Sirius Weather for Raymarine

[seadaddler]

Hi everyone it's raining here so no boat waxing today.I have seen the XM weather that can be added to my C-80Raymarine and sounds so easy and really great being able to check the weather while sailing at the helm.So is it all it's cracked up to be and does it reallygive good weather conditions for say a cruising tripwhile out on the water far from land.Does it give all that up to date info so very importantto us while sailing off shore or just out on a lake orday sailing close by,does it really warn us of some nasty weather coming our way.Is it really accurate with wind and wave action,rain and thunderstorms approaching.Or do you use something better while out on the water,I do keep VHF onat all times and do check NOAA and as many weather reporting before leavingbut if the XM gives good weather reporting on the water it's worth the $$$$.I hope some one here has XM and can tell us what they really think about itand not just take pot shots without really knowing.Nick

 

[Warren Milberg]

I have an XM receiver in my car...

and would not put one on my boat. I've since dropped the monthly service. My primary use was weather and traffic forecasting, which was supposed to be in real time. Both were very inaccurate. As far as weather goes for coastal cruising and the like, I don't see how you could do any better than NOAA Weather Radio that you pick up on your VHF. If you have a model with the weather alert feature, you don't even have to tune to a weather channel to get warnings. If you are going offshore out of VHF range, you are going to need either SSB or satellite radio (not XM) to get any decent weather.

 

[Jim Seamans]

Seadaddler - got XM weather on Java

I've no experience for offshore coverage - how many miles? Have the sailor package plus radio.I use it mostly for weather broadcast/warnings and watching the radar for impending thunderstorms. It has already saved my butt a couple of times when I can see storms building up and see how they are tracking either at me or around. Got dock mates who are beginning to stop by or call on vhf to see if any storms are coming. Due to the haze we get embedded thunderstorms that you can not see visually but are showing up on the XM radar feed with animation. Last Saturday afternoon a series of storms were coming and I was able to let everyone on the dock know and put up the enclosure and partied while it rained in buckets. Afterwards, we left the dock and sailed to a favorite gunk hole dropped anchor and drank wine. This was because I could see that we were behind the front and all the storms were east and moving east.Can't get any better than that..Jim

 

[seadaddler]

Jim

Hey JIM I know that you have a Garmin on yourboat so does the XM weather wanring's show up on a split screen like on my Ray C-80.I am thinking of adding XM within the next monthit should not be too hard for me to install,I'llbe doing some more info searching for it.it just sounds so nice to know what's coming atyou or when to stay put and batten down for thenasty stuff.Thanks everyone and keep the info coming.What's the sailor package with radio.Nick

 

[Capt. Ed]

Pay vs Free ??

What is it with the fascination with all these modern gizzmos . KISS works for me. When I instruct safe boating I show people the weather alert function on their VHF . I also tell them that weather alerts will be announced on 16 as a security. message . NOOA has had some problems with timely alerts in the past but my experience is they are doing a much better job. I would assume that the XM OR Garmin system has to receive the NOOA alert and then send it out on their system . I cut out the middle man anytime .

 

[seadaddler]

Why we Ask

As you may know some times the NOAA -VHF is not so accurateand neither is any weather report written in stone.I really would rather get the free stuff than pay for sure,butI am planning on doing some cruising for days and weeks at a time out on the water and also planning an off shore trip to florida.So having to pay a few $$$ to get some extra weather reportscan't hurt,new is really some times better.I am trying to compare what other boaters are using without spendinga ton of $$$$,cheap is not always the best way.Nick

 

[BobSail]

Have XM on our Garmin GPSMap 478

We've had similar experiences as Jim Seamans described. I like to be able to see the thunder cells and track their direction. There is a bit of a delay with XM posting the doppler data, but it tells you how old the data is, and it's still worthwhile for us. You can begin to think about reefing and anchor spots ahead of time. We had a real nasty one come through on Memorial Weekend, and when I turned the GPS on, there was a Severe Weather Alert notice posted across the bottom of the screen.The added bonus is that the 478 is setup to play the XM radio channels as well, and there is an audio jack on it for plugging into speakers. We've come to enjoy that feature more than the weather data!

 

[Bill Roosa]

Think long range and grow yourself

If you are thinking of crusing (you said you where) and going farther than just down the coast the buy a SSB and learn to read the free weather avalable there. It is world wide (XM is only good out to 300nm if I remember right, certianly not world wide). You get a world wide communcation system, weather and forcasts for one price.

 

[Mulf]

I just had a very good experience with Digital TV.

