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Getting SiriusXM in my airplane

Lemos

Active Member
What’s the easiest way to get SiriusXM music in my airplane? Is it possible to receive it via Bluetooth to my headset, or should it go through the audio panel, or how?
 
I have a portable xm receiver in a ‘portable mount’ from xm that I screwed onto the side panel. I hard-wired it for power, and audio out to my (home brew) intercom/audio panel. Antenna sits on top of the glare shield. Works great, except for the occasional denial of service for reasons unknown to me. (I keep the specific xm web page bookmarked on my iPad, to quickly get it re-initialized.) I suggest separate music volume controls for pilot and passengers.
 
I didn't think Sirius XM made a unit with bluetooth connectivity. That would be one option.

I would use a Sirius XM car unit. Plug the power into a cigarette lighter outlet (or hard wire like Bob did). Then plug the 1/8" audio plug into a music input jack on the audio panel. That assumes you have an audio panel with that capability.
 
I didn't think Sirius XM made a unit with bluetooth connectivity. That would be one option.

I would use a Sirius XM car unit. Plug the power into a cigarette lighter outlet (or hard wire like Bob did). Then plug the 1/8" audio plug into a music input jack on the audio panel. That assumes you have an audio panel with that capability.

You can also splice the audio output into several stereo lines, and plug them into the aux jack on Lightspeed or similar headsets. Works, but does lead to extra wires in the cockpit.
 
Garmin

Garmin GDL51R into G3x system. Or you could just buy a Garmin display with xm rx built in.

The gdl51r also provides low latency weather and bluetooth transmitter.
 
People say

This is anecdotal information from what I have read here on the forums. People have said they like the XM weather better than ADSB weather. Dont know much about this other than what people have freely expressed. There were few that said the ADSB miight be delayed 20 min, whereas the XM is near real time. I dont have any real facts, just stories. YMMV
 
This is anecdotal information .......There were few that said the ADSB miight be delayed 20 min, whereas the XM is near real time. YMMV

This is definitely NOT true. Both are subject to the same NWS delays, and the advertised number is ‘less than 20 minutes’ for both. The ‘time’ which may be shown on your screen is the time since data uplink, not the total delay. Neither xm nor adsb wx radar is suitable for close-in avoidance of thunderstorms. Think of it as a ‘strategic planning tool’. It is true that for distant wx adsb degrades the picture somewhat (larger pixels) to save bandwidth, so xm looks better. But unless you’re traveling at supersonic speeds the extra resolution means nothing - the wx will have changed enough by the time you get there that the ‘extra resolution’ is meaningless. It’s true that xm is available whenever you can see the sky (e.g., out of the hangar); for adsb you need to access a ground station.
I’ve had both in my airplane, but decided to drop the xm subscription.
 
The March issue of AOPA Pilot, page 106 has a great discount code for an XM reciever if you want to install one in the plane. $10 vs the advertised $60 to buy it normally.
 
I definitely prefer the XM weather over than ADS-B for a clearer picture of weather. I get my XM over my GDL52R. Had the music for my wife but she’d rather nap quietly. She doesn’t even want to hear ATC or me so she unplugs her Bose headset and only uses the ANR portion for that peace and quiet. I’m not into music when I’m flying so we cancelled the music and only get the wx
 
I had a trial subscription for XM weather and I did like it better... however, I cannot justify the cost of it for the little incremental value you get over FIS-B weather products.
 
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