yachtorion
Well-Known Member
Does anybody who has a Navtex receiver find it valuable please?
Naxtex
- Thread starter yachtorion
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Gwylan
Well-Known Member
Yes! Really first choice for the weather, after the barometer.
Especially when there is no Internet, mobile, wifi.
Also it is always on and we have a rolling forecast always available. Just have to reprogramme the stations as we move.
Especially when there is no Internet, mobile, wifi.
Also it is always on and we have a rolling forecast always available. Just have to reprogramme the stations as we move.
Lucky Duck
Well-Known Member
I have had the Furnuo unit on my last two boats but with availability of mobile internet I seem to be using it much less than I used to. That said there have still been times when it proved invaluable this season.
Probably wouldn't bother having one fitted now if I didn't already own one.
Probably wouldn't bother having one fitted now if I didn't already own one.
JimC
Well-Known Member
I find Navtex very useful. I use a NASA unit. I got it following the Coastguards' working to rule a few years ago weren't giving out the forecasts on vhf. A mobile phone often won't get a signal at sea.
awol
Well-Known Member
If the Met Office forecast from the CG is useful to you then the Navtex (on National) version gives the same in written form.
tri39
Well-Known Member
I upgraded from NASA to Furuno and even tho I now have a phone that's smarter than me I still use it.
And I often use the smartphone to read Navtex online in my bunk, while deciding how far we're going today!
Anybody going more than ten miles offshore should have one!
And I often use the smartphone to read Navtex online in my bunk, while deciding how far we're going today!
Anybody going more than ten miles offshore should have one!
duncan99210
Well-Known Member
Depends on what sort of sailing you plan to do. Internet forecasts are more detailed and localised, cheap/free if you have a mobile device of some sort, so if you're likely to be within mobile coverage represent the best option. However, if you're aiming to do longer passages, often outside mobile phone coverage, then NAVTEX is the best way of getting area forecasts on a regular basis.
We keep the NAVTEX on and storing messages but rarely look at it when in coastal waters. It comes into. It's own when we're making longer offshore passages.
We keep the NAVTEX on and storing messages but rarely look at it when in coastal waters. It comes into. It's own when we're making longer offshore passages.
jdc
Well-Known Member
It rather depends on where you sail, and what you expect from it.
If far from 'civilisation' it's invaluable: there probably won't be mobile coverage and/or it might well be really expensive to use data. It's also usually in English, so straining to hear a broadcast message in Icelandic or South American Spanish is not required, or if in local language it's at least written, so one can work it out at one's leisure.
What one gets from it are GMDSS messages. These can be lots of things, but I receive:
- nav warnings, for which it's excellent although in UK waters they tend to be about rig movements off Ostende, but I have found one about an unexploded mine which turned out to be right on our path!
- SAR messages, which I suppose one is morally bound to pay attention to,
- Weather warnings,
- GMDSS forecasts for sea areas, and
- extended outlook, which I find useful, especially for 'High Seas'.
But note the 'GMDSS' qualification on forecasts. GMDSS messages are NOT for route planning, and not the most likely weather, but are as much to do with safety of operations such as fishing or towing or rig maneuvering. So as a sole source of weather information the Navtex is not really adequate, no more than the R4 shipping forecast is; one needs another view of the most likely weather, one with much greater time and spatial resolution and with more parameters such as cloud cover and precipitation and even CAPE.
So good practice I believe, and what I try to do when away from home waters, is to have a numerical model forecast, such as GRIB files from the US GFS model, which I update every couple of days as well as 'listening' to Navtex GMDSS forecasts every 12 hours or so. That way I can judge whether the actual weather is following the predicted evolution or if there's some new development.
As an illustration of this, I wanted to get home to NW Scotland from Faeroe around the end of last August. I had the GRIB file which showed a weather window whereby if we set off on Friday lunchtime just after a gale had passed Hurricane Cristobal would not arrive before Sunday luchtime. So we set off, with the option of diverting to Orkney if Christobal altered course to the east or speeded up. Over the next 36 hours the Navtex High Seas forecast described its actual position and predicted track, and we were able to satisfy ourselves that the GRIB was still reasonably accurate. But the Shipping Forecast was predicting S F10 for Rockall and Hebrides 'later', so with only this information I'd never have left port, and with only mobile phone data I'd not have been able to track the path of the storm. As it was, we made the Minch by the small hours of Sunday and were opposite Raasay before the wind swung into the south, and finished up with a splendid sail tacking down to Plockton in flat water and sunshine into a F6 while the usual Minch dolphins played around us.
So, in summary: yes to Navtex, but make sure you don't confuse GMDSS forecasts with forecasts suited to route planning (there have been forum threads about this recently).
.
If far from 'civilisation' it's invaluable: there probably won't be mobile coverage and/or it might well be really expensive to use data. It's also usually in English, so straining to hear a broadcast message in Icelandic or South American Spanish is not required, or if in local language it's at least written, so one can work it out at one's leisure.
What one gets from it are GMDSS messages. These can be lots of things, but I receive:
- nav warnings, for which it's excellent although in UK waters they tend to be about rig movements off Ostende, but I have found one about an unexploded mine which turned out to be right on our path!
- SAR messages, which I suppose one is morally bound to pay attention to,
- Weather warnings,
- GMDSS forecasts for sea areas, and
- extended outlook, which I find useful, especially for 'High Seas'.
But note the 'GMDSS' qualification on forecasts. GMDSS messages are NOT for route planning, and not the most likely weather, but are as much to do with safety of operations such as fishing or towing or rig maneuvering. So as a sole source of weather information the Navtex is not really adequate, no more than the R4 shipping forecast is; one needs another view of the most likely weather, one with much greater time and spatial resolution and with more parameters such as cloud cover and precipitation and even CAPE.
