Navtex / Weatherfax?

Norman_E

Norman_E

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I have just discovered (courtesy of an article in Sailing Today) that the SW radio I have on the boat is capable of SSB reception and can be connected to a laptop computer to decode Weatherfax transmissions. As the radio is on the boat in Turkey I cannot try this out. What I need to know is whether there are transmissions giving local weather for Turkey and the Aegean, so that it would be worth my while getting the connecting cable and software? The other issue is would this all be too much of a fiddle, and a standalone Navtex receiver a better idea?
Are Navtex & Weatherfax different, or just different names for the same thing?
 
You won't find weatherfax of very much use in Turkey, or the rest of the Med IMHO. The atmospheric pressure differences are too small to register on the charts and even downloading from the Internet at the greatest pressure frequency possible does not give much information. Don't know about Navtex in Turkey but in France, Italy and to a lesser extent Spain it is useful although not tremendously accurate. It does give good warning of an impending blow, which is about all you can ask.
 
If your SSB will receive weatherfax then it will also receive the TTY forecasts issued by the German weather centre. These are in text format and cover the whole of the Med for 5 days giving wind and swell for spot locations.
We found these to be invaluable during the 6 years that we were in Greece and Turkey. To decode them via a laptop you will need a program - SeaTTY is cheap and very easy to use.
NASA also make unit called the Weatherman which looks a bit like their Navtex for receiving and displaying these forecasts and which works very well.

Regards,

Henry
 
Each forecast is transmitted in both German and English, on different frequencies and times. The information is in tabular format so its easy to read the German ones even if you don't know the language.

Here's a bit of a forecast for a time that you didn't want to be sailing near the south of France!

DWD FORECAST OF WE, 26/04/2006 0 UTC:
WIND FORCE: BEAUFORT, WAVE HEIGHT: METRE

GOLFE DU LION (42.2N 4.5E) SST: 15 C
TH 27. 12Z: NW 6-7 / 8 2 M //
FR 28. 00Z: NW 6-7 / 8 2 M //
FR 28. 12Z: NW 6 / 8 3 M //
SA 29. 00Z: NW-N 8 / 9-10 3 M //
SA 29. 12Z: NW-N 7 / 9 2.5 M //
SU 30. 00Z: NW-N 7 / 8-9 2.5 M //
SU 30. 12Z: NW-N 6 / 8 2 M //
MO 01. 00Z: N 4-5 / 1 M //
MO 01. 12Z: NE 0-2 / 0.5 M //
TU 02. 00Z: --- --- / --- M //

BALEARIC ISLANDS (39.2N 3.7E) SST: 18 C
TH 27. 12Z: N 5 / 1.5 M //
FR 28. 00Z: W-NW 3-4 / 1 M //
FR 28. 12Z: N 5-6 / 6-7 1.5 M //
SA 29. 00Z: NW 4 / 1.5 M //
SA 29. 12Z: N 3-4 / 1.5 M //
SU 30. 00Z: N 5-6 / 6-7 1.5 M //
SU 30. 12Z: N 4-5 / 1.5 M //
MO 01. 00Z: NW 3 / 1 M //
MO 01. 12Z: N-NE 3 / 0.5 M //
TU 02. 00Z: --- --- / --- M //

The wind speed shows the strength of the gusts as well as the mean.

Regards,
 
Thank you. I will look at the weatherfax receiver when I go to the boat show. I have just realised that the real weakness of using the radio connected to the laptop is that if I am not in the marina with mains connected, the laptop battery life will be a problem.
 
If your laptop has a sound card, use it to connect direct to the radio's phone output socket using a simple cable with a minijack at each end. then get a copy of Metscan Meteo pro or similar. The program has a tuning aid built in, and some soundbyte examples of what the signal should be, to help get you started. you can also tune to stations that give fax charts for the med and atlantic which are good. Also, listen to 14.303 USB at 0800 and 1800 GMT daily for the UK amateur maritime net, and Bill Hall G4FRN will tell you the weather for your area. Soon you'll get hooked on a new hobby ( I'll send you an anorak........)
 
I was looking into this a few months ago and identified a similar issue. I don't normally use the laptop while actually sailing (too vulnerable). Someone (I've forgotten who) suggested connecting the radio to a digital dictating machine and playing that back into the laptop later. I think they can record in "voice activated" mode which should avoid having to play back lengthy silences.

All second hand, however, since this a project I've yet to start!
 
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