Weather - SiriusXM marine for the PacNW

A bit more info dribbling in on SiriusXM. Raymarine answers that whatever the SR200 module provides, they display. They source the SR200 from SiriusXM and it is Sirius that is responsible for the firmware and what comes out of it. The same is true for the Garmin, Simrad, Furuno, etc units.

Sirius says that is true, and these units are of various revs and ages, some older ones may not be as capable and don't have upgradable firmware. They are "running tests" on the SR200 to get me an answer to the specific question of Canadian forecasts. Raymarine does emphasize that the SR200 is flashable and therefore upgradable (the SR150 is not).

DDW,

That’s a big trust me card from Raymarine. The SR200 may receive all the data that Sirius is sending, Raymarine has to process the data and write the software to display it. If they don’t store and process the Canadian data for display, then what the SR200 receives doesn’t matter.

Tom

They are adamant that they display everything received. It would be great to find someone with a Raymarine SR200 to see if they can access those forecasts. As R.R. famously said, "Trust, but verify". Raymarine in recent years has been pretty good about firmware and software updates, 2 or 3 a year on their LHIII MFDs. Not just bug fixes, significant additions to function.

Tom, congrats on a new Helmsman 38E, that's a nice boat! If you're getting a new Garmin suite, it will be capable of SXM weather regardless of what you decide. The GXM 54 antenna can always be added at a later date if you push this off. I'm going through the same situation but I'm doing a Garmin helm update. the SXM antenna for this is almost exactly the same size as one of their GPS antennas, so it can be placed in the same kind of location on a radar mast or an arch; doesn't take much space.
We're going to go ahead and try it, we'll start with marine coastal, which is only $34.99/month and we can always turn it off later if we don't need it or are spending time off the boat.
By the way for those that also do SXM audio; you get a discount if you're doing both audio and weather.
From what i've seen I think we'll like having it, especially in places where cell service is spotty. Like I said, havent finished installing yet but we'll know in a few months....

Had it and dropped it. Waste of time and money. Very disappointed.

I find AT&T service very limited for Southeastern Alaska. I can get a signal less than 50 percent of the time in my travels. Mostly wont work in the head of bays where we often anchor. On the other hand NOAA vhf weather works maybe 85 percent of the time. FM radio periodically will give local weather, however 20 percent of the time I can’t get any FM reception in my travels. We live on the hook all summer and tend to more isolated areas.

RLKramer said:

Had it and dropped it. Waste of time and money. Very disappointed.

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Can you specify the equipment you used. Brand and model. We are learning that this makes a difference.

Did you not get reception? Or did not get what you wanted out of the reception?

So finally a definitive answer from Sirius. Yes, the Canadian Marine Zone forecasts are rendered on the Axiom/SR200 combination, they are under a separate tab in the text forecasts and mirror what you see on the Environment Canada website. They sent me a screen capture showing exactlythat on a working system.

That, and the confirmation that I can get reception fairly far north has pushed me over the edge - I am ordering the SR200 for installation this Spring.

DDW you might find this link of interest.

https://www.practical-sailor.com/ma...uters-software/a-new-era-in-weather-forecasts

Gotta be a subscriber to read it.

DDW said:

Gotta be a subscriber to read it.

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Hi, more wx toys aboard than I need and so some overlapping capability. We cruise the US East coast, Bahamas and T and Cs. Often out of cell range for weeks at a time. Current setup ( and yes, I need to winnow a bit):
Furuno with Sirius full weather package, Iridium Go and Passage weather offshore app. Then add Weathernet from OCENS via the Iridium.
Plenty said about most of these so just a few notes: Sirius on the Furuno is convenient and quick, GRIBs and Zone forecasts. But I really appreciate the thunderstorm tracking when we are offshore. TR cells are displayed, along w direction of movement. Updated every 6 minutes. Really helps for planning a heading to avoid.
Offshore app through the Iridium Go is good if I want a longer range look at the GRIBs and want to compare Euro and US models.
Weathernet from OCENS via the Iridium Go can deliver every conceivable wx product out there. Their GRIB Explorer app is quite capable as well. Most anything from NOOA as well as many other services. Pay as you go, a GRIB download may be 25-30 cents. A little quirky and a bit of a learning curve, but the only way to get some of this stuff when off the grid.
A side benefit of the Iridium Go, when you add the One Mail app from OCENS, You can download mail using your gmail account. The Iridium Go has its own mail app but it requires a unique Iridium account.

I think you also need to filter that in context. Longer ocean or offshore coastal passages the Iridium Go stuff looks pretty good, and longer range gribs are useful. On the east coast the storm tracking on Sirius is good.

Now, in the PNW channels, all of these are close to useless. The weather there often is very local, very quick changing, and very influenced by terrain. The only products I've seen that account for that are the high resolution (1km) models from PredictWind, and the zone marine forecasts from the national weather services (NOAA and Environment Ca.). Outside of a phenomenally expensive internet setup, I don't see a way to get the hi res PredictWind stuff when out of WiFi/Cell range. The zone forecasts you can get on VHF, when you can get VHF, if you are patient enough. That leaves SiriusXM which gives you gribs (marginally useful), zone forecasts (useful), and real time buoy reports (very useful).

