Heckler
Well-Known Member
k
S
What would it take for a HAM to start squirting out stuff like this on SW?
S
Where's northwood weatherfax gone?
- Thread starter GHA
- Start date
Heckler
Well-Known Member
There you go, fixed it for you!
S
franksingleton
Well-Known Member
Presumably you know about Winlink? That gives access to GRIB files, text forecasts, synoptic charts all as email attachments less than 35kb. Similarly using Sailmail.
In any case, you miss the point. DWD broadcasts Radiofax. Whether or not Northwood continues is irrelevant.
Last edited:
GHA
Well-Known Member
There are agreed sstv & fax frequencies, often pictures of kittens
oldvarnish
Well-Known Member
More power than a licensed ham is allowed, would be my guess.
franksingleton
Well-Known Member
Serious minded fellow that I am, I detect a certain amount of disbelief in the way communications at sea are going or, really, have gone.
Send an email subject PPVE89.SMALL.TIF to
weather@mailasail.com and see what you get – look at the size of the attachment. Then do the same with subject PJGE93.SMALL.TIF.
The quality is not great but neither is Radiofax. Anyone using email over HF via Sailmail or the HAM Winlink can use this service as can anyone with restricted bandwidth.
Some of those taking part will probably outlive Radiofax and, maybe, RTT. They may just be using email over HF/SSB. More likely they will be using satellite based systems. My big concern is that providers of GMDSS type information will not have moved with the times.
Send an email subject PPVE89.SMALL.TIF to
weather@mailasail.com and see what you get – look at the size of the attachment. Then do the same with subject PJGE93.SMALL.TIF.
The quality is not great but neither is Radiofax. Anyone using email over HF via Sailmail or the HAM Winlink can use this service as can anyone with restricted bandwidth.
Some of those taking part will probably outlive Radiofax and, maybe, RTT. They may just be using email over HF/SSB. More likely they will be using satellite based systems. My big concern is that providers of GMDSS type information will not have moved with the times.
RobbieW
Well-Known Member
I dont disagree with any of your observations, Frank. One observation I have is that the (PAYG equivalent) speeds of satellite links have only recently moved from a basic 2400, see http://www.mailasail.com/Support/Iridium-Bandwidth, which is little better than SSB. The sort of high speed digital data that we have become used to at home is still a long way from what is achievable by satellite, I think the latest technology can manage something like 100k which would help but thats at a price. I'd hope that the GMDSS HF services are not withdrawn until a low cost, high speed alternative is available
haydude
Well-Known Member
I have just scanned through all the frequency and there is only static. I can get the DWD carrier on the DW frequencies instead. I was hoping I could not get Northwood because recently reception on HF bands has been extremely poor ... so is it really dead?
Here is a link to HF propagation forecast:
https://ssl.qrzcq.com/page/propagation
GHA
Well-Known Member
Well, they may eventually be on the way out but I'll certainly miss them if they do disappear. The daily ritual of turning on a cheap receiver and getting the surface analysis plus 4 days ahead of the atlantic to see what the gods of the winds might be pushing around.
What do fishing boats use these days? The Andrea Gail had wfax..
What do fishing boats use these days? The Andrea Gail had wfax..
haydude
Well-Known Member
That is not true. With 100W I can regularly contact Italy, Croatia, Spain from the UK. With good propagation I can contact the US East Coast and Canada. The UK full license allows for up to 400W. It is more a matter of license because HAM radio license allows for one to one communