Navtex

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Luanda

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Have I been had? Last Spring I bought a NASA Marine Navtex, for use here in the Baltic. The first one I received was defect, and this the supplier exchabged. The second one wasn't much better, but at least I got a few letters on the display, though nothing that indicated a weather report. So I began, in August, to write to NASA Marine. At first I used E-mail - no reply. Second and third attempts at E-mail gave no result, so I wrote to the address on tghe Operating Instructions, in Stevenage. No reply yet.
Does this company exist, and does it have a service dept? Does anyone else have any experience with the Navtex? Shouldn't it also operate in the Baltic? I can see no reference in the manual to it only being operative in the UK.

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Navtex does work in the Baltic - I've picked up broadcasts around most of the Baltic on my ICS receiver, with a few "black spots" (like St. Petersburg). If you're in a particularly sheltered marina, perhaps with lots of masts you may occasionally have problems with coverage. You have to make sure that you've programmed it to receive the right station(s). Around Eastern Denmark I had no problem picking up Stockholm for example.

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try this guy .
he is Nasa & advertises on ebay uk

Member Profile: mulley2346
check-out his "items for sale" & use the "Link" to contact him
he sells all their demo items on ebay for nearly the full retail price, people dont realise what the retail price is
good luck

<hr width=100% size=1>Mines a Crocodile sandwich & make it Snappy<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by sailorman on 12/12/2004 19:50 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
Navtex information <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.franksingleton.clara.net/navtex_2.html>can be seen here </A>.

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BroadsandEastcoastBoating/>Broads & East Coast Boating</A>
 
navtex certainly works in the baltic ,i have recieved(useless)reports of the ice conditions in northern areas up until June. two years ago on canal du l'est (mid france) we were getting consecutive weather reports from toulon and oslo .

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Navtex works on radio frequencies which are easily subject to interference. Are you sure other equipment on your boat isn't generatiing RF noise around 500kHz?

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Go to Nasa Marine directly, the CURRENT up-to-date and working email address is nasamarine@aol.com and it works, I use it every week. Alternatively call +44 438 354033.

They are extremely helpful when approached kindly, but suffer a tendency to over-react to Mr. Angry!

<hr width=100% size=1>John
http://www.on-line-marine.com
 
Maybe!. I have bought 3 items from him lately with an average saving of £38 each item on 'discount' chandler prices. They were all immaculate and have obviously never been out of their boxes. Why waste your dosh.

<hr width=100% size=1>A day not spent on my boat is a day in my life wasted.
 
In response to your question about NASA

yes they do exist, I owned one of their Doppler logs about 20 years ago which worked fine and more lately a Navtex Pro which also worked fine all round W Europe, picking up stations up to about 120% of their stated range.

The only time it failed to get a signal was in ports that were shielded by mountains.

The NASA Clipper Navtex I now have also works fine and has a much better screen than the original Navtex Pro.

I've found them quite easy to raise on the phone and reasonably helpful in after-sales service.

Try them on 0044 1438 354033.

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Many thanks to all for your help. I will try yet again to E-mail them - without sounding too angry! And I was especially glad to hear that some have received whilst in the Baltic. Why don't more of you come here - or perhaps it's too easy sailing, no tides to show how skillful you are, no currents (or at least very few), and who wants to be distracted by all those Scandinavian sirens?

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Hope you find a suitable solution via NASA: I had similar problems which were eventually solved via antenna arrangements. I'm 85 to 90% certain my problems were due to very high power medium wave transmitters only a few miles away (BBC World Service at Orford in East Anglia) so it might be worth considering if you have similar problems.

With suitable arrangements and NASA's help, I can now generally get navtex even from very distant stations.

Re the Baltic, have already got the T-shirt but hope to do some more in the future.

<hr width=100% size=1>Chris
 
After a huge amount of experimentation, I ended up not using the active stub antenna, and using a long wire antenna instead. NASA provided me with a connecting lead (which has to have a capacitor in it to block the DC supply, otherwise the antenna wire sits at a few volts above 0V) and I've connected this to my chain plate as my 17m mast is not earthed - and makes a wonderful antenna. However I had to include a series resistor (around 1 kohm I think) to avoid overloading.

The only concern I have remaining is whether the set up is now too susceptible to static and/or lightning, so I might fit a limiter between the mast foot and the lead keel.

<hr width=100% size=1>Chris
 
Interesting, as the subject of being too close to transmitters has come up a few times in the past, though most were concentrated on being close to the Navtex transmitter, and didn't consider other transmitters as being the cause. I suspect quite a few people could benefit from this advice

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni
 
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