Navtex - had it's day?

[Marsupial]

Furuno NX300.

+1 for the Furuno NX300 we use it extensively as it provides forecasts for our sailing area from the Greeks, Italians, Turks, and Israelites - has proved to be more accurate and reliable than GRI or windfinder.

edit: forgot Cyprus! sorry Cyprus.

Used in conjunction with the barometer, synoptic chart from the UK Met office (on line) and eye balling cloud formations it is, we think, a very robust solution. Local forecasts issued by the Turkish weather service available on line are "OK" but seldom predict wind strength and directions as accurately as a straw poll of the Navtex service providers , for the same sea area.

That is our experience Navtex is still a reliable system for weather and navigational warnings.

Incidentally my on-board weather guru predicted the current UK storm, time frame, position and ferocity a week ago by looking at the synoptic charts for the UK, Europe, Arctic and American east coast. must remember to keep her happy.

 

[winsbury]

okay, still confused - my nasa pro has a single antenna no switch and has not received any inshore forecasts but everything else seems okay. I bought a dual freq antenna and tried that but it didnt work either - nasa said it was incompatible and I must use the old style only. I have no switch , so how do i get inshore forecasts on it ?

 

[doug748]

okay, still confused - my nasa pro has a single antenna no switch and has not received any inshore forecasts but everything else seems okay. I bought a dual freq antenna and tried that but it didnt work either - nasa said it was incompatible and I must use the old style only. I have no switch , so how do i get inshore forecasts on it ?

If you have the older black box, my understanding is that you can't. I vaguely recall going down this route many years ago.


Ring them up and schmooze them with your story. They may well agree to part-ex your old unit against a new Easy Navtex.

PS

There has been a little bit of confusion between configuration and programming. All of the efforts can be configured to receive only certain stations and messages. The more swish sets can be programmed to switch between frequencies at set times to bring in both forecasts.

 

[Bilgediver]

Is there much need for Navtex when there are so many other sources of weather information these days? You can get the same info from mobile phones around the coast, perhaps? Probably better, in fact.

New (to me) boat has old navtex receiver and I'm wondering whether to remove it.

You are free to use your mobile phone however Navtex is a requirement for deep sea ships under Solas Regs
where mobile phone connections are unsatisfactory .

These ships receive the Navtex massages which include a lot more than coastal weather forecasts using better equipment than
is available on most leisure boats and which runs 24/7 and form an important function in the safe navigation
of ships which can not be replaced by an Iphone.

The general problem with Navtex on many small boats is that is switched off at the most important time relating to many passages. IE
the day before. This is when the forecasts will be received as switching on as you leave port is not much use if the next transmission
for your area is in 4 hours time.

It might be interesting to see how many leave their navtex on 24/7 or on timers etc. when the boat is in port. Mind you in the old days doing
this meant you arrived to a boat with miles of paper tape all over the deck

 

[Twister_Ken]

The general problem with Navtex on many small boats is that is switched off at the most important time relating to many passages. IE
the day before. This is when the forecasts will be received as switching on as you leave port is not much use if the next transmission
for your area is in 4 hours time.

Non-problem. If you are joining the boat you can pick-up a forecast from one of the terrestrial services - VHF, Internet, Shipping forecast, HM's office.

Where Navtex seems to score is when you are out of range of the other services. I guess it can also be useful – very occasionally - for sub facts, ice reports, WZ's, etc.

 

[elton]

Arguments in favour of mobile broadband over Navtex are almost as daft as those who suggest that VHF is redundant because we all have mobile phones. Just shows a complete failure to understand the technologies and the issues.

 

[Storyline]

OK, ladies and gents - any consensus about which is the best standalone Navtex solution on the market at the mo, without going silly money? And please don't mention NASA, had one, hated it. And the ICS one needed a ludicrously large aerial last time I looked.

I have the ICS one and the aerial is not that large - it also has a neat feature of taking a log reading at intervals you can choose if you connect it to a GPS.

Someone also mentioned relying on the CG for the inshore waters but I remember being gale bound in Loch Moidart without phone coverage and during a CG strike. Hence the purchase of the Navtex - really like it now.

 

[Twister_Ken]

I have the ICS one and the aerial is not that large - it also has a neat feature of taking a log reading at intervals you can choose if you connect it to a GPS.

Someone also mentioned relying on the CG for the inshore waters but I remember being gale bound in Loch Moidart without phone coverage and during a CG strike. Hence the purchase of the Navtex - really like it now.

The original aerial was a very neat 'shark's fin'. The last time I asked it was a lot bigger...

 

[FWB]

I have an ancient ICS Nav6 Plus. I don't use the navtex function anymore since the internet gives me all the info I need for my type of sailing. The great thing about the Nav6 Plus is that it repeats all my instruments as well as keeping an electronic log.

 

[KellysEye]

>To get the CG Forecast you have to listen at a particular time, which may be inconvenient, or you might not even be aboard.

We listened to the forecast when sailing so no time is inconvenient. If there was a forecast before we were planning to leave we would listen to that.

 

[dgadee]

Arguments in favour of mobile broadband over Navtex are almost as daft as those who suggest that VHF is redundant because we all have mobile phones. Just shows a complete failure to understand the technologies and the issues.

Come on now! Don't be so tentative in expressing your views.

 

[Storyline]

The original aerial was a very neat 'shark's fin'. The last time I asked it was a lot bigger...

Gosh - that is big !. Ours is the 'sharks fin'. The reception is a bit hit or miss even though we sail not too far from Portpatrick. I keep meaning to get a steel whip to put in it's aerial socket. Maybe that is why they have changed the design. It is hard to judge from your photo but I would guess it is now 45cm long ?

Edit: Just another point about the ICS Nav6Plus. I hope they have now changed the firmware. One of the reasons I bought this set was a review in a yachty mag which said how easy it was to use. I have found the opposite. It has a ludicrous system where the display above the soft keys show you the page you are on rather than the page you will go to should you press the key. This is the exact opposite to the way nearly any other piece of electronics works and is absolutely confusing.

 

[NormanS]

>To get the CG Forecast you have to listen at a particular time, which may be inconvenient, or you might not even be aboard.

We listened to the forecast when sailing so no time is inconvenient. If there was a forecast before we were planning to leave we would listen to that.

It all depends on your type of sailing. We are away for weeks at a time, going from one sheltered anchorage to another. We spend a lot of time on the shore, hillwalking etc, so not always convenient to hear a forecast. Our Navtex is on all the time, and like another poster, it was bought as a result of the CG refusing to give out Safety Information.

 

[Storyline]

.....it was bought as a result of the CG refusing to give out Safety Information.

That strike must have caused a surge in the sales of Navtex sets