Getting WX Outside the US

[Piloto]

Even though XM\WX depict weather in the Caribbean when you are in the US, the reality is that the satellite signal only covers up to Grand Turks (GTK). Once  you pass GTK to the south east there is no more XM. I found a way around this with my iPhone 4 with ATT service. Just download the radar webpage (or satellite) from the NOAA website and you get instant WX. To locate the weather in relation to my position I velcro my iPhone to where the Mooney logo was located on the yoke and cross correlate with the Aera map. When I do not need the iPhone I velcro back the logo piece. Because most flights in the Virgin Island are at low altitude you get reliable weather most of the time, even on the ground. I found it to be very helpful over the Mona Channel enroute to the US even above 10,000 feet. You can see satellite weather for the next 900nm ahead. I tried in the US and found that below 5000ft you can almost get constant WX data. Above 5000ft the iPhone gets overwhelmed with multiple cells and half the time is unable to download the WX page. But it is not really a big problem since weather does not change that quick. This could be an alternative to XM\WX and WX via UAT\ADSB, with no added cost.

José