Weather fax on netbook + portable sony radio

Porthandbuoy

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Hi,
Sorry to sound stupid but I cant get my head round how you connect the radio to the computer. Do some come with usb connectors or is it via the headphone adaptor? If so how does the computer 'hear' the weather fax sounds??

Are the radios supplied with software to connect or web addresses to do so.

Thanks for any help

I'm using a lead with a 3.5mm stereo jack plug at each end. One end plugged into the Line Out socket of the radio, the other to the Mic input of the laptop. I get slightly less signal noise by sliding the left/right audio input fully one way or the other. Strictly speaking I should have a stereo/mono lead.

The SeaTTY software 'listens' to your computer's audio input and does the rest (with perhaps a bit of faffing around).
 

BruceDanforth

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You connect the line out of the radio to the mic input on the computer (or the line in) using a 3.5 mm jack to jack lead which is a wire with a male headphone connector at each end. There's a link in the original post to get the software
 

vyv_cox

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Have you tried it with that model?

It would be useful to have a list of radios that it is known to work with. So far I think we have...

Sony ICF-SW100S discontinued though
Sony ICF-SW7600G approx £100
Degen DE1103 / Kaito KA1103 approx £50, can only find on EBay in UK
Nasa HF3/W with ancient DOS software £175

Any others?

My Roberts will do so although it's a very long time since I tried. Mine is similar to this one but seems it may be an older version.
 

Jmolan

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Believe it or not, one guy found his laptop built in mic pick up would listen to the radio without cables. Using a cable is very simple and cheap, but I thought it was interesting that the computer would work without it
 

Mrnotming

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SAngean ATS 909

Well done EdBenyon,

I use a Sangean ATS 909 which is also Roberts Radio badged.
It works well with JV Comm 32. another similar program to yours I think.
Biggest cause of bad pics was the small flourescent light over galley and fridge motor.
It was invaluable when out of range of mobile phone signals, and will be again in the future.
I am glad to hear that Northwood is still broadcasting?

Good sailing to all!
 

iainhu

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This is a fascinating thread and I hope it’s not gone quiet as I’m need of some help!

As mentioned, the Sony radio you quote is no longer available, so instead I have purchased an Eton (Grundig) G3 Globe Traveller from Amazon. This seems a capably radio and is even sold in a package for SSB weather info use by YachtCom, e.g. the radio should be capable of doing the business. I also have a 7m retractable aerial (also from Amazon) to try and help things along, plus I’ve downloaded a copy of SeaTTY, however, from this point on things don’t go so well.

So I can tune the radio to 2616/4610/8040/11084 as you suggest. Incidentally, there’s a reminder; “To receive both weatherfax and text broadcast on a USB receiver you may have to tune 1.9 kHz low of frequency.” on the YachtCom site which confirms your; “tune 2KHz down” comment. This page also has a lot of useful info on frequencies and transission times. It seems this offset (-1.9KHz) is for receiving SSB-USB (upper side band). I suspect the offset is different for SSB-LSB (lower side band) which the G3 supports, however, I don’t know the offset or whether USB is somehow better than LSB.

I can get the input into my laptop (an old Dell D600 running WinXP and used solely for ‘nav’ tasks). I can see you point about mic input levels as if I turn the mic right down to nothing, then one click of the up arrow (not even a visible movement on the mic level slider), SeaTTY immediately sees a strong signal, e.g. to the top of the ‘current spectrum’ display at the top of the SeaTTY window. Mic input does seem to be rather all or nothing.

So I have the radio, I have the radio hooked to the laptop, I have SeaTTY working and I have SeaTTY showing me input ‘sound’ (noise more-like!), but there things come to a halt. I don’t seem to be able to get any kind of signal on any of the Northwood (GYA) frequencies. I did manage to get a feint voice message on RAF Volnet (5450 KHz) so know I can receive ‘something’, I just don’t seem to be having any luck receiving an actual weatherfax signal. I am in Norfolk (UK) so don’t know if I’m too close to the transmitter?

I have read that the Northwood transmitter is switched off when it’s not transmitting anything, making it a little more difficult to tune in ahead of time and get things setup, but is there some trick to tuning the radio? Should I only attempt in hours of darkness for instance? Should I try outside with the aerial strung up a tree? I’ve tried with both radio and laptop on battery only, but so far my limiting factor seems to be to actually receive anything that sounds remotely like a fax/data transmission on the radio, and obviously SeaTTY or anything else can’t decode anything until it has a data signal. So any clues on what I’m doing wrong? How do I get the radio to receive the weatherfax signal…what simple bit am I getting wrong?