So good practice I believe, and what I try to do when away from home waters, is to have a numerical model forecast, such as GRIB files from the US GFS model, which I update every couple of days as well as 'listening' to Navtex GMDSS forecasts every 12 hours or so. That way I can judge whether the actual weather is following the predicted evolution or if there's some new development.
As an illustration of this, I wanted to get home to NW Scotland from Faeroe around the end of last August. I had the GRIB file which showed a weather window whereby if we set off on Friday lunchtime just after a gale had passed Hurricane Cristobal would not arrive before Sunday luchtime. So we set off, with the option of diverting to Orkney if Christobal altered course to the east or speeded up. Over the next 36 hours the Navtex High Seas forecast described its actual position and predicted track, and we were able to satisfy ourselves that the GRIB was still reasonably accurate. But the Shipping Forecast was predicting S F10 for Rockall and Hebrides 'later', so with only this information I'd never have left port, and with only mobile phone data I'd not have been able to track the path of the storm. As it was, we made the Minch by the small hours of Sunday and were opposite Raasay before the wind swung into the south, and finished up with a splendid sail tacking down to Plockton in flat water and sunshine into a F6 while the usual Minch dolphins played around us.
So, in summary: yes to Navtex, but make sure you don't confuse GMDSS forecasts with forecasts suited to route planning (there have been forum threads about this recently).
.
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
As jdc says, totally dependent upon the sailing you do. Cruising for longer distances in the Med we have found it very useful, sometimes has been our only source of forecasts when Internet signals were non-existent. On a smaller boat in Menai Strait it was pretty much useless and went in a boat jumble two weeks ago,
yachtorion
Well-Known Member
Thanks Vyv and All. Small boat in the Menai Strait is a fair summary of my plans so It sounds like it probably isn't going to be worthwhile for my sailing activities so I'll not bother and spend the money on other things.
NormanS
Well-Known Member
Our sailing is now mainly short passages in and around the Western Isles. We spend a lot of time ashore, hillwalking and such like. We can seldom rely on Internet access, but will use it if we can, for XC Weather etc. Our most relevant forecast is the Inshore Forecast, which comes in on Navtex 490kHx. The beauty of it is that it comes in, and is recorded whether you are aboard or not.
Like others, I installed Navtex when the CG were playing silly buggers, and refusing to give out SAFETY information. In so doing, they lost my respect.
Like others, I installed Navtex when the CG were playing silly buggers, and refusing to give out SAFETY information. In so doing, they lost my respect.
yotter
Well-Known Member
Just picking up on NAVTEX in the western isles. I have the NASA unit with NASA aerial on the pushpit, and have difficulty getting any coverage in the area of Harris and Lewis. This is a pain since that is where internet via mobile phone is difficult. Interesting that JDC managed to get forecasts while travelling from the Faroes to the inner sound.
Regards
Angus
Regards
Angus
jdc
Well-Known Member
I also received those from Sydney on that trip! I found on the other hand that Stornoway's VHF transmissions seemed to be off-air half the summer.
Equipment is a Furuno with the mushroom shaped antenna on the comms post about 3m ASL. But truthfully, I don't really know how well it works near Lewis or Harris, we were relying on it only when 50m or more N of Cape Wrath.
PS: That's Sydney in E Canada, but still a long way
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yotter
Well-Known Member
JDC,
Many thanks for the reply.
When I was in Stornoway in August this year, I took a walk to go and speak to the coastguard about NAVTEX reception, or lack of it! They informed that some time ago they had a receiver with an aerial on the side of the building and got no reception either! I think that I receiving the best messages from Malin Head when further south. Do you know where you were receiving from (apart from Canada!). I may investigate my aerial and connections if you were getting reception 50nm north of Malin Head.
Angus
Many thanks for the reply.
When I was in Stornoway in August this year, I took a walk to go and speak to the coastguard about NAVTEX reception, or lack of it! They informed that some time ago they had a receiver with an aerial on the side of the building and got no reception either! I think that I receiving the best messages from Malin Head when further south. Do you know where you were receiving from (apart from Canada!). I may investigate my aerial and connections if you were getting reception 50nm north of Malin Head.
Angus
NormanS
Well-Known Member
Mine's just the cheap and cheerful Nasa Clipper, and I get good Navtex reception around Lewis and Harris, the Uists and Barra.
There was a problem initially with transmissions from Portpatrick. It was taking so long to find out what was wrong there, that Ireland was asked to transmit the Inshore Forecast from Malin Head, as a backup. Eventually, the problem at Portpatrick was repaired, so we now get it from both sources. Sometimes from one, sometimes from the other, sometimes from both, seldom but occasionally from neither.
As a system, it is designed for use at sea, not necessarily up at the end of a mountainous sealoch, but generally very reliable. It seems to have a greater range with high atmospheric pressure, (like VHF).
There was a problem initially with transmissions from Portpatrick. It was taking so long to find out what was wrong there, that Ireland was asked to transmit the Inshore Forecast from Malin Head, as a backup. Eventually, the problem at Portpatrick was repaired, so we now get it from both sources. Sometimes from one, sometimes from the other, sometimes from both, seldom but occasionally from neither.
As a system, it is designed for use at sea, not necessarily up at the end of a mountainous sealoch, but generally very reliable. It seems to have a greater range with high atmospheric pressure, (like VHF).
yotter
Well-Known Member
NormanS
Many thanks for that, I shall persevere with my trusty NASA clipper
Angus
Many thanks for that, I shall persevere with my trusty NASA clipper
Angus
