Navtex

[VO540]

After recent trip across the Channel am thinking of fitting Navtex. Any advice please on it's usefullness and best type model..etc ..to get.

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[Guest]

I was in this position at Easter. Went to Cherbourg. Rain, rain and more rain. Got bored. Toured the chandlers looking for something to spend my money on. (Needed a project to keep me sane.) Navtex. Loads of research - decided which model then woe behold neighbour turns up with Navtex. Don't bother was his reply. Complete waste of time unless you are going to be isolated fromn the rest of the world. Just use usual weather sources and save the money.

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[LORDNELSON]

I use an old NASA Navtex. Its useful. Twice a day one receives weather forecasts for the sea area for which you have programmed it. Once a day you also receive a five day prediction, which is interesting but less useful. Of course you can rely on wireless and coastguard etc., weather information but it is easy to forget to listen at the correct time, if you do miss the wirelessed information the Navtex has it there, in writing, in front of you.

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[tome]

Don't always listen to your neighbour!

Navtex is a very useful aid and we make frequent use of it. The prices vary depending on whether you go for dual frequency etc.

The one we have is the ICS Nav6+ which also doubles as an instrument repeater and data logger, but you can get by with a cheaper model if you don't require all the bells and whistles.

The NASA dual frequency can only receive on one frequency at a time and you have to manually select which one, bit of a pain. The ICS receives on both (even simultaneously) without intervention.

you get what you pay for, but even a basic one is worth having.

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[AlanPound]

We have an ICS Nav6. Navtex itself is pretty useful, but typically I only really use 518kHz, even though my unit receives both... and in foreign parts, Navtex on the other frequency tends to be, well, foreign....

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[Guest]

I am most definitively planning to install Navtex on my new boat, probably ICS 6 +. Have sailed with one before and liked it, sailed without one last few years and found it hard to make sure you have the right forecast all the time. Since weather forecast is probably the most important piece of "safety equipment" on board you don't want to rely in port on hear say, newspapers or radio forecasts aimed at beachbums. You need accurate wind and wave data, as recent as possible. They may easily determine your decision to go out or stay in. Once out at sea you often need the latest forecast as soon as it is available. And you may get it from VHF, but then again you may be busy reefing or whatever and it may be hard to pick it up accurarately with all the noise.

Navtex apparently works well on North Sea, Channel and a little further, but loses its value further away. However, there are alternatives. Nasa's weatherman, Navcode and Fastnet radio all decode weather forecasts from the german forecast station Deutscher Wetterdienst in Pinnenberg. It is aimed at professional use and is available for areas all around Europe including the Med. The Fastnet Radio and Navcode units abn function as Navtex and Pinnenberg decoder. The Weatherman by Nasa will do weather only.







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[Guest]

I also have the basic older style Nasa unit - and I like it and think it very good value. In fact I would advise paying just that little bit more and get the pro version ..... which spaces the text better ....... it tends to run together on mine making it difficult to read until you get used to it !!!!

But well worth every penny.


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !

 

[Oldhand]

Missed the Coast Guard MSI broadcast? Just get the same information off your Navtex and don't bother the CG for a repeat. Isn't that a good enough reason to have one? Also if foreign the local langauge forecasts are useful and you soon learn the translations of "rafales" etc. Makes you independent of other shore forecast souces so you can stay out at anchor.

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[Ivy]

I bought the Nasa Clipper dual frequency Navtex last winter, (about £250.00), lots of people said don't waist your money, but they have never had one, so probably don't know what they are talking about. I find it great, I don't need to wait for the radio forcast, as soon as I get on board I turn it on and it stays on until I get back to the mooring. Twice a day it gives me the weather forcast and I can refur to it at any time during my passage if I forget it. I get back from the pub and it's there waiting for me to decide, if I'm sober enough, weather or not to get up in the morning.

spend some money it's worth it,

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[david_bagshaw]

Would not be without it, forecasts, without getting up early, missing nav marks, cable laying, gurnnery practice, gale warnings, if it failed , would definately replace it.

We have a Nasa pro unit, which has worked fine,but needed a new mast head unit a few years ago, not shure though if the real problem was insulating corrosion between the brass & stainless ariel. Worked well this summer up the german coast & including the western baltic.

<hr width=100% size=1>David
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.euroboating.net>http://www.euroboating.net</A>

 

[jimi]

I've also got the Nasa Clipper dual frequency Navtex, would'nt be without it.

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[tony_brighton]

I agree - you dont need to leap up at the crack of dawn for a forecast - it draws so little power you can leave it on all the time. We recently went over to St Vaast - found it very useful there for checking the weather window for a return trip. Personally I'd recommend it as a useful bit of kit.

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[vyv_cox]

How's the antenna on your NASA Clipper? Mine was mounted on top of the radar scanner, so fully exposed to the elements. Four months old it stopped working. I looked inside the antenna and found a lot of water, presumably condensation as I cannot see any holes in the top of the cover. It was returned to Compass 6 weeks ago and I am still waiting for a repair or replacement.

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[jimi]

I mounted it 2 years ago on the lower pushpit horizontal (to help protect it from bashes etc) and I've never had a problem (fingers crossed,knees crossed,touch wood). I know its not the perfect reception position but that does'nt seem to have affected it.

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[charles_reed]

I've been using Navtex for the past 10 years in the Western Approaches, french and spanish Atlantic coasts and the W Mediterranean.

It has proved invaluable.

You need to decide if you require one which produces a print-out (like the big-ship ones) or one which just collates the information on an LCD screen.

The print-out is useful to shove into the working log, but ICS charge a ridiculous amount for their thermo-printing rolls and if you try to record much of the available transmissions you'll come back, after a day out, to find the saloon full of tickertape.
I've successfully cut down conventional fax-rolls to make up the rolls but it's a bit of a fiddly job.

I now have a Navtex Pro (the old single-band version), obtained from Tony Krcher at the end of a boatshow, who advised sealing the active aerial faceplate with silicon sealant to prevent water getting in.
The screen isn't the best and one needs to check the messages and stations haven't been changed by the instrument's instability, but apart from those two it's proved extremely reliable (which is more than you can say for the Spanish transmitters).

At the price the NASA instrument is outstanding value for money, if a little unsophisticated, and ideal for its target market - yachties.


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[tome]

Jim

At the low frequencies of Navtex mounting and height aren't critical. On my last boat I had a Nasa pro and had the antenna inside the accommodation on a bulkhead, it worked fine.

Regards
Tom

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[vyv_cox]

I agree that on the open sea but inside the marina, with buildings all around, I found a serious reduction in reception when the antenna was below decks. Might have been interference, don't know, but all resolved with the antenna on a mast.

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[tome]

You're probably right Vyv, but mine worked ok within the marina also so worth a try. Bit of a black art this electromagnetic interference stuff...

Regards
Tom

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[philmarks]

B****r! I've a Navtex Pro which works fine in harbour (eg Cherbourg or Portsmouth) but hardly works at all at sea. Very disappointing south of Brest. Worked well in harbour in Lisbon though, but that's not why I bought it! Interested to see problems with water ingress to aerial reported here. I'll check that. Overall I've been disappointed with it - I'm going to check for water and re-make the cable joints (I had to lengthen cable).

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[Guest]

My aerial is propped behind the divan back cushion and works fine on my nasa ....... not fitted outside or high at all ......


<hr width=100% size=1>Nigel ...
Bilge Keelers get up further ! I only came - cos they said there was FREE Guinness !