Many thanks
 

Pye_End

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I’ve tried with both radio and laptop on battery only, but so far my limiting factor seems to be to actually receive anything that sounds remotely like a fax/data transmission on the radio, and obviously SeaTTY or anything else can’t decode anything until it has a data signal. So any clues on what I’m doing wrong? How do I get the radio to receive the weatherfax signal…what simple bit am I getting wrong?

Many thanks

I have been getting some very clear pictures from one of the two lower frequencies that they give. Forget which one.

Presumably the set has USB? With it set to USB you should be able to hear a fax signal clearly. Daytime is fine. There are some breaks in the transmission, but then again there are lots of them, so chances are it will be broadcasting, or will start again shortly! Small antenna inside is probably next to useless. I simply have a 10m wire strung up outside horizontally, and put the gear in the shed to keep it away from all electrical interferance in the house, and it is clear as a bell.

If it helps, 4610 is going like a trooper here at the moment.
 
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iainhu

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Presumably the set has USB?...
If it helps, 4610 is going like a trooper here at the moment.
Yes, radio has SSB USB and SSB LSB and Sych mode...not that I can really claim to know what synch mode is! As mentioned, this radio to sold as part of a complete pack by YachtCom/SailCom and so I know the set is capable...it seems to be me :(

Okay, my aerial is only 7m but will try outside, fully stretched horizontally as you suggest. Is horizontal better than vertical? Also, you mention “4610 is going like a trooper”. Do you actually mean you’re tuned to 4610, or are you 1.9KHz down on 4608.1? There seems to be this issue you need to tune 2/1.9KHz below the published frequency…can’t claim to know why though!

Will go and ‘play’ on 4610/4608 right now!
 

Pye_End

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Yes, radio has SSB USB and SSB LSB and Sych mode...not that I can really claim to know what synch mode is! As mentioned, this radio to sold as part of a complete pack by YachtCom/SailCom and so I know the set is capable...it seems to be me :(

Ok, sounds fine. Make sure it is set to USB.

Okay, my aerial is only 7m but will try outside, fully stretched horizontally as you suggest. Is horizontal better than vertical?

I don't know - I just bought a reel of wire, tried it, and it was good!

I have tried in the past bring in a signal by attaching a long wire to coax, and taking it to a pc. Got picture that way, but not nearly as good as taking a netbook down to the bottom of the garden.

Also, you mention “4610 is going like a trooper”. Do you actually mean you’re tuned to 4610, or are you 1.9KHz down on 4608.1? There seems to be this issue you need to tune 2/1.9KHz below the published frequency…can’t claim to know why though!

Will go and ‘play’ on 4610/4608 right now!

4610 has worked fine - have been playing with two sets over the last couple of weeks to see if there is any difference between them - one of them a Roberts with a BFO, and the other a NASA set with USB. Both have given really good results for weatherfax on 4610 rather than de-tuning them. Havn't tried NAVTEX recently I have not been about when the transmissions have been going on.

If you can hear the classic fax signal then you are into fine tuning and software to get the best picture, but I know nothing of SeaTTY.
 

iainhu

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Presumably the set has USB?
Yes, SSB-USB (and LSB) as per the picture. Note too the good signal strengh on 4608 (4610 published frequency), only nothing but noise.

I did get something more like a data/fax signal on 4613 (which I presume would therefore be published as 4615?), but SeaTTY didn't make anyting of it but ramdom letters. So so far, no good :(
 

iainhu

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If you can hear the classic fax signal then you are into fine tuning and software to get the best picture...
This is my problem...little but noise. As mentioned 4613KHz did seem to produce something more like a fax/data signal, but then SeaTTY didn't seem to recongise it so I'm not sure it was a data signal, just less like noise!
 

Pye_End

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This is my problem...little but noise. As mentioned 4613KHz did seem to produce something more like a fax/data signal, but then SeaTTY didn't seem to recongise it so I'm not sure it was a data signal, just less like noise!

Worth trying the other frequencies just in case.

Does your SeaTTY have a screen like the one in the right hand side of this:

http://seatty.en.softonic.com/images

It looks as though it will autotune and use the 'light and dark' peaks in the signal, so exact tuning may not be such a big issue. If you don't see the two peaks (not necessarily both at the same time) then the program will nor be able to decode. At the beginning of a fax is a tuning signal which gives you a pulse that should be strictly betwen the two peaks. You may well have a tone setting on the radio which you could play with.

Are you using the radio in the house, or have you tried taking it outside away from walls and interferance. You may well not be able to take your pc outside, but you need to know what a good signal sounds like and whether you are getting it, regardless of whether it is plugged in.

4610 is fax, so presumably you have a button on the software to set it to fax. You should not be recieving 'random letters' as this suggests you have it on RTTY or NAVTEX or something.

