Nasa HF3 short wave radio and weatherfax

ColinR

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I bought one of these believing I could download weatherfaxs to my laptop onboard. I have tried tuning in to all the frequencies in the instructions and more which I have found online for Bracknell, Northwood, Offenbach,etc but after hours of trying have never succeeded in getting a single fax. I have the powered antennae and it recieves radio 4 and lots of other stations from around the world, so the set is working ok and the Mscan Metio software that came with it seems simple enough. Does anyone have any tips?


Thanks,

Colin
 

bdsweeting

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Keep trying Colin, I know of people who try and receive Metfaxs whilst at a fixed point, office in Dorset, and it appears to very much depend on atmospheric conditions.

Also, does your software allow for automatic frequency jumping to allow you to scan all the stations ? if yes then I would suggest you give that a try for the strongest signal.

Good luck with it.
 

ShipsWoofy

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Are you switching to USB (Upper Side Band).

Once you have located the signal by ear, you need to centre it on the on-screen spectrogram (I think this is what they call it in MSCAN) window using the fine tuning. Then very gently adjust the fine tune to remove noise and obtain a white background with black text.

Once you have started to receive the fax it will not be central, you will need to use the centring tool by clicking it on to the dot matrix strip on the side of the fax, this should push it over for you.

Do some google searches for weatherfax and download all the frequencies, stations and times.

I learnt to use mine at home first where I had more time to play with it, if you have it at home use the 30ft wire and have a play. Early evening and dusk seems about the best time around here.

I find that the German faxes are much clearer than Northwood I think they have a stronger transmitter. I cannot remember the freq. right now as my printouts are on board.
 

Oldhand

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You must select Upper Side Band (USB) AM modulation mode and tune 1.88kHz below the advertised frequency. Offenbach is the most powerful N. Europe transmitter so concentrate on getting reception on their 3855 and 7880kHz frequencies first. The latter is the most powerful and best during the day. Hope this brings success.
 

alex_rogers

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What do you actually see - nothing at all? If you select USB and tune the the frequency (or just below it as others have suggested) you should be able to hear a rythmic stratching tone when the fax is coming and a higher picture tone at the start and end of the fax. There are often long gaps (5-10 minutes) between the faxes from Northwood, so often you will tune in and hear nothing.

Once you have the correct sound and the fax is coming, the fine tune control should adjust the density of the image seen i.e. too black or too white. Depending on the software, there should be a small indicator to tell you when the frequency (or tone of the sound) is about right.

I have one of these radios and get good weatherfaxes so don't give up yet. Generally, you can tune the radio and adjust the frequency by ear once you get used to the sound a weatherfax makes.

If you look on this website, there is an audio clip of a weatherfax so know what to listen for:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/radiofax.htm
 

colvic

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Hi Colin

A good earth is a must for weatherfax reception; as a simple test just twist a piece of wire round the tag at the back of the radio and hang the other end into the water...stationary of course! You'll be amazed at the difference.

Attached an extra anode just to use as an earth for the VHF and HF radios and it made the old HF3 pick up faxes from over 1000 miles away. Wasn't using the NASA software though.

Phil
 

ColinR

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Thanks for your advise. I did try again and got very good results from both Hamburg and Northwood. But then I tried to get their next broacasts immediatley afterwards and got nothing. Do they put things out on different frequencies or could atmospheric conditions suddenly have changed?

Colin
 
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