Sirius and XM merger?

Peter R. wrote:
On 2/21/2007 9:10:48 AM, "Gig 601XL Builder" wrote:

I don't beleive Sirius had in their business plan to go into the
aviation WX market.

Yes, they do/did. Sirius is (was?) going to be the carrier for WSI's
downlinked weather. We WSI customers have been waiting since last
October to begin swapping our existing receivers for ones that
receive the Sirius signal.

I am a bit concerned how this merger, if it indeed goes through,
would impact WSI's weather delivery. However, as an XM Radio
customer, I am a bit excited about the increased talk channels and
more stations that don't play commercials between music.

I didn't realise that WSI were going to use the Sirius birds for their feed.
Seeing as how even the merged companies will still need as much income as
possible XM/S might just feed the stuff anyway.

"Blueskies" wrote in message
et...
What'll it do to satellite NEXRAD services?



Can someone explain what this is? Is this a service that sends current
radar information to a plane while in flight? I googled for information,
but did find any. What is the monthly fee for this service, and is there a
portable/battery operated "box" that combines GPS position with the radar
image?

Danny Deger

Danny Deger wrote:
"Blueskies" wrote in message
et...
What'll it do to satellite NEXRAD services?



Can someone explain what this is? Is this a service that sends
current radar information to a plane while in flight? I googled for
information, but did find any. What is the monthly fee for this
service, and is there a portable/battery operated "box" that combines
GPS position with the radar image?

Danny Deger

Here's a portable http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap496/

And while there is probabaly a link in there somewhere to the serveice cost.
Here's one from XM.

http://www.xmradio.com/weather/av_service_pricing.xmc

and while I looked that up I found this for hardware other than the Garmin
mentioned above.

http://www.xmradio.com/weather/hardw...lutions_av.xmc

On Feb 21, 12:24 pm, "Gig 601XL Builder"
wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote:
Danny Deger wrote:
"Blueskies" wrote in message
. net...
What'll it do to satellite NEXRAD services?

Can someone explain what this is? Is this a service that sends
current radar information to a plane while in flight? I googled for
information, but did find any. What is the monthly fee for this
service, and is there a portable/battery operated "box" that combines
GPS position with the radar image?

Danny Deger

Here's a portablehttp://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap496/

And while there is probabaly a link in there somewhere to the serveice cost.
Here's one from XM.

http://www.xmradio.com/weather/av_service_pricing.xmc

and while I looked that up I found this for hardware other than the Garmin
mentioned above.

http://www.xmradio.com/weather/hardw...lutions_av.xmc

Danny,

Not sure where you live or how often you fly x-country, but if its
often and someplace where you don't have severe clear 365 days/yr, you
oughta find a way to put XM Wx in your plane. A Garmin 396 or 496 is
often the cheapest way to go. Others may have their preferred
hardware solutions. The situational awareness and near real-time
weather is worth its weight in gold. NEXRAD, visual projection of
winds, AWOS and TAFs across the country, airmet and sigments....its
great. Knowing EXACTLY where the t-storms are and whether the clouds
I'm in are just clouds or something worse is fantastic. After having
it for 18 months, I wonder how I survived in the east coast soup for
all of these years without it. Even better than sliced bread.

And no....I don't work for Garmin or XM.

--Jeff

The merger is great and my neighbor who works for Sirius says the XM
services should not be affected.

I've avoided subscribing to XM or Sirius for several years because I
wasn't sure which, if either, would survive. Now that I know there
will be a service provider, I plan on subscribing soon. I also became
a stock investor. And I think there are a lot of other people like me
who feel the same way.

And satellite radio DOES have competition, it's called terrestrial
radio and cable TV (mine has 100 digital music channels).

~ted/2NO

"JB" wrote in message
oups.com...

snip

Danny,

Not sure where you live or how often you fly x-country, but if its
often and someplace where you don't have severe clear 365 days/yr, you
oughta find a way to put XM Wx in your plane. A Garmin 396 or 496 is
often the cheapest way to go. Others may have their preferred
hardware solutions. The situational awareness and near real-time
weather is worth its weight in gold. NEXRAD, visual projection of
winds, AWOS and TAFs across the country, airmet and sigments....its
great. Knowing EXACTLY where the t-storms are and whether the clouds
I'm in are just clouds or something worse is fantastic. After having
it for 18 months, I wonder how I survived in the east coast soup for
all of these years without it. Even better than sliced bread.

And no....I don't work for Garmin or XM.

--Jeff


I plan to go cross country a lot in an older Taylorcraft that has no
electrical system and radio. I have not flown in a while, but it sounds
like for a couple of grand and $29.99/month I can put what is equivalent to
what used to be INS and weather radar in my little putt-putt airplane. No.
It is even better. The display has a lot more that just an INS and weather
radar. I get terrain avoidance, actual weather, etc.

Danny Deger

"Blueskies" wrote in message et...
: What'll it do to satellite NEXRAD services?

I just wonder why there is not some other source of datalinked information available. I mean, why does this have to come
in from satellites?

"Blueskies" wrote

I just wonder why there is not some other source of datalinked information
available. I mean, why does this have to come
in from satellites?

If you have ground stations, there has to be a LOT of them across the
country, since radio range has a distance limit that can not be worked
around. Add to that, line of sight is necessary to receives signals, so if
you are very far away from the transmitter, you have to get up high to get
the signal, due to the curvature of the earth.
Add up some unfortunate hills in the way, and you have to go elsewhere, or
get high enough so the mountain or hill is not in the way of the signal.

Most pilots like to make a go/no-go decision before they take to the air.
If there is no signal where you are on the ground until you get up a
thousand or more feet, that idea is out the window.

There has to be a lot of stations, like I said, and that costs money for the
installation and upkeep. Lots of money.

There is a system, or a proposal for a system that is ground based. I can't
remember what it is called, but I think it works off of the transponder
frequencies.

Satellites are good, because it only takes a few to get complete coverage,
in any part of the country, on the ground, in the air, or in valleys.
Dependable. That's the ticket.
--
Jim in NC

On 2/22/2007 7:35:02 PM, "Blueskies" wrote:

I just wonder why there is not some other source of datalinked information available. I mean, why does this
have to come
in from satellites?

This type of signal offers 100% coverage within the satellite's broadcast
"footprint." What alternative did you have in mind?

--
Peter

"Peter R." wrote in message ...
: On 2/22/2007 7:35:02 PM, "Blueskies" wrote:
:
: I just wonder why there is not some other source of datalinked information available. I mean, why does this
: have to come
: in from satellites?
:
: This type of signal offers 100% coverage within the satellite's broadcast
: "footprint." What alternative did you have in mind?
:
: --
: Peter

Like the SAS on the TV for instance, but it would be limited to the TV range. Maybe a sideband on the VOR or upload from
the radar...