NASA Clipper weather

[kjb]

NASA will soon release a "Weatherman" based on rtt sendings from Germany.
A NASA 147 is already available on the German market. I have tried to see
if the Weatherman is the same as the 147 or if it offers more frequency receptions.
I am unsure (although I have asked) if the 147 only collects German language sendings. Can any one help / advise?

kjboland

 

[ccscott49]

Haven't heard about this, enlighten me, please.

 

[kjb]

this is the info I received from NASA - it is not a NAVTEX as there are no other nav warnings, but will give better weather info.

"THE WEATHERMAN RADIO TELEX RECEIVER.
--------------------------------------
Weatherman combines a selective H.F.receiver,a powerful computer and a high
contrast display in a single compact instrument case.

Weatherman is programmed to receive weather information from the German
weather service.Broadcasts are continuous, they can be selected in either
English or German language, and include the 12 hour outlook,the 2 and the 5
day forecasts.

The user can choose whish messages to store in the memory which has a
capacity of several thousand lines of text.

Weatherman is supplied with an active stubby antenna which can be mounted on
the mast or a convenient rail. Its available from June 2002. UK retail price
£245-96 + vat. This includes the antenna.

Full details of the broadcast schedule is available fron Deutscher
Wetterdienst on http://www.dwd.de. Have look at this website for data
transmitted, if its only weather you want then this is a very good service.
Will send data on VHF."





kjboland

 

[ccscott49]

Right, I've had a look, the weather reports are mainly for northern european waters, but there are some for the med, which I would be interested in. Can I not receive some/all of this data, on my SSB reciever and computer, through a rtty/navtex/metfax program, which I already have? Or am I missing something here, I have the nasa reciever, which I've modified to give output to my sound card on the computer, I haven't as yet dedicated enough time to getting it to work properly, as I haven't had time yet and don't understand soome of what the booklet is trying to say, but I will crack it! I'm sure. But iof this does it all for me, then I may have bought this program too soon!!

 

[vyv_cox]

As I understand it, the NASA Target 147 is a supplementary unit to the Target, intended for receiving local language text broadcasts on 147.3 kHz. I believe that this frequency is common to all countries, so it will receive in the broadcast language. The International Target Pro receives on 518 kHz, in English.

The Weatherman is (I think) the unit described by Colin Jones in last month's PBO. It receives weatherfax charts that are broadcast by many countries, but perhaps the best for European waters are issued by Germany. The PBO article described it as being very good, not yet released but due soon.

 

[ccscott49]

I think you might be wrong there, you are getting the other navtex frequency mixed up with the RTTY frequency. For weatherfax, you need a computer and software and SSB or a dedicated receiver and printer. I saw the Colin Jones article, but got a bit confused by it all. This weatherman thingy sounds interesting to me, but even with an active antenna, the reception on my navtex reciever is still not very good and background noise is awful, I maybe need somebody to have a look at it all, but somebody who knows what they are talking about and doesn't want to sell me some more useless gear!! The only reliable method of good weather information I have found, at sea no more than 20 miles offshore, is mobile phone and www.weatheronline.co.uk on my laptop! I'm getting not only confused, but fed up with all the software and bells and whistles, which still doen't seem to work for me. I'm not an idiot either.

 

[kjb]

Well. Having posted this and read some more I am more enlightened and more confused :

enlightened ; The weatherman will receive broadcasts aon DDH9, DDH2, DDH7 and DDK 9 from the Deutshcher WetterDienst (ie. Progr 1 and 2)

BUT these are all at a power of 1 kW.

The 147 unit from NASA receives only prog 2, but which broadcasts at a power of 20kW.

SO this leads to 2 questions :

1. Is 1kW enough - I sail Ijselmeer / Holland / Baltic.
2. Do I need prog 1.

A 3rd question arises - why have NASA not made the new weatherman also able to receive on 147 which is at 20kW ?

I am therefore still not sure which to get :
a) NAVTEX
b) the new Weatherman (only receiving at 1kW)
c) the NASA 147 unit

(I did try to get a comment from Colin Jones as his article prompted these investigations. NASA have however been helpful if providing information to me.)

kjboland

 

[vyv_cox]

Yes, it looks like I'm mixed up. http://www.busse-yachtshop.de/da_nasaclipper-wetter.html seems to clarify that the 147kHz is a specific German broadcast system whereas Navtex is either 518 or 490 kHz. However, the DDM site says that they broadcast in English and German, so maybe it's possible to select one or the other.

