Navtex Errors

[Tim Good]

I’ve never got my Navtex working but I got a new antenna for it. A dual one with a. Switch between international and local.

I’ve set the unit to get all messages and stations but it just occasionally picks up some random letters and stars which then disappears a minutes or so later.. I’m in the Canaries so Las Palmas should be transmitting and receiving ok.

A pic is attached.

 

[earlybird]

IIRC, Natex transmits certain strings to denote start and end of message. If these are missed by the receiver, the message won't be recorded, although you will see any other received characters as a transient display

 

[lw395]

Many boats seem to have so many switch mode power supplies that Navtex doesn't stand a chance.
You could try switching everything off and getting the Navtex aerial reasonably high.
By 'everything' I mean the lot. No solar controllers, no inverters, no instruments, no mobile phone chargers, nothing.

 

[LittleSister]

I’ve never got my Navtex working but I got a new antenna for it. A dual one with a. Switch between international and local.

Check you haven't got the antenna switched to one of those options and the set switched to the other.

IIRC the antennae are all dual frequency, but the old ones you had to switch manually (as well as selecting at the set?), and the later ones are electronically switched by the set menu.

 

[Tim Good]

Check you haven't got the antenna switched to one of those options and the set switched to the other.

IIRC the antennae are all dual frequency, but the old ones you had to switch manually (as well as selecting at the set?), and the later ones are electronically switched by the set menu.

I’ve tried changing it on the set but it doesn’t seem to do anything or suggest which one it’s actually on. Says you press the up and down key together when in Standby. Doesn’t do anything though.

 

[Graham376]

Have you checked if other close boats are receiving? Not unusual for there to be holes in reception.

 

[MAURICE]

I gave up Navtex some years ago to me it was a useless bit of kit which never worked well. Much easier now to use internet and have resonably reliable info for up to 5 days ahead.

 

[doug748]

Have you checked out the reception strength bar chart? Should give some clue though I never made much sense of it.

BTW, I see they now have a new type aerial:

https://www.nasamarine.com/product/h-vector-navtex-antenna/

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

I had a NASA Navtex and it hardly ever worked, and when it did it was so user unfriendly, illegible and counter-intuitive I binned it, now have an ICS 6 , excellent kit.
McMurdo and Furuno Navtexes are both also light years ahead of NASA rubbish.
I think the folk who dismiss Navtex, eg Maurice, possibly got frustrated with a NASA one and gave up?
The only advice I can offer is put it on ebay and get a sensible unit.

 

[Yellow Ballad]

Pull the back off and check to see if the internal battery has leaked over the circuit board.

 

[Pye_End]

I had a NASA Navtex and it hardly ever worked, and when it did it was so user unfriendly, illegible and counter-intuitive I binned it, now have an ICS 6 , excellent kit.
McMurdo and Furuno Navtexes are both also light years ahead of NASA rubbish.
I think the folk who dismiss Navtex, eg Maurice, possibly got frustrated with a NASA one and gave up?
The only advice I can offer is put it on ebay and get a sensible unit.

I have a NASA Bluetooth plus their recent antenna and it has been excellent.

 

[doug748]

I have the NASA Clipper it's very good indeed. I think the aerials used to suffer from condensation in the works, I keep mine in an internal dead space now.

 

[NormanS]

I had a NASA Navtex and it hardly ever worked, and when it did it was so user unfriendly, illegible and counter-intuitive I binned it, now have an ICS 6 , excellent kit.
McMurdo and Furuno Navtexes are both also light years ahead of NASA rubbish.
I think the folk who dismiss Navtex, eg Maurice, possibly got frustrated with a NASA one and gave up?
The only advice I can offer is put it on ebay and get a sensible unit.

My NASA Navtex works fine, but then I installed it properly and read and understood the instructions. On the West Coast we get transmissions from both Portpatrick and Malin Head. Obviously, Internet is better for a longer term forecast, but there are lots of places where there is no terrestrial internet.

 

[lw395]

My NASA Navtex works fine, but then I installed it properly and read and understood the instructions. On the West Coast we get transmissions from both Portpatrick and Malin Head. Obviously, Internet is better for a longer term forecast, but there are lots of places where there is no terrestrial internet.

I had one years ago on a previous boat, it worked very well, but a cigarette-lighter type Nokia phone charger would stop it working until I moved the antenna up the stern pole and applied some filtering to the 12V system.