NASA Target pro navtex.

[bammylovechops]

Hello,

What frequency do you fellow forumites use on their Navtex???
I am based in North Wales and boat in the Irish Sea, I used to get a great signal on my previous boat using Nat 490hz, Portpatrick C,but after reinstalling on my new to me boat the display shows broken or no message at all, the main unit has just been over hauled by NASA marine ( not the American space agency)!
Wondering if to use Int 518hz, not tried it yet as not now on boat.
The aerial is the original one, this has not been checked but all worked fine on my previous boat.

Any thoughts????

Mark

 

[Daydream believer]

Aerials are not expensive but I am told by NASA that you can just put a length of cable on to the unit as a test to see if it is a reception problem
However, my NASA weatherman worked perfectly for 1st 2 seasons but then just gave out part of the reports with the obligatory gobblededook at the bit I needed.
never bothered with it since as always in range of a CG weather station somewhere

 

[bammylovechops]

Hi,

What sort of cable did they recommend and how was it attached to the Navtex?

Mark

 

[Daydream believer]

Hi,

What sort of cable did they recommend and how was it attached to the Navtex?

Mark

Not sure now. Think they said a single wire. Some time ago. Never bothered to try it.
I also seem to recall they said 10 metres long

 

[earlybird]

The Target Pro aerial cable is 75 ohm co-ax, with a standard Belling-Lee type plug, both widely available for TV's.
When I had a Target Pro, I experimented with a simple wire aerial. It would pull in some 518kHz stations, but not as well as the NASA aerial, but nothing on 490 kHz.
The NASA aerial is tuned to the required frequency.
In the Irish sea, I found Portpatrick reception patchy.
The Irish Malin Head seemed more reliable.