 

[ccscott49]

Had a look at that site, I'm even more confused now!! I see that the 147 set is obviously aimed at the german market, with stoormwarnings and 2-5 day forecasts for the baltic and north sea, in german, with the clipper navtex alongside in both frequencies. I wonder what this new one is then? Is it capable of all the weather broadcasts for the meddy etc or not, as the other guy said, will 1kw at that frequency be enough power for good reception in the meddy or not, I think I will wait and see, as I normally do. But I'm still wondering if my present set up of NASA SSB receiver and the software I bought, will do the job, rather than buying yet another box of tricks.

 

[ccscott49]

Just had another look at the german radio station site, it seems there is a transmission frequency that puts out the data |I would need at 10kw, for the meddy, at 10100.00khz or somewhat, which might be ok, I wonder. By the way my NASA SSB has an active antenna aswell and is still noisy as hell and the reception is not great, I wonder where I'm going wrong with this stuff! Maybe I have wiring too close or something or the computer too close, like I said I'm no wizard when it comes to this stuff!

 

[alex_rogers]

I've got a NASA HF3 SSB and can get the 10100,8 kHz transmission on the south coast - I've never looked for the other frequencies. I have the radio plugged into the sound card and use MSCAN - I think any RTTY software should do the job though. I've never really used it seriously but it does seem to give 5 day broadcasts for the North Sea and the med.

 

[kjb]

In answer to this, go back to my note (copied from NASA) which gives the web site for the german weather people. Go to products - marine and come to their broadcasts. http://www.dwd.de

This combined with other info I received from NASA about what the new weatherman can receive clarifies the position a little. (There are 2 progs - prog 1 is mostly English , prog 2 mostly German - but covers med, baltic and european waters)

Ideally the Nasa receiver + computer is the best solution. However, for me, as I sit behind a computer all day for work, I don't want to see one when I'm supposed to be enjoying myself.



kjboland

 

[vyv_cox]

Do you receive faxes OK? I downloaded a MSCAN demo version but have been unable to get it to talk to the laptop. I'm reluctant to buy the full version without seeing it working first but my previous supplier, who could perhaps have set it up for me, seems to have gone out of business. Another supplier refuses to answer my e-mails offering him money!

I'm in Holland, so the easy options of going to a UK dealer are not open to me.

 

[Sinbad1]

The Weatherman is a dedicated radio reciever which is programmed for the Hamburg RTTY frquencies. This is not Navtex. The Hamburg station broadcasts in English on several specific frequencies. You choose your frequency depending upon distance from Hamburg and time of day. (Lower frequency at night, higher during the day)

Hamburg also puts out excellent weathfax info, but you need a dedicated fax or a computer with correct software to decode these.

The RTTY (Radio telephony) messages are an excellent scource of weather info. They cover from Greenland to the whole of the Med and you also get 5 day forcasts, which is helpful for passage planning.

You do not need an active antennae. I currently have a Roberts receiver with a standard aerial which receives clear RTTY messages constantly. I am considering the Nasa Weatherman to get rid of leads/wires associated with laptop and Roberts radio.

 

[vyv_cox]

Thanks for that. At last I know what RTTY stands for. Another step forward. The question now is, do I buy a Target 147 for my summer cruise to Germany and the Baltic or will the Weatherman be worth waiting for?

 

[ccscott49]

There is a program written by a guy in Holland, to do weatherfax, he lives on Texel. I will try and find his address I have it somewhere, he is a wizard with this stuff! The address I originally got off the net, so a search of this kind of stuff may find it. I need somebody to set all this stuff up for me, when I get to Barcelone for the winter, I'm going to make a concerted effort to get it all sorted!

 

[alex_rogers]

I use the demo version of MSCAN and it worked fine first time - for RTTY, NAVTEX and WeatherFax. I have a NASA HF3M with an interface to plug it into the sound card of the laptop - it doesn't work with the serial output of the HF3M. If you select Soundcard from the Interface panel and then select Microphone input, you should just be able to put the laptop close to the radio and get it to work - at least to try it out.

 

[vyv_cox]

I've just e-mailed http://www.mscan.com/ for some info. I downloaded the demo version two weeks ago but could not get it to work. http://www.kwadraad.com/uk/index.html also looks interesting, especially the antennas.