E120 and Sirius Weather/Radio

Steps Ahead

New Member
Apr 22, 2007
93
Occoquan, Virginia
Boat Info
450 Express Bridge 2000
Raymarine E120
Engines
Cummins 6CTA-8.3 Diamonds (450HP)
We have completed installation of our new navionics including Raymarine E120 and SR100 (Sirius weather receiver including SRA40 Sirius marine antenna). We now wish to add a Sirius radio (perhaps Clarion CMD4). For the Raymarine C-series this does not appear to be a problem (the C-series apparently works with the SR50 receiver - and the same SRA40 antenna - but also has an audio output).

Both SR50 and SR100 include an "audio" connection. However, according to the installation manual, this connection on the SR100 is "unused." If I cannot use the SR100 audio connection, do I need to install a second Sirius antenna for the radio?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

- Scott
 
I have a similar setup but with XM weather and WxWorx. My comments here are based on the XM setup but it appears based on your comments that the Sirius setup is the same.

The audio out for the reciever used by the chartplotter is just an RF connection that is passed through the reciever box. The reciever box is essentially acting as a coax cable splitter with one going to the electronics for the weather and the other passing through to the radio. If for some reason the audio out connection is disabled, you can buy a Sirius antenna cable splitter and install it between the antenna and the chartplotter reciever box and then take a coax and plug it into the Sirius or XM ready radio receiver. Do a search on google for "sirius antenna splitter" and you'll find a bunch. Both XM and Sirius antennas only recieve signals and do not transmit so it's not like the signals are going to get confused. There is no reason to put multiple XM or Sirius antennas on a boat....
 
Thanks Gary. As you suggested, I was able to find antenna signal splitters that use a conventional cable TV splitter (and SMB to F-type couplers, an amplifier, impedance matching transformers, etc.). I get the feeling that these are fine for splitting signals to radio receivers, but I am less confident that the signal to a weather receiver will not be adversely affected.

I take it that you have had no problems with a splitter and XM weather? Would I be correct that you display the WxWorx on your bridge PC separately from your chartplotter? Are you able to superimpose the weather data on your chart data? Am I asking too many questions?

After further investigation, it appears that the Raymarine C-series displays incorporate a Sirius radio tuner and that the audio output from the SR50 is a line level signal that may be fed directly to an audio amplifier, i.e., it is not an antenna signal.

It is frustrating that the more expensive E-series fails to incorporate this capability of the C-series with SR50 (also less expensive than the SR100 that is for the E-series)!

Ultimately, if this is the worst issue that I have to deal with, then I must be doing OK.

- Scott
 
According to techs at Raymarine, they will be releasing a software update for the E-series later this fall. The tech I have talked to said the update will be addressing some of the weather issues. They couldn’t (wouldn’t) be specific; I’m hoping they address the weather overlay on chart and the addition of radio. I’m interested in adding the Sirius weather so will wait and see.

Did you install yourself? If so how did it go?
 
Hello Paul. Thanks for the information. If the updates include enabling Sirius on our system, I will be ecstatic as the only thing that I may need to do is connect the SR100 audio output to the auxiliary input of the existing stereo system.

I did not install the system (which also includes a DSM30 HD Digital Sounder Module, a 5S 4' Open Array Antenna, a Raystar 125 GPS Sensor, and a SeaTalk hs Network Switch to couple everything). This was done by the marina as part of our deal. I did observe some of the installation, which also included removing the original Raytheon R80RC and open array antenna. The three most significant tasks were resizing the helm opening for the slightly larger new display, running the cables from the arch to the helm, and mounting & powering the additional equipment at the helm. That being said, the total time that it took two guys (one seasoned technician and his helper) was about half a day. Of course, having the ladders and other equipment to facilitate climbing all over the boat (it was hauled out at the time) helped immensely.

- Scott
 
Once the software update comes out you will be able to connect directly from your SR100 to the aux in on your stereo. The stereo does not need to be sat radio ready as the tuning is done on the E-Series display. If you want to be able to tune from the stereo display you will need a sat ready stereo with a sat tuner and a part called a SRS-3 from Shakespeare which essentially will allow you to run two cables down from your SRA40 antenna, one to the sr100 and the other to the sat radio tuner. Hope this helps.
 
Thanks Jim. Hopefully the software update will become available before next season. Otherwise, I will just have to follow your "hardware" solution and get a satellite ready radio from you (sorry that I missed your booth in Annapolis).

- Scott
 
As I said earlier, I'm not a Sirius guy. (geez... that's the best pun I've made all week)

I'm an XM guy....

Thanks Gary. As you suggested, I was able to find antenna signal splitters that use a conventional cable TV splitter (and SMB to F-type couplers, an amplifier, impedance matching transformers, etc.). I get the feeling that these are fine for splitting signals to radio receivers, but I am less confident that the signal to a weather receiver will not be adversely affected.

The signals you are getting are digital signals (1's and 0's) and have to be decoded into usable data. The audio signal is not analog. Therefor, I wouldn't expect one to work better than the other. Here's a place that carries the stuff for the XM side:

http://www.xm-radio-satellite.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=64

I take it that you have had no problems with a splitter and XM weather?