On Youtube there is a video suggesting that you can download the software, but only registering it will allow it to decode. No idea how it all works. Is your registered?
 

iainhu

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Yes, my copy of SeaTTY looks precisely like the second picture you show. In fact it looks precisely like the image below :) No it’s not registered (yet), but is on 30 day trial starting last night/today, and so is functional…well, would be if I could get a decent signal into it! I’ve also experimented with Mscan Meteo Lite, but it shows less in terms of the incoming signal and so SeaTTY seems ‘nicer’ for the moment while I try and get any kind of reception.

Yes I’ve been running in RTTY just to see if I could make any sense of the data stream…but the problem is I don’t seem to be receiving anything that sounds remotely like a data signal. I’ve worked in computing for years so know a modem/data signal, and I can’t get much like that from the G3. I’ve yet to hear a decent ‘data warble’ and yet to see two peaks on the spectrum analyser.

Yes I’ve tried the radio outside complete with the 7m aerial fully extended, both horizontally and vertically (not the full 7m vertically though!) and still nothing. Took my laptop outside too, so had the whole setup outside, but nothing. Will likely walk around in the dark soon! Have also being trying all the various frequencies including US (Boston) frequencies…anything to see if I can receive a reliable SW signal. About the nearest to any SW reception was a very feint RAF Volnet and Shannon Volmet voice forecasts…too crackly and feint to be of any use though.

So my real challenge seems to be to get the radio to pick up any kind of decent SW data signal. That should be the easy part…dial in the frequency and I would expect to hear something, even if noisy of feint. Instead, just static noise…
 

Pye_End

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So my real challenge seems to be to get the radio to pick up any kind of decent SW data signal. That should be the easy part…dial in the frequency and I would expect to hear something, even if noisy of feint. Instead, just static noise…

I see what you mean.

Just had a quick flick through the frequencies. 2618 is a bit noisy, but nothing I could decode. 4610 is good. 8040 is very strong. Nothing on the other ones. Worth trying 8040.

Is there anything in the manual specific to your radio that needs turning off or on or anything?!

Have you tried picking up Navtex?
 

iainhu

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Worth trying 8040.

Is there anything in the manual specific to your radio that needs turning off or on or anything?!

Have you tried picking up Navtex?
Tried 8040/38 and Navtex (518 (516)) and no, I don't believe there's anything to be switched on or off, although it does beg the question :) It says dial in the freq, press the 'Meterband' button and you're tuned in. Only I get only noise...but, and this seems the significant bit, when I tried the RAF Volnet freq I could detect, albeit feint and crackly, a voice-read weather forecast, e.g. I had apparently managed to tune to a frequency correctly, so I *think* I'm doing it right!!
 

Pye_End

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The three bits in the manual that are worth playing with (assuming I am reading the right one) are the DX/local switch; the sync detector and the wide/narrow switch. Would think that you want DX and wide initially. No idea what sync does even having read it.

The set looks interesting, and if you do get some decent results from it please post.

As far as NAVTEX is concerned, you probably need to go for something local, and look at the schedule. Niton is probably just finished, but Cullercoats is due on in 10 minutes. Schedule is here:

http://weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weather/European-And-Mediterranean-Navtex-Schedules to save you looking it up.

Antenna. Just wondering if you are getting anything different between the external antenna, and the one on the set. How is the external one wired?
 

iainhu

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Sent to DX as local only for particularly strong stations to reduce interference due to too strong a signal...not a problem I'm experiencing yet!

Wide/Narrow is on Wide which is apparently as it should be to help find a freq. Then go to narrow if it helps cut interference/overlay of other stations.

Sync is to help lock on to a frequency once found and so is off. I've seen rave reviews by 'hams' that know what they're doing about this feature and indeed about the set. So it seems to be a good set, good write-ups by hams on its SW and SSB sensitivity. The same unit is also packaged up by YachtCom specifically to use for Navtex/Weatherfax and so, unless I have a dud, the set seems good...it seems to be my ability to tune into anything useful. Fine on fm, fine on commercial SW stations, but I'm really not doing well on SSB-USB :(

My external aerial is a roll-up/retractable 7m 'wire' that plugs in via a 3.5mm input jack. There's also a clip to allow it to be clipped to the built in aerial which I've not tried (as in plugs in directly), but will try now you've reminded me :)

Thanks for the schedule, will keep trying and *hope* I'll be able to come back with some good news. It's odd that the simplest step...tuning the radio...seems to be the stumbling block. Getting the PC and SeaTTY to 'hear' the radio output is no issue...just getting any useful radio output seems to be my problem! I need someone who has one of these sets to confirm tuning (it’s as simple as type the freq and hit the ‘AM’ key) and that I’m not missing something obvious…but I’ve read and re-read the manual and seem fine on all but SSB!
 

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