Is Navtex cr*p?

[brians]

A navtex was top of my Xmas present list. However recent posts on NASA navtex and Furuno navtex have caused me to think twice. No comments on ICS, perhaps it is best of a bad bunch?

My thoughts are now drifting towards the NASA Weatherman.

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[Magic_Sailor]

Is it crop?

Answer no.

Our Nasa Navtex pro plus has been excellent. Never let us down. Easy to use. Good display. Not too bulky.

Hope this is helpful.

Magic

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[vyv_cox]

The NASA Clipper is excellent, IMHO. The antenna is not waterproof but can be made so by judicious application of sealant before installation. OK, this shouldn't be necessary but you are saving a good deal of money by comparison with other makes.

The Weatherman appears to have an antenna of identical construction, so it will probably leak as well.

Of the two, I would suggest that a Navtex is far more versatile.

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[Col]

My ICS6+ is excellent (especially when you get the filtering right)

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[Twister_Ken]

If you buy the cheaper Nasa (as I did) and you don't a) sail very often or b) plumb it in to the power supply then it loses the filter settings you have so painstakingly entered in and reverts to its default settings which are every bit of intelligble information it can receive. As a consequence, you will get warnings of survey operations off of ports you have never heard of but believe to be somewhere in the vicinty of Murmansk, of bouys unlit everywhere between Colonsay and Corsica, of gale warnings in Iceland, etc.

I now leave it permanently off, and rely on picking up the inshore waters forecast off the web b4 leaving home, or from the CG rebroadcasts when at sea. If I ever found myself outside of CG range I'd plug it back in again.

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[Robin]

Our NASA Pro doesn't do that nor did the older one we had on the old boat. Maybe there is an internal memory battery that needs changing?

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[Twister_Ken]

Re: Is Nasa cr*p?

Memory battery has about a 10 day capacity. If it's left off for longer than that it goes back to default. It is a documented 'feature' in the so called owner's manual. That's why they recommend you plumb it in so that it is permanently on.

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[Robin]

Part Time Sailors

Well of course if you only go sailing once a month! Ours too is only on when the main battery switch is on, ie if we are on board. Even if in winter we miss longer than 10 days we don't lose the programmed selections, only the received/displayed messages.

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[StephenW]

Agree with Vyv, the Navtex Clipper is a nice little bit of kit, very clear display and once set up (which is pretty straightforward) saves you constantly needing to remember to tune into the weather forecast on time.

Battery drain is very minimal and of all the kit we have fitted (Radar, auto-electric bige pumps etc etc) it is the one we have had the most value out of because its used every time we go out for more than a day.

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[Oldhand]

ICS Nav6+ connected to a mastead active whip is excellent and no, Navtex is not cr*p.

A dual receiver Navtex provides you with inshore and offshore forecasts, severe weather warnings and navigation warnings (to update your charts from, of course) without stepping off the boat. The effort involved after setting up station and message filters to your personal requirements is a) switching it on and b) reading the messages. Furthermore, it removes the need to listen to radio broadcasts for such information, which always occur when you are either asleep or too busy to listen to it. In addition, in foreign lands Navtex provides forecasts in English as well as the local language.

Navtex = one of the best bits of kit you can have on your boat.

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[Gunfleet]

ditto NM

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[malcp]

I too have an ICS NAV6+ and am very pleased with it. It has the pushpit mounted dual frequency antenna which provides good reception.

It also has NMEA ships data repeater functions (depth, speed, GPS info, Wind data, date/time etc) which is useful and an electronic logbook function to storing position data at regular intervals for later recovery.

This certainly gets my vote.

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[brians]

I have heard you can mount the antenna internally in the boat. Has anyone tried this? Wouid solve water ingress
problem.

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[jimi]

Before I mounted mine I tried various places in the house to see if I could get a signal. Only time I could was when it was in the bay window. I'd suspect that it needs a pretty clear view to get a signal.

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[vyv_cox]

Mine worked OK in the aft cabin. Picked up more distant stations when on the pushpit, particularly when inside the marina.

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[Robin]

On our old W33 we had the 2 aerials laid flat under the sidedeck headlining, it was a temporary solution that lasted years and worked well.

On our current boat I mounted the aerials vertically against the hull side behind a panel. It works but not perfectly, it doesn't like shorepower/charging or engine running. It is certainly worth a try though.

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[malcp]

I have tried mounting the ICS antenna inside the saloon (temporarily) and this worked ok, at least in good signal strength areas (solent picking up Niton).

The ICS manual says the best site for the antenna away from metal structures that form loop antennas, eg placing it on the lower rung of the pushpit (as opposed to on the top rung/rail), likewise not a good idea on the mast spreader as there its enclosed between the mast, spreader and cap shroud. So perhaps anyway inside is ok provided you make sure its not within a loop of metal, and I guess, as far away from wires and metal objects as you sensibly can.

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[Birdseye]

In the end, Navtex has one great benefit - it never sleeps through the alarm or forgets to turn on the vhf for the coastguard forecast. For that alone, it will always have a space on my boat

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[Guest]

No .... but I wish

Navtex is very good .... had one for a few years now and glad I got it. BUT I wish I had bought the Pro version ..... NASA, instead of the base one ........ why ? The Pro splits the lines to make it easier to read, base one just displays all together without carraige returns !

As to mounting ...... aerial is propped up behind divan cushion, with whip going up under the side shelf / locker. It does not need to be high up or outside as its a low enough frequency to pick up fine inside the cabin...... of course different if you have a metal hull etc. One day maybe I'll mount it on the aft rail ..... but till then it still works .....


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[Chris_Robb]

I have mounted the aroal in the headling of the deck. No reception problems.

I have the NASA target navtex. I do find the text very hard to read and very confusing. Personally, I wouldn't bother with it round the UK as there are so many forecasts. Navetx is only twice per day. However on going to where gibberish is spoken - then it suddenly becomes worth the effort to read the text.

Chris

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