That is correct

Would I be correct that you display the WxWorx on your bridge PC separately from your chartplotter?

Yes.

Are you able to superimpose the weather data on your chart data? Am I asking too many questions?

No. I have the WxWorx GPS option and I usually keep the thing zoomed out a little more than the chartplotter anyway. I want to see where stuff is 100 miles away and see what is "brewing" and then track the thunderstorms with the vectors. I've talked about my PC setup in a few other areas here on CSR so you may want to search for that if you are interested.

After further investigation, it appears that the Raymarine C-series displays incorporate a Sirius radio tuner and that the audio output from the SR50 is a line level signal that may be fed directly to an audio amplifier, i.e., it is not an antenna signal.

I can't really speak to that other than if that is correct, they have put an audio decoder and user interface in the chartplotter... huh? Ok... I wish they would focus on getting their stinking fluxgate compass to hold up better than get into the radio tuner business. I'm in the process of putting in a Polk XM reciever which can process and spit out digital audio into an surround sound amp (Bose) for the cabin... I'm sure Raymarine does not want to go compete with the real audio players. How silly.

It is frustrating that the more expensive E-series fails to incorporate this capability of the C-series with SR50 (also less expensive than the SR100 that is for the E-series)!

Raymarine has no issue with dropping support in an instant for something in the market that didn't work out or if they see a better mousetrap. Look what happened to HSB and HSB II.

The thing Jim refers to is probably just a standard sat/LNB splitter with a Shakespear name on it but I don't know.
 
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One other thing I'll mention here is what happens when XM and Sirius become one company. Will the Sirius weather or the XM weather prevail and will the "losing systems" be able to be upgraded easily... I don't think anyone knows that.
 
Thank you again Gary. I greatly appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge as well as your travel experiences - I have gone back on more than one occasion to look at the posts from your Summer '07 Cruise Extravaganza. You also raise a good point re merger of Sirius and XM.

And you have clarified another of your posts: you are NOT a geek - you are an XM guy.

- Scott
 
Just heard back from Raymarine and they gave me the same press release Scott, thanks. They said the software update will include all the features of the C-series software update v4.25. They provided this link C-Series Display New Features

They also said that the new release will NOT be changing the weather feature to display weather as a layer over the chart. Not happy to hear that.

Good information Gary, thanks.
 
You may use yours different from me but I'm not sure I would use an overlay function on the weather even if I could. I usually run with the regular radar overlaid on the chartplotter and I can definitely see storms and rain in real time but just not the intensity. I don't think I would want to overlay the boat's radar with the XM radar... too much overlay. I prefer having the XM weather stuff in a separate window because I like to have it zoomed out and it's too far for it to be useful looking at navigation charts. Also, with the concentric rings at 5 mile intervals on the XM weather display and the outline of the coast, I pretty much can see where it is. At the end of the day, the boat's radar is most accurate on location.

like this:

http://www.wxworx.com/marine/water_4.html
 
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You CAN NOT split the antenna using simple RF coax splitters! Do NOT DO IT. The antenna is powered by the equipment. Two devices will run the risk of ruining the antenna. Get a Shakespeare splitter designed for Sirius. Jim at BOE got one for me and it works great. Came with everything necessary. Now I have one antenna service both an SR1000 weather module and an XMD3 radio (with the sirius black box of course).

Also, the interface on the C-series kind of sucks. It really isn't all that friendly to use in addition to the chart plotter functions. While my SR1000 will "eventually" be capable of providing radio I'm not sure I'll bother. Look at it this way, I much prefer letting passengers fiddle with the Clarion weatherproof remote on the transom, as opposed to having them monkeying around on the chart plotter.
 
They also said that the new release will NOT be changing the weather feature to display weather as a layer over the chart. Not happy to hear that.

Personally, I don't want full chart detail with the weather. But I would like at least a "little more" detail along with the ability to make the weather transparent. I'd like to be able to 'fade' the density of the rain so I can see the underlying coastline detail. Much like how you can fade the aerial land photos on the chat views.

If you haven't already, try this setup. I customized the pages with three weather pages. One full screen weather, one split vertically with weather/chart and the other split horizontally weather/chart. This way I can easily show enough close-in chart detail while also showing larger scale weather info. As in, nearby depths inside on a creek while seeing what's brewing up out in the Bay a mile away.
 
Are you saying the splitter I have doesn't work? I didn't mean to imply that "all you need is a $2 cable TV splitter from Home Depot."

I agree on the power management issue but the splitters I pointed out are just standard sat/LNB channel master units that handle the power properly. Click on the pictures and you can see the channel master model numbers... It's not the only piece you need to make it work right though. The whole setup is about 90 bucks for a 2-way with the impedence transformers and various cables and the splitter is just $10 of that. I assume the shakespeare unit has all the same stuff included (and maybe cheaper).

I'll post the results of adding a third item (the Polk reference tuner) to my XM antenna when I get that done in a few weeks. I may post an article on the whole AV upgrade I'm doing on the 480 but haven't decided on that yet.
 
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