Navtex reception West Coast of Scotland?

Supertramp said:
I must be unique in that I fitted a new one (Nasa with bluetooth) 2 years ago. It tells me what the other forecasts say but will do it when there's no mobile signal or VHF is barely audible. Used it several times in the past month in W Scotland when other methods didn't work.

Its useful to know what you are coming out into when you've been in a no signal spot for a day or two.

I like backups for backups!
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Each to their own preferences.

I had one on my previous boat but never missed it on current boat. A priority for me is having devices on multiple phone networks - EE, Vodafone and one other.
Sailed this year from Sanda to Yell, including Inner and Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, without concern. Where are these signal gaps?

Also, for NW Scotland the official forecasts are too short term. I want to always look a week ahead - to be able to reposition if a storm coming.
So for me Navtext, like Decca, is dead.
 
Does anyone still provide a forecast to SMS (text) service? At the turn of the millennium you could send a test to a premium number and it would reply with inshore waters forecast. Occasionally have been in an anchorage with intermittent basic coverage but no data.
 
ylop said:
Does anyone still provide a forecast to SMS (text) service? At the turn of the millennium you could send a test to a premium number and it would reply with inshore waters forecast. Occasionally have been in an anchorage with intermittent basic coverage but no data.
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Wife? Partner? Friend?
Used to use that aporoach occasionally at places like Canna, but no longer needed as found phone data signal.
 
dunedin said:
Wife? Partner? Friend?
Used to use that aporoach occasionally at places like Canna, but no longer needed as found phone data signal.
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Gometra and Cambus both required shore trips this summer. There was intermittent non-data signal at both (depending on weather and boat swing). I have been looking at adding an antenna up the mast - Lusty now has me pondering giving Elon money…. We used MSIBs from CG but it made planning focussed on the their timing. Wife was on the boat! Potentially could ask a friend but you never know in advance you will need this so needs to be someone clued up who doesn’t then ask 10 questions by text and waste the window of opportunity!
 
I fitted Navtext many years ago, when the CG were, due to "industrial action", refusing to broadcast MMSI information. ☹️. I found it extremely useful, even when CG service returned to normal, as instead of having to listen at a particular time, the forecast came in, and could be read when convenient.
Time has moved on. When I first sailed, the only forecast was the Shipping Forecast, valid for 24 hours, and for huge areas. The Inshore Forecast is valid for 48 hours. Now fairly reliable forecasts are available for a week or so, and for more precise areas. For example, the recent "Storm Floris" was forecast a full week in advance.
I find now that I seldom bother to listen to the CG broadcast of the Inshore forecast, never listen to the Shipping Forecast, and only read the Inshore forecast on Navtex on the decreasing occasions when we are unable to get Internet data.
 
dunedin said:
Each to their own preferences.

I had one on my previous boat but never missed it on current boat. A priority for me is having devices on multiple phone networks - EE, Vodafone and one other.
Sailed this year from Sanda to Yell, including Inner and Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland, without concern. Where are these signal gaps?

Also, for NW Scotland the official forecasts are too short term. I want to always look a week ahead - to be able to reposition if a storm coming.
So for me Navtext, like Decca, is dead.
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No signal in Loch Moidart, and several spots on the Ross of Mull. Usually in areas hidden behind hills and islands.

It gave me the confidence to emerge safely from Moidart after Floris.

In an ideal world I would have Starlink but its not justified for me.

95+% of the time I am on mobile data.
 
dunedin said:
Also, for NW Scotland the official forecasts are too short term. I want to always look a week ahead - to be able to reposition if a storm coming.
So for me Navtext, like Decca, is dead.
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I find the Extended Outlook, 3-5 days ahead, to be a useful guide. It comes through on Navtex daily (nightly - about 2300). They do use some fairly obscure abbreviations.
 
When I read reports about NAVTEX reception being poor, I always wonder where the report is from. NAVTEX specifications refer to reception at sea, officially, beyond the safe water buoy. It is NOT intended for use on land.
Having said that. I agree with comments about internet use. It is simply not sensible to try to use NAVTEX when the internet is available. I guess that the majority of leisure sailors are only outside VHF range for s few hots, maybe up to 36-48 hours. With careful use of forecasts, NAVTEX should not be necessary.
 
franksingleton said:
When I read reports about NAVTEX reception being poor, I always wonder where the report is from. NAVTEX specifications refer to reception at sea, officially, beyond the safe water buoy. It is NOT intended for use on land.
Having said that. I agree with comments about internet use. It is simply not sensible to try to use NAVTEX when the internet is available. I guess that the majority of leisure sailors are only outside VHF range for s few hots, maybe up to 36-48 hours. With careful use of forecasts, NAVTEX should not be necessary.
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Have there been reports of poor Navtex reception?
 
I have spent about 8 weeks starting on the Clyde, north from Mull of Kintyre to Cape Wrath, all round Orkney and then south via Moray Firth and Caledonian Canal, then to Coll, Tiree, Mull, and back to Clyde.
Navtex has been more reliable than mobile phone signal (Malin Head, Vodafone) There are still a few places where VHF forecasts are not receivable.
 
NormanS said:
Yes, but these reports were fifteen years ago, when Portpatrick had transmission problems.
Long time ago.
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Yes, i had some involvement in that through a MCA committee. I have still heard of problems in rhe West of Scotland generally. I have long been a proponent of NAVTEX, despite its shortcomings. However, it is dying a protracted death. France no longer broadcasts although their texts are available via WWMIWS and elsewhere. Improvements in forecasting and the availability of satellite systems combine to reduce the need for a system using 1950s technology. 100 baud speeds are unbelievable nowadays. Had Inmarsat come along a little earlier it might have been different.
 
I have to say, if Navtex was updated and had a more certain future I’d have bought one despite the Starlink. The only thing that makes it bad for me is the constant talk of switching it off and/or replacing it.
The lack of availability of quality systems harms it too, the one’s I’ve seen were all designed a loooong time ago in tech terms. A simple dongle with app that displays on the MFD would be good.

The bandwidth could easily be upgraded without changing spectrum usage, and that could enable richer data. Over the years many advances have been made to do more with less.
 
On various cruises around the west coast, I’ve always found mobile data (EE, which I believe expanded their network when they took over providing cover for the emergency services) just a short walk away up the nearest hill from most anchorages, even on some of the uninhabited Outer Hebrides.
 
boomerangben said:
On various cruises around the west coast, I’ve always found mobile data (EE, which I believe expanded their network when they took over providing cover for the emergency services) just a short walk away up the nearest hill from most anchorages, even on some of the uninhabited Outer Hebrides.
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Same for me - except EE plus Vodafone. Hugely better than it was just 5 years ago.
 
Porthandbuoy said:
Well I live and learn! Those abbreviations deal with most of what I thought were dropped characters. File downloaded for closer study. Thank you.
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These abbreviations are not well publicised but have been used for a long time. Martin Stubbs, an old colleague of mine, died several years ago. They appear in the Guide Marine de Météo France, despite France not now broadcasting NAVTEX, and at NAVTEX Weather Broadcasts for Europe & the Mediterranean - Franks-Weather - The Weather Window.
 
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