What would be an interesting product: real time buoy reports via Iridium Go, better still on an Inreach at a fraction of the cost. This is a tiny amount of data and would be cheap to deliver. Inreach has a weather forecast facility which could be quite good but isn't. Now that Garmin owns them, I'll not hold my breath for any advances. Maybe it is something I should work on myself.

DDW said:

I think you also need to filter that in context. Longer ocean or offshore coastal passages the Iridium Go stuff looks pretty good, and longer range gribs are useful. On the east coast the storm tracking on Sirius is good.



Now, in the PNW channels, all of these are close to useless. The weather there often is very local, very quick changing, and very influenced by terrain. The only products I've seen that account for that are the high resolution (1km) models from PredictWind, and the zone marine forecasts from the national weather services (NOAA and Environment Ca.). Outside of a phenomenally expensive internet setup, I don't see a way to get the hi res PredictWind stuff when out of WiFi/Cell range. The zone forecasts you can get on VHF, when you can get VHF, if you are patient enough. That leaves SiriusXM which gives you gribs (marginally useful), zone forecasts (useful), and real time buoy reports (very useful).



What would be an interesting product: real time buoy reports via Iridium Go, better still on an Inreach at a fraction of the cost. This is a tiny amount of data and would be cheap to deliver. Inreach has a weather forecast facility which could be quite good but isn't. Now that Garmin owns them, I'll not hold my breath for any advances. Maybe it is something I should work on myself.

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Weathernet app via Iridium Go provides buoy data, zone forecasts, etc.

1 km resolution is only available up to Sechelt on PWE and PWG models. Beyond that it is 8 km res to the end of Johnstone Strait, and then 50 km res north of that. HRRR model (never heard of it?) goes 3 km res to Campbell River, then 50 km res north of there. Last summer Predict Wind was regularly showing 15 knots prediction at Fanny Island where the actual conditions were 30 knots. Big difference, and this was for many days. Not a good scenario if you’re trying to sneak up to the Broughtons or Rivers Inlet. In fact this played a major role in our decision to stay in the Desolation Sound area for the season rather than pushing north.

The 8km model is available on PWE, PWG, ECMWF right through to Alaska. I just looked at it. The SPIRE and UKMO models are available at 12k and 15k respectively. I thought I was getting the 1km model last time I was up there, but my memory could be faulty. The 8km model is better than the 25 and 50, which is what GFS runs and on which many grib downloads are based. The HRRR model is the rapid refresh NOAA model, don't think it is run much beyond the border. I am going to ask PredictWind about the 1km model.

Of course these are all predictions, not reality, best to compare them all and make a judgement. "Embrace uncertainty", the weather people say. For example, just now, the GFS has it blowing 11 knots in the Clarance Strait, while all three tighter models have it at 20. Even the buoy reports are not infallible: We sailed right by the reporting station on Solander Is., it was reporting 25 knots while we were seeing 16 at masthead. The thing is up on a peaked island and is seeing accelerated wind.

I will check out the Weathernet app. But if it gives me only what I can get on Sirius for less money, then Sirius is the better bet. One advantage being it is continuously broadcast and updated, and continuously received and stored, without user intervention.

So the Weathernet app only has RAP and HRRR models. RAP is fairly low resolution, HRRR is only run south of 50N. Not going to be that useful in BC and AK.

I note from the website, that 1 km resolution is only available to where I said, as is my current display (see attached images). However the website suggests 8 km is available up to Alaska, although I cannot “see” that on my iPad (see attached). It doesn’t appear to be subscription based - I have Basic all year and upgrade to Standard for the summer - so I can’t explain why I can’t see 8 km north of Vancouver Island.

Where did you find that coverage map? I looked around the website and couldn't find it. That makes it look like the 1km coverage is quite limited.

You have to set up a location up on the coast to see the finer scale models. It only lets you view them a distance centered on the location. Set one for PR and see what you get? I have only the basic and can get the 8km all the way through to AK.

Coverage map https://www.predictwind.com/world-coverage/

Got it, that’s the problem! My default location was set here in Vancouver. When I change it to further north that coverage fills in. Thx for the tip.

Hmm.. they sent me a link to the map of coverage, it looks like there is a significant gap even in the 8km in the southern AK panhandle. Not clear why they chose that tile.

Hmm, I just posted a link for you (sounds like the same one), with some other comments, but it looks like that particular reply got hung up waiting for moderator approval?

I further enquired, and they said they are always looking at where to expand coverage. The ECWMF is available at 8km, the SPIRE at 12km, and the UKMO at 15km throughout the area. I've not much experience with the SPIRE and UKMO. The ECWMF often delivers the same result as the PWE at least shorter term (no surprise there really).

Last summer I had an interesting experience on the Hood Canal, exited the marina to cross Dabob Bay and wind picked up suddenly from 5 to about 25 knots. You could see it coming. The event lasted about 45 minutes and then was gone. None of the models showed this except for the PWG 1km and to a lessor extent the PWE 1km. It was not in the NOAA forecast. I've seen stuff like this a few times now where the 1km model showed small, local, but still significant events not picked up by the lower res models. Of course they are only run for 36 hours and up on the remote coast you couldn't get them anyway without and Immarsat dish and a big credit card.