AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2014 - 36

PILOT BRIEFING
VALUE. PERSONALIZED. FRIENDLY
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PILOT PRODUCTS

SiriusXM Aviation weather receiver
New weather information offered
B Y A LT O N K . M A R S H
YOU'RE SEEING THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG

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866.272.2760
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with the introduction by Garmin of
the $599 GXM 42 SiriusXM weather
receiver. Sure, you'll get cloudto-cloud lightning with the new
antenna, but that's half of the story.
The XM weather folks have created a much better satellite signal that
brings all sorts of new weather information. It requires a new antenna-not the one
you got in the box free when you bought your Garmin aera
796 portable GPS. The old signal can continue to be used
for years, but if you want the new services, you'll need the
new antenna. For now the GXM 42 only works on the
aera 796, and with it comes a software upgrade that
makes the 796 smart enough to receive the better signals. In the future the GXM 42 will be available for the
696 and 500-series GPS portable units as well
(but probably never for the 496 and 396 units).
HOW IT USED TO BE DONE
There were 88 airports with 24-hour
The old signal will die sometime in the distant
weather stations staffed only by
future on a date to be determined by SiriusXM.
Weather Bureau personnel pro"Garmin has developed the new GXM 42
viding briefings to pilots in 1939.
Weather maps were prepared based
SXM weather/music receiver to support this
on observations of 171 weather
new signal and the new SXM aviation weather
stations using teletype to report
subscriptions offered for this service," Garmin
findings. The 165 weather stations
located on airways used a telegraph
said. "Garmin plans to offer an upgrade path
to send reports for the clearance of
to the GXM 42 SXM weather/music receiver
scheduled flights.
for the XM WX capable portables currently in
production, including the aera 796 [available
now using latest released V4.01 software], GPSMAP 696, and aera
510/560. All of these models will use the GXM 42 SXM receiver
when software is available."
The plan is to sell future aera 796 units without the antenna for
$1,699 (Sporty's sells them with an XM WX antenna, but not a free
weather subscription, for $1,999). SiriusXM is expected to offer a
$300 SiriusXM Rewards Visa Prepaid Card rebate for new purchases. Activation fees have been lowered to $25 and discounts are
available to customers who prepay for annual subscriptions with
SiriusXM. The base subscription service now includes lightning,
including cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground activity; graphical
winds aloft; temperatures aloft; airmets and sigmets-previously
available only in higher priced subscriptions.
Price: $599
Contact: www.garmin.com; www.siriusxm.com/sxmaviation
EMAIL alton.marsh@aopa.org

36 | AOPA PILOT May 2014

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2014

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2014