PC weather fax recommendations

[denhams]

I'd like to get a weather fax program for my laptop (Windows XP Pro, soundcard, serial port) and Target HF3 SW radio (with active antenna). I don't need Navtex or RTTY but would like the ability to receive automatically from pre-defined broadcast schedule.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

Steve.

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[bendyone]

Use JV Fax download from the web, works well with the Nasa radio.

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[Talbot]

Try this download link for JVFAX <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.pervisell.com/ham/jvfax70.zip>http://www.pervisell.com/ham/jvfax70.zip</A>

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[snowleopard]

i have Weather Fax 2000 from Xaxero. it's a reasonable package which comes with a serial port demodulator. it has the ability to schedule faxes and control the receiver but this requires another cable (not supplied) and a second serial port which few laptops have.

in practice i found that the system needs nursing as it doesn't always recognise start/end signal so i like to watch till i'm sure it's started receiving a chart. also, when receiving several consecutive charts it's best to stop and restart manually. as the signal fades over distance the reliability drops correspondingly.

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[MainlySteam]

Having tried many, including all mentioned so far on this thread, my favourite is WxSat which can be found via this site which gives some independant comments on it <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.hffax.de/html/hauptteil_wxsat.htm>http://www.hffax.de/html/hauptteil_wxsat.htm</A>. It only requires audio input from the radio to the computer's microphone or other audio input. It far surpasses JvFax, which is a common favourite, in performance, ease of setup and reliability but is generally only well known to those in the radio community.

It is free in a non crippled version to private individuals interested in weatherfax. It has not been updated since 1999, but probably because there has been no need.

As it also does satellite one just has to know to select the FM120 option for recording. The only other catch, common to a number of such programmes, is that one has to set it up for the pixel size of ones screen, it says how but unless one is aware of it one might struggle to getting to finding the answer as to why it copies incorrectly for a while.

John

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[Oldhand]

I'm not sure how you expect automatic fax reception with a Target HF3 as I understand this receiver can only be tuned manually and not by the PC. I suppose if you only intend to use one station at one time of the day it might do. However, if you want full automation you need an ICOM PCR-1000 receiver and somoething like Bonito radiocom software.

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