XM WX vs SiriusXM Aviation Weather?

[GalinHdz]

Here is a link to the XM theoretical satellite footprint . Actual reception depends heavily on which receiver you use but anything below about a 55 on this scale (which is about 50mi from the US) is basically unusable.

[Lenny Iszak]

I've flown to the Bahamas with XM (the old WxWorx box not the Sirius XM) and had coverage in Staniel Cay and down to the Exumas and that's well beyond 50 miles off shore.

Here's a footprint map of some of the XM channels:

http://www.satbeams.com/footprints?beam=6406


After installing my G3i ignition I've had some kind of interference and went through several boxes and antennas and i couldn't not get reception in flight no matter what. Interestingly I had good reception on the ground, but not in the air.
Turns out that XM has several very high powered ground based antennas, some of them are transmitting at 6000 Watts, if i remember correctly, (i feel sorry for the guy whose million dollar condo on the beach is right below one of those antennas).
The ground signals are way more powerful so I receive those but not the sat signal. I think that's something to look into if you get crappy reception offshore. Foreflight displays the signal strength for both ground and sat channels.

I have both XM and Adsb and there's a huge difference in the nexrad images. It has something to do with how each company composites the radar images.
One thing that I like about Xm weather is that it gives you Satellite images. Lots of delay in the data but it still comes in handy sometimes.

ADSB cuts out sometimes so it's much riskier to navigate around storms, which we often have to do in summer afternoons down here in Florida.

Lenny

[n38139]

Can you use the antennas that came with the Garmin portables to pickup the SiriusXM Aviation Weather signal?

[GalinHdz]

Originally Posted by Lenny Iszak

I've flown to the Bahamas with XM (the old WxWorx box not the Sirius XM) and had coverage in Staniel Cay and down to the Exumas and that's well beyond 50 miles off shore.

Like I said "Actual reception depends heavily on which receiver you use..." And it also depends on altitude. Airborne at 10,000ft is one thing, on the ground is another. If you can get it on the ground you can get it in the air. If you can't get it in the air, you won't get it on the ground. Then there is that in between area. On the many times I flew to the Eastern Caribbean (Puerto Rico, USVI and points further East) with a Garmin 496 it would loose reception around Exuma with nothing at all after about the Long Island area.

Again: YMMV

[g3xpert]

Originally Posted by n38139

Can you use the antennas that came with the Garmin portables to pickup the SiriusXM Aviation Weather signal?

Hello Steve,

An aera 510/560, aera 796, or GPSMAP 696 with a GXM40 receiver will use XM weather packages, while those with a newer GXM42 receiver will use the SXM weather packages.

Thanks,
Steve

[Jimd]

FYI,

I don't recall exactly where, but on my Alaska trip the XM reception became difficult to receive. I think this started to become a problem in the Yukon territory. I remember if I held and tilted the puck toward the equator that it would work but spotty. This was on a portable with the garmin XM antenna puck.

If your antenna is permanent mounted I might expect trouble.

Maybe the Alaska guys can report more recent info on this as it has been several years ago and was definitely XM, not Sirius.

Jim

[Lenny Iszak]

No, I haven't gone past the Exhumas. I'm using a Comant external antenna, combo XM and VHF, that will probably get much better reception than the built-in one.

Lenny

Originally Posted by GalinHdz

Like I said "Actual reception depends heavily on which receiver you use..." And it also depends on altitude. Airborne at 10,000ft is one thing, on the ground is another. If you can get it on the ground you can get it in the air. If you can't get it in the air, you won't get it on the ground. Then there is that in between area. On the many times I flew to the Eastern Caribbean (Puerto Rico, USVI and points further East) with a Garmin 496 it would loose reception around Exuma with nothing at all after about the Long Island area.

Again: YMMV

[BobTurner]

Anyone else have this problem? Weatherworxs xm receiver (but it also happened in my car with a different brand receiver) won't give out data, says it needs to be re-initalized. A visit to the xm web site fixed the problem within minutes. But once it happened at a gas stop in the middle of nowhere, no internet, no cell phone, service. And it happened to be when it really would have been useful. I bought an ADSB-in box, saved tbe $35/month, and haven't regretted it. Yes, xm is nice on the ground. But if there is cell phone service I can get wx on the iPad. And if there's no cell service, I lost faith that the xm would work.

[cccjbr6]

For those of us with a non-XM G3X Touch, can a XM receiver be added on?

[bkthomps]

Originally Posted by roadrunner20

Maybe I'm missing something here, but why would anyone buy these services when ADS-B is free?

Originally Posted by roadrunner20

OK. I guess I'm spoiled as we get such great coverage here in the southeast.
I'm off to the Bahamas in May, so I'll see what kind of coverage I get out there in the outer islands.

I have both in my airplane and constantly compare, the ADS-B is always lacking in comparison, in radar resolution, data stream speeds, updates, everything is drastically slower and noticeable.....i only use ADS-B if the XM is not working, so far, that's only been once, and it was a subscription issue on THEIR end