is important especially for smaller boats or situations where available power is limited .

I'll try to contact Sirius but also Navico, Furuno and Garmin to see what can be learned about the web server connection . It shouldn't be that difficult, a lot of devices connect to MFD's over Ethernet and are viewed basically in a web browser on the MFD.

I am trying to understand how this relates to needing an MFD? It is a weather service. There are dozens of other weather services that are arguably better, cheaper, and work with a raspberry pi. Predictwind is $21 per month(less for the basic plan), and works in a web browser. NOAA gribs via saildocss is free. Perhaps not as user friendly, but works with OpenCPN, allows advanced routing using ships polars, and is the exact same data as Sirius or Predictwind. Windy is free for basic use, and $19 per year for the premium, and is really amazingly good with more models to choose from and an easy to use interface.

Surely, you can't think that buying or not buying an MFD rests on if OpenCPN supports SiriusXM? You would be the first boat of hundreds I know and met in person that has even looked at SiriusXM. It can't be that important.

If you need something that works 150 miles offshore, then you also better be looking at voice and data communications for emergencies. An Iridium Go plan starts at $69 per month, and goes up to $160. So, depending on your plan, is in the same price range as XM, but offers the needed emergency communication that will work in a liferaft, email, voice calls, etc.

SiriusXM is a premium service, targeting boats that have all the premium services and all the toys and spend $$$$$ on them. That is the opposite target group from OpenCPN, which would be those that are trying to avoid premium services like SiriusXM.

While I have never seen a boat with SiriusXM, I bet the boats they are on are the million-dollar competition fishing boats with 2 or 3 Garmin 24" MFDs, 2 radars, multiple fish finder/sonar, and a luxuries bar to sit at and drink cocktails while the crew cleans the fish the clients caught. I have been on one of those boats before, but I didn't think to ask about SiriusXM. I was more dumbfounded by needing 2 full time crew members whose sole job was to maintain the brightwork.

[CatLove]

Wholybee, you have not said anything useful or in any way answered my question.
I didn;t ask about Iridium, Predictwind , routing using polars etc.
I asked strictly about interfacing over Ethernet from SiriusXM weather to a PC instead of a MFD.

Please use reading skills and comprehension and please post if you have relevant answers, otherwise stop posting or risk looking like a troll .


Thanks,
Matt

[stevead]

I am trying to understand how this relates to needing an MFD?

The MFD's overlay Sirius XM weather information (rain, thunderstorms, wave heights etc.) graphically on the chart. Think of it like a grib or weatherfax overlay on the chart, except that is almost realtime.(Although I don't understand why sailors today can't just stick their head out of the cockpit and use the Mk I eyeball)

It shouldn't be that difficult, a lot of devices connect to MFD's over Ethernet and are viewed basically in a web browser on the MFD.

While there are many third party apps that extend MFD's using HTML5 (Victron and Naviop are two that spring to mind), in this case as it has to be tightly integrated with the MFD to overlay the data on the chart I very much doubt that it is browser based.