Sailing last Saturday on the central Chesapeake Bay put us in the path of a very dangerous storm system coming through. The 11 am NOAA Radio broadcast included the phrases; "dangerous thunderstorms", "60 mph winds", "damaging hail", "tornado warning". I have recently converted my 12 volt povered LCD TV from Analog to Digital, using a digital converter that also runs on 12 volts. While wrestling with the question of which way to run for cover, I remembered that the digital channels include one that continuously broadcasts the weather radar map for the DC to Baltimore to Dover area (Channel 9-2 for those in the area). We turned on the TV and were able to track the storm over a 2 hour period as we ran for our home port, and away from the area the red spots on the radar were headed. We very happily avoided the worst of the storm and were tied up in our slip before the first roll of thunder sounded. Those TV pictures were worth 10,000 words!

 

[richk]

NWS has a comprehensive guide for mariners

NWS has a comprehensive guide for mariners at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures/mw_coastal.pdf,It includes 1. discussions of Warning and Forecast Services2. descriptions of various types of warning (Gale, Storm, Tropical Storm, Hurricane.3. a discussion of coastal and offshore forecasts4. instructions for how to get the information when you are at sea.Pilot charts are a planning resource for those thinking about voyages over ocean.Also, the interested person might consider exploring the other link provided..for the jetstream program.Rich in Annapolisretired wx person(HSA-1)

 

[Jim Seamans]

Hey Nick

On the Garmin, I get the NOAA's warning as a weather beeping alert. XM weather provides no alerts. The damn Garmin beeps and depending on where I'm at on the boat I might hear it. Then Joan gets after me "Don't you hear that beeping???"If you look at XM radio's web site they have pictures of what you will see on the chartplotter.Like a couple of the others have stated, you can see the cells in time to hunker down. Or you can plot courses around or in between cells. It also helps that in a former life I was a weather observer.Jim

 

[b393capt]

Sirius

Nick,For the C-80 ... that is Sirius actually, not XM, as the available weather service.I use the Sirius on my Raymarine E-80, and am very happy.Sirius has more weather information that XM, and is more capable at allowing you to make the most out of a day of boating that has an iffy NOAA forecast.

 

[seadaddler]

sorry everyone

I am sorry everyone I made a mistake and thanks to b393I really was asking for the Sirius system that Raymarineuses on their C and E Chartplotters.So any one that uses that system I would love to herefrom you and thanks to everyone for their info.Nick

 

[bp]

Coming Soon

Nick, I'll be taking my new boat on a multi-hundred mile offshore trip starting in two weeks, and I have sirius weather installed. We haven't been far enough offshore yet to answer your questions, but when we return from this trip, I'll post my experiences. To respond to another post, the reason I installed it was to get weather information when outside of vhf range (which isn't very far offshore) and to get weather information that is more current than the NWS info broadcast a few times a day on hf. bp

 

[richk]

bp...radiofax?

bpIf you know how to read a wx chart and have the right receive equipment, then radiofax may be of use to you.A discussion of radiofax charts is at http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/marine.shtml A worldwide schedule can be found at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/rfax.pdfRich

 

[bp]

barometer...I used radiofax during a past trip to the Bahamas

Even though I barely passed the weatherchart reading 101 class. Maybe it was my hf setup, but I had lots of "smudges" in the images due to signal loss. But I agree, the more sources of weather information the better. Weather information saved our bacon when we spent 10 days in Andros waiting for a serious stalled system to move through.

 

[richk]

smudges

"smudges" are common with wxfax via hf. i wouldn't be surprised if the same functionality (viz wx graphics) is avail offshore, but $$$ are involved to capture the bit stream. the standard graphic format appearing in sailing correspondence is gridded binary, aka grib (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRIB). this is nothing more than a convenient way to display the contents of a continuous field of an atmospheric variable, like wind, temp, press, humidityone of radiofax first applications was for offshore wx. hf transmission of this type information has been in somewhat continuous use for decades, although there was a recent, unsuccessful bid to terminate (U.S.) federal service in hf bands.rich in annapolisretired wx person

 

[Bryce22345]

Sirius weather

Nick,I have a sirius weather receiver on my E-120 raymarine system. the NOW weather radar is time delayed a few minutes, but it is good. weather buoy reports are quite current, as in a few minutes old. if you looking at it you have plenty of time to do something prudent if a storm is approaching. the range can be set to cover the entire US or just your sailing area. not sure how far off shore it works either. I do mostly coastal cruising in NE and the coverage is great here.Bryce