NAVTEX - is its time up - at last?

[Graham376]

Well, I can beat you by 9 years on the age front. I go back to LW 198 kHz being Radio 2.

Radio2? What about the Light Program, Home Service and Luxembourg on a crystal set ?

With all the on-line forecasts these days I rarely switch the Navtex on except when intending to sail in the Bay of Cadiz, to get a couple of days advance warning of live firing exercises. The way technology is advancing, no doubt within a few years there will be a cheap satellite alternative.

 

[franksingleton]

One of Clint Eastwood’s phrases was “there are two kinds of people in this world .....”. That is clearly so here. In the past, I have heard many complaints about NAVTEX. In posts in this thread there has been more praise than otherwise. There has been a post disparaging the NASA Weatherman whereas I have seen much praise for this bit of kit, not now available seemingly, and the Morer WeatherInfo Box.

This is not surprising as we are talking about RTTY, Telex over radio. Whether by HF/SSB from DWD (see http://weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weather/Radio-Teletype-Weather-Broadcasts#radio-teletype). MF (NAVTEX) or LW (the DWD 147kHz Channel) there will always be transmission/reception issues. I have used NAVTEX widely from the south coast to Greece and the Adriatic. We often had good reception but, on many occasions, not good. Initially, I was using the basic NASA set, latterly I had a Furuno dual frequency set. There was little difference in reception capability. Before I had the Furuno, we could compare performance of the NASA with other yachts equipment. In some ways the NASA was superior. However, it’s lifetime was less good and the display deteriorated. We used to receive HF/SSB via radio receiver and software on a laptop. Effectively, this was a manual version of Westherman. Again. Performance varied with location, often poor near busy ports, often good.

Basically, with both systems, NAVTEX and RTTY, the main issue from my perspective was that of terrestrial radio. So, I come back to my OP. NAVTEX has an uncertain future although it may well see me out. The internet has, potentially, global cover. Why are IMO/WMO not, apparently, taking steps to ensure that the internet is not a reliable source of GMDSS information?