Nasa Target HF3 SSB receiver - help needed!

[multihullsailor6]

I have a Nasa Target HF3 receiver with an active aerial and with the Meteoscan Lite software onboard to obtain navtex messages and weatherfax charts. Though I can receive and download weather reports from the German met office in RTTY mode (which I am picking up anyway with my Nasa Weatherman so I have been able to verify the reception) I am not able to obtain any weatherfaxes nor navtex messages at any of the published times and frequencies, be it in local time or UTC.

Has anyone here the same piece of equipment and can point me in the right direction?

Thank a lot!

 

[AngusMcDoon]

There's lots of weatherfax information on this fred that may help...

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=227868&highlight=weatherfax

 

[CharlesSwallow]

I have a Nasa Target HF3 receiver with an active aerial and with the Meteoscan Lite software onboard to obtain navtex messages and weatherfax charts. Though I can receive and download weather reports from the German met office in RTTY mode (which I am picking up anyway with my Nasa Weatherman so I have been able to verify the reception) I am not able to obtain any weatherfaxes nor navtex messages at any of the published times and frequencies, be it in local time or UTC.

Has anyone here the same piece of equipment and can point me in the right direction?

Thank a lot!

The broadcast frequencies used are not exactly as stated. You might need to drop down a few KHz. I had this trouble with mine. The one I have has the old dos software and I need to tune to 30khZ lower than the published Offenbach and Norwood figures.

Chas

 

[whipper_snapper]

Can you hear the electronic burblings of the weatherfaxes and navtex messages ?

 

[Conachair]

What time of day? Early evening on the lower freqs might be better.

Latest schedule here...

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/rfax.pdf

 

[multihullsailor6]

Thanks guys, that's great.
The Meteoscan Lite software advises to tune 1.9khz below the stated frequency which I have done without success, might have to play around a bit. And I do not hear the electronic burblings of the weatherfaxes and navtex messages? Have let the receiver and my laptop on for more than 12 hours both on day and night sessions. The spectrum always shows a very broad signal.

 

[Bilgediver]

I have a Nasa Target HF3 receiver with an active aerial and with the Meteoscan Lite software onboard to obtain navtex messages and weatherfax charts. Though I can receive and download weather reports from the German met office in RTTY mode (which I am picking up anyway with my Nasa Weatherman so I have been able to verify the reception) I am not able to obtain any weatherfaxes nor navtex messages at any of the published times and frequencies, be it in local time or UTC.

Has anyone here the same piece of equipment and can point me in the right direction?

Thank a lot!

Try replacing the active antenna with a piece of speaker wire about 30/50 ft long. You might have a faulty active antenna or the radio might not be powering it.

 

[whipper_snapper]

Try replacing the active antenna with a piece of speaker wire about 30/50 ft long. You might have a faulty active antenna or the radio might not be powering it.

Yep. If you cant hear the signal there is absolutely no point in messing around with software or tweaking the frequency a bit! THe German RTTY is a VERY strong signal compared to WxFax or navtex.