Free Weatherfax and Text and radio 4 and...

[iangrant]

Loads of fun playing about with the HF3/M linked to a Dos laptop (running pure dos not in a windows session). Details for XP/ME dos now available but most hair ripped out.

Anyway - weatherfax from Northwood, received, clear and precise, weather RTTY text from Germany - clear and precise - but Niton Navtext 490/518 don't seem to work "in the 'arbour". I also can't get the Coastguard on SSB in the 'arbour.

The aerial is wrapped around the backstayand works a treat - earthing through the engine or neg of the battery makes no difference. The "active" aerial is useless.

Not sure all is OK, but sure that someone will know.

Ian

 

[steve_cronin]

I have been looking for an onboard use for an older laptop which runs best in Win3.11 but struggles with Win 9x etc and the NASA receiver looks a neat little unit. Could you give more details on the set-up? DAoes the software come with the radio?

As to Navtex on (I assume) the south coast, well I have owned various NASA navtex sets right from their first Video Navtex - the big black box with interchangeable Navarea cards and a CRT display using nearly 5amps on display. During that time (I'm now on my fourth set and using the latest in Greece with the active aerial in a locker OK) Niton & LAnds End reception was always "unreliable" at best and some days missing altogether. In fact a long time ago (it might have been 10 years or so, I rang Niton because of a missing broadcast and they said "oh it must be the tape jammed again. We'll run it through again, give us two minutes - needless to say it did work then. I'm sure that now though they must have a more up to date system. Normally medium wave transmissions aren't effected by it too much but since you are receiving from a station on the coast and you are positioned on the coast then coastal refraction could be playing a part. Niton as such now is controlled remotely due to the demise of coastal ship to shore links - another victim of the mobile phone! I always found that transmissions from Schevningen and Ostende were very reliable.

Steve Cronin

 

[iangrant]

Steve

Perfect application for your old laptop.

The output from Northwood is really outstanding, search weatherfax northwood on google for chart type transmission times, (wind, surface pressure etc..) or buy the Admiralty List of Radio Signals Volume 3, part 1.

The HS3/M (note carefully the M) comes with a serial cable (D9) and 30' cable and a diskette.

The diskette contains a self extracting software programme that ONLY runs in DOS (not shelled out of windows) It really works well and the images are saved in a Dos directory as a .BMP file (you have to type the extension or it don't save it)that you can open in Windows.

The HF3 does not come with the serial connection - the audio output is connected to the sound card and various windows applications are available from the web,

Order from the boys on this sites' shopping mal -allgadgets.co. -


Ian

 

[Spacewaist]

Niton have just changed their 518hz broadcast Transmission ID to "E" (from "S" I think). That might be your problem if you are relying an an Almanac.

I agree about Ostend. Very strong signal which used last year picked up from about 700 miles out in the Atlantic (bound from the Azores). Trouble is they make SO MANY broadcasts - I use a paper roll Nav4 and cant afford to tune to Ostend for very long!

LOOK OUT!!! Behind y.......! Five hoots and you're out!

 

[bedouin]

This is probably a silly question...

Does the set need to be tuned manually or is it possible to automate station tuning from the PC?

I'm wondering if this makes a realistic alternative to the dedicated Navtex unit that is on my shopping list this Christmas.

 

[steve_cronin]

Christmas present & a moan about BBC World Service

Sounds like an excellent idea. It might also be better for World Service in the Med too.

In Greece the world service on (dependant upon time of day)6195, 9410, 12095, 15565, 17640kHz is patchy at best yet Deutche Welle, Vatican Radio & Voice of America all have english language broadcasts near to some of these frequencies which all come out loud and clear and often swamp auntie out of existance. Maybe a NASA set will improve matters. 1323kHz from Cyprus is also available but I've never been able to receive it even in the southern Aegean.

Steve Cronin

 

[iangrant]

Re: This is probably a silly question...

It has to be tuned manually - but then it does do much more!
There are more expensive HF sets that can be tuned from the PC - http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/akdhf3.html

Ian

 

[ccscott49]

I've tried everything to recieve decent signals on my Nasa set, but all to no avail! I've even now resorted to a new program (Dolphin software) and modifying the set for audio output to my laptop, still crap, I've tried both active antennas, wire and triatic stay antennas, still crap! I'm about to throw mine overboard! In four years, I've never received one chart, how's that for performance! If anybody knows about these things and is in Barcelona, come and have a look at mine! Please. The Navtex reception is also crap on the nasa navtex, always was, with an active antenna on top of my mizzen mast. Basically I give up!

 

[iangrant]

Yes the active aerial is useless! Try it simple - wrap the wire round the backstay!!

Ian

 

[ccscott49]

Tried that! In short I'ved tried evrything, I've now given up. It's a pity really, as I can understand weather charts and I'm able to get a middling weather forecast out of them.

 

[bedouin]

Re: This is probably a silly question...

But the downside is you have to be awake to do the manual tuning. IIRC this means being awake at about 0700 to switch between 490 and 518 for Navtex :-(

 

[iangrant]

I don't know enough about it - try to call the manufacturer:

AKD, Unit 5, Parsons Green Estate, Boulton Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 4QG, UK. AKD can also be contacted by fax. The number is 44 for the UK, then 1438 357591.

Ian

 

[AlanPound]

Radios

Ian
That NL radio site is really useful...

However, I am trying to decide whether the Target set (with built-in Modem) is more or less useful than, say, the Sangean ATS-909 (and using a PC laptop audio input and software demodulator for weatherfax & Navtex...)....

I've no experience of either via a PC - is it a useful way to go, or is it (messing with the laptop - leaving it on etc) too much hassle for words?

I imagine the built-in Modem is a convenience, but the Sangean also being a standard radio with FM - useful for ordinary music listening etc too... Decisions, decisions...

 

[iangrant]

Re: Radios

If you've room for the laptop the weatherfax and RTTY is great but not essential for coastal cruising when you can get a forecast by VHF or from the marina office.

I bought the set for the radio 4 broadcast and had a laptop anyway!

Future bigger trips will need the setup!

Ian

 

[NDG]

Re: NASA HF3/M

The reception I have on mine is OK for weather fax, but I think you need to use a good laptop 'cos my crappy old one gives off so much interferance that the picture is unreadable. Would a decent new laptop make the difference? Is it worth it for a grand or so?

Also, I don't know if you have managed to sucessfully receive any SSB voice transmissions. My set is totally useless for this. Is this me, the aerial of the set? Should I go the whole hog and get a proper expensive transceiver? Who knows.

 

[iangrant]

Re: NASA HF3/M

I can get RAF volmet - thre talking robot - not experimented with much else.

 

[ccscott49]

Re: NASA HF3/M

Even world service is crap on mine, like I said i've given up!

 

[Bergman]

Can you receive anything at all on the set?

I mean stations to listen to rather than link to 'puter.

Try LSB between 3.6 and 3.8 MHz around early evening should hear lots of amateurs.

If so wireless and antenna OK and 'puter/connection problem

If not radio is at fault.

Dunno repair position around Barcelona, may be as cheap to replace.

 

[franksingleton]

I have just read the comments re NASA HF3/M, HF/SSB, NAVTEX etc. Radio reception is a difficult subject and I cannot claim to be an expert. However, I hope that some comments from someone with several years experience with NAVTEX and HF/SSB, using NASA sets may help.

First, neither NAVTEX nor HF/SSB are likely to be good in harbours where there are many sources of EMR, eg big ships, neon signs, factories and workshops. In Barcelona reception of HF/SSB and NAVTEX are both very poor. The same is true of many ports. NAVTEX is intended for use from the fairway buoy to about 250 miles offshore. However, you will often get good reception in harbour, near to land and up to 300 miles or more offshore. But, not always.

Accordingly, IMO requests harbourmasters to make weather information available to vessels in harbour. Last October in Barcelona, for example, there were copies of several forecasts from France, Spain and Catalonia posted on the toilet doors. What better place, some might say. In harbour we use whatever is posted, whatever we get on NAVTEX, HF/SSB and VHF. If all else fails then I use the mobile and the Internet, but only for forecasts that are primarily text and not graphics. If you want charts try the Bari site. Fuzzy Bracknell charts but quick to download.

Secondly, I have used the NASA HF3/M from the UK (Dartmouth) down to Audierne (just south of the Raz de Sein), round Iberia, into the Med, Eastern Spain, France, Italy, Elba, Corsica, Sardinia, the Balearics. In 2000 we had the old NASA length of wire aerial. From Audierne down the west coast of Iberia, I could receive the German service and Northwood. In 2001 and 2002 I was using the short stub NASA active aerial. It was very good.

Thirdly, in the Med I can usually receive the German charts well but prefer the Radio Teleprinter. It is far quicker to receive. Also, weather charts in the Med are difficult interpret in the Summer. Mostly I was using the Radio Teleprinter 5 day forecasts. I can provide many examples of good reception of the Teleprinter but have saved only one or two charts..

Fourth, I could receive Toulon and/or Valencia NAVTEX around Corsica, Sardinia, Balearics etc. Even with the old whip aerial I was doing reasonably well all the way round from the UK, Iberia, Gibraltar to Barcelona.

Fifth, there is no point in using the laptop to receive NAVTEX. NAVTEX is a continuous broadcasting system, meant to be operated without any attention apart from station and message selection. Best to use a dedicated NAVTEX receiver and leave it running all the time. With a soft copy set (eg NASA or the ICS 6 series) the power cost is low and noise is nil. We use the el cheapo NASA NAVTEX PRO, since 2001 with the short stub active aerial. I get good results except, as I said above, in some harbours and in some well sheltered bays.

HF/SSB reception is very time of day dependent. In the Med I experiment with four of the nominal frequencies. I also try various broadcasts. Sometimes it is best to use the broadcast on 10100.8 kHz at 0415 UTC (0615 LT), at other times it is better to use the 0535 broadcast on 11039 kHz. Sometimes it is better to use the early evening broadcasts. Much depends on time of year and the state of the ionosphere.

For the HF/SSB I use the standard software provided by NASA and written in DOS. However, this year I saw some software available as Freeware at www.dxsoft.com. It is called SEATTY and looked very good. In particular, it does control the tuning of the set. The person using it was getting better results than we were in Vinaraoz (just S of the Ebro). I will try it next year.

See my pages on NAVTEX, Radio fax and Weather Forecast Sources in the Western Med, - www.franksingleton.clara.net. Amongst other things there is a sample message received in Viarreggio. Also see my Essential Sites and GMDSS pages for good links.

Lastly, the NASA HF3/M has a pretty poor speaker. For BBC overseas, CNN, music programmes (and even the World Cup, live) we used a Hitachi World Space Digital Satellite radio. Sufficient channels are free. Reception is crystal clear. We learned a lot about African politics! Even worse than in the US or even the UK. The Hitachi set is also better on SW (HF) sound radio than the NASA set.

Frank

 

[ccscott49]

thanks for that Frank, I'm in Barcelona right now, but have had problems with mine everywhere, I'm probably the main fault!