NASA Navtex pro+

[Luanda]

Does anyone have any personal experience of a recent version of this navtex? I have tried going onto their home page, which is significantly lacking in detail. What I in particulat want to know is whether it is fitted with an aerial capable of receiving the two relevan t frquencies, i.e. local forecasts and international forecasts. I have tried by E-mail to get into contact with various of the chandlers that advertize in PBO and YM, again with singular lack of success. I shall be using this navtex exclusively in the Baltic, so I hope that some of the problems that seem to follow this manufacture do not apply here. ecepotion in UK waters seems to be very variable, and almost non-existant in harbours.
ANY COMMENTS WELCOME

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[roger]

cooking nasa navtex

I have one of the older Navtexes (single frequency) In the southern Baltic one gets reception (Denmark, South Sweden) Further north round Stockholm there is some too. In between it doesnt seem to work often.
I suggest you concentrate on understanding Swedish VHF weather forecasts - they are excellent. I'm not ure how long they will last as Coast Radio appears to be going through difficult times.
Forecasts last year were preceded by morse SDJ for several minutes at 0833, 1633 for very local forecasts in Swedish only.
At 0933 and 2133 they are in English and Swedish, preceded by navigational wrnings and are for the larger sea areas. The latter are in conventional form remembering that wind speeds are in metres/sec.
The ones in Swedish are worth struggling with even if you have no Swedish at all.
The forecasts are in many segments in identical format so the repetition helps a lot. Each area is described with reference to two headlands. There a section for morning afternoon, evening and night. This is repeated for each are going round the coast from Finland to Norway with odd deviations for Gotland etc.
Each forecast segment uses a very limited vocabulary including wind strength, percentage chance of stronger wind (over 10 metres/sec etc.) visibility etc.
Quite honestly after a little devoted listening you will be able to get the drift of it.
In any Swedish marina you should be able to get a free harbour guide that list guest marinas and also shows what VHF channels to use.

<hr width=100% size=1>Roger

 

[HenryB]

Luanda,
I have a new copy of their catalogue and it definitely says that the Target Navtex Pro-Plus has 518 and 490 Khz operation.

Incidentally, I have found NASA kit to be very reliable and their Navtex excellent.

Any more questions while I have the catalogue open?

Regards,

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[BobE]

Yes, I've had one for the last two years... Works well but you cannot receive both frequencies at the same time. You have to choose which one you want to get..specified as National or International...You can switch by pressing both the "Up" and "Down" ( scroll ) buttons simultaneously.. I leave mine switched on to International and never switch off so when I go down to the boat I can just scroll back through the messages to see whats been going on weather and nav warning wise over the last day or so..

When I bought it I did expect to receive both frequencies at the same time, but switching is not really a problem for me anyway..

I inadvertantly broke the aerial the other day when messing about with the wind vane steering, the mounting is a bit flimsy. So e-mailed Nasa (nasamarine@aol.com) and they sent me a new bracket rightaway on receipt of 5 pounds worth of postage stamps..

The guy was:-
Tony Kocher
Nasa Marine Ltd
Boulton Road
Stevenage
Herts
SG1 4QG
and he replied real quickly.
So I guess they are Ok

If you need more info just shout.
Cheers and good sailing Bob E...

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[milltech]

Yes, he's a good man and helpful.


<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>

 

[Luanda]

Thanks to all for a quick reply. It seems that I can both trust the product, and moost importantly that it has both frequencies. Here in the Baltic I would rely on the local Swedish forecasts, which are very detailed, at least over the radio. As I have lived here for 40 years +, I can more or less follow the Swedish, once I have identified the areas. I expect this will give me a bit more freedom to anchor away from the marinas, in the delightful archipelago.

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[Oldhand]

You need an ICS Nav6 Plus or A to receive both frequencies simultaneously. Saves you having to switch over after the early morning inshore forecast to get the shipping forecast and thus one can have that all important weekend lie-in!

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[BobE]

That sounds interesting for my next life... However for the moment I'll continue to get the inshore and shipping forecasts from Portland, Solent and Brixham CG.. I can just about scrawl down the salient point in my homemade Pitman's shorthand!!
The Navtex does come into its own when one's away from this area.. Picked up an imminent Gale warning once on navtex when about 12 hrs off La Corunna... belted in to Viviero... great broad reach with increasing wind all the time.. Oh and that was in a Twister, great sea boat.. ( wait for a reaction from Ken??)
Cheers Bob E...

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