Re: xm computer weather?

[proprclr]

Truth yenc@sucks.com wrote:

>"AI Nut" <ainut@hiwaay.net> wrote in message
news:10qg8tt4t7upr6e@corp.supernews.com...
>> I'm new to this XM stuff so please bear with me.
>> Is there a way to get the new xm weather signals into a laptop so one can
>> actually see the weather on a map? How would I go about it and about how
>> much would that cost?
>
>Yes, you can. Provided you have a newer laptop, anyways. You need either
>Win2k or XP, Pentium or equiv. 800MHz or better, 512Mb RAM recommended,

<snip>

>The equipment does NOT pick up the XM radio service with the music and
>entertainment, only the XM WX Worx service. The Mobile Threat Net >equipment
>costs between $700 and $900 depending on which software package (there's a
>basic and deluxe plus street mapping software package) you get and what you
>need hardware wise, like antennas, adapters, etc. The service itself is
>$99.99/mo. There's also an Aviation weather and Marine weather service and
<snip>

YOW! >:-[=]

Couldn't you get the same info with a cellphone-modem equipped laptop
and NOAA?

[John A. Weeks III]

In article <oauiq05gmhqtnsjmkcuer5jh2kk83q1mos@4ax.com>, proprclr
<000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.000000000000@0000000dg000.00
00> wrote:

> >The equipment does NOT pick up the XM radio service with the music and
> >entertainment, only the XM WX Worx service. The Mobile Threat Net >equipment
> >costs between $700 and $900 depending on which software package (there's a
> >basic and deluxe plus street mapping software package) you get and what you
> >need hardware wise, like antennas, adapters, etc. The service itself is
> >$99.99/mo. There's also an Aviation weather and Marine weather service and
> <snip>
>
> YOW! >:-[=]
>
> Couldn't you get the same info with a cellphone-modem equipped laptop
> and NOAA?

Yes, but with XM, you can get it real time while you are driving
or flying with a panel-mounted instrument. No flakey cell phone,
and no hodge podge of of cables, connectors, and devices bouncing
around on the passenger seat. Not to mention that cell phone
coverage is rather limited in the US.

-john-

--
====================================================================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john@johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
====================================================================

[AI Nut]

But the WX Worx solution is totally insane from a cost standpoint.

Does the XM radio have an audio or data output port already built-in?


"John A. Weeks III" <john@johnweeks.com> wrote in message
news:281120041127355491%john@johnweeks.com...
> In article <oauiq05gmhqtnsjmkcuer5jh2kk83q1mos@4ax.com>, proprclr
> <000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.000000000000@0000000dg000.00
> 00> wrote:
>
> > >The equipment does NOT pick up the XM radio service with the music and
> > >entertainment, only the XM WX Worx service. The Mobile Threat Net
>equipment
> > >costs between $700 and $900 depending on which software package
(there's a
> > >basic and deluxe plus street mapping software package) you get and what
you
> > >need hardware wise, like antennas, adapters, etc. The service itself
is
> > >$99.99/mo. There's also an Aviation weather and Marine weather service
and
> > <snip>
> >
> > YOW! >:-[=]
> >
> > Couldn't you get the same info with a cellphone-modem equipped laptop
> > and NOAA?
>
> Yes, but with XM, you can get it real time while you are driving
> or flying with a panel-mounted instrument. No flakey cell phone,
> and no hodge podge of of cables, connectors, and devices bouncing
> around on the passenger seat. Not to mention that cell phone
> coverage is rather limited in the US.
>
> -john-
>
> --
> ====================================================================
> John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john@johnweeks.com
> Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
> ====================================================================

[Mark S.]

"AI Nut" <ainut@hiwaay.net> wrote in message
news:10qubn85dp020b8@corp.supernews.com...
> But the WX Worx solution is totally insane from a cost standpoint.

Agreed. It's quite obvious that WX Worx is only a viable solution for
charter jets, yaghts and cruise ships. I know there's some pretty die hard
storm chasers out there that spare no expense outfitting their vehicles with
lightning detectors, weather stations, portable DSS dishes to pick up the
weather channel, 2 way radio gear for red cross, ham, police, etc so to them
WX Worx is just another cool gadget to add to their gadget mobile. I can't
imagine that there's too many subscribers out there that have this service.
I'd be interested in seeing the real numbers out of XM, though, rather than
just XM radio subscribers. Also, it would be interesting to see how much
bandwidth WX Worx takes up. They probably could fit a couple extra audio
channels without it or improve the audio quality on all of the channels. I
feel the same way about mobile video, although I bet the mobile video
service will be more of a hit than WX Worx, unless the equipment and monthly
rates come way down.

> Does the XM radio have an audio or data output port already built-in?

From what I understand, the WX Worx equipment does not get the audio
channels, but don't quote me on that. There's a USB port on the old Sony
DRN-XM01's that was never really mentioned in the manual, I wonder if
there's a way to get that thing to spit out the WX Worx data. I hope
someone figures it out, then I could sell mine for a profit! Anyways, I've
heard rumour that there was a sony service software CD that used that USB
interface and you could do all sorts of stuff with it, including changing
the radio ID.