XM Sat. Weather

ORCA · Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 12:42 am Post subject:

Hi

Well, my system has a build in GPS witch will show my position in the sat picture, very simple Thumbs Up

Everything is automated so all you have to do is look on the screen... Very Happy

Over NMEA you can do that to most of the weather sat software on the market, even the free one... Thumbs Up

Most of the scanners are good enough for NOAA, my Yaesu 5000 is pretty good for that...

Sure a dedicated system is always better....

regards Chris

thataway · Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 1:24 am Post subject:

Chris, The Yaesu 5000 is a good general purpose reciever (about $600)--but not the off the shelf Radio Shack scanner--I noticed that someone else in Germany is working in this same frequency range--and encountered a problem with bandwith...suggesting that the 40 mhz band width is a potential problem for good pictures. Also having a maping program which puts your GPS position in reference (accurately--and can map the cells in real time within several miles seems like a challange...
I found some issues mentioned on the internet with this--and am taking it to a private message, since there are tecnical details not of general interest to the forum members...

Gene Morris · Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 3:55 pm Post subject:

Dr Bob & Chris;

You guys are talking way above my head. I received the software update from Garmin today. After I installed it the weather info was made available. So far, just playing around with it, it looks great and very useful. My interest in the weather option is sea surface temps. Tuna fishing is reliant on knowing the sea surface temps. Cloud cover, sea surface temps, swell height and pressure gradients are overlayed on my plotter. XM & Garmin were very helpful and responsive.

Gene

Pete in NY · Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 8:43 pm Post subject:

If you have broadband wireless on your laptop on the boat and if you are in range (or from your home computer if you are just looking around), the best NOAA site is here:

http://nowcoast.noaa.gov/

It seems that all that this is the source for all the data that is
broadcast to the chartplotters via XM or Sirius.

It doesn't display on the chartplotter but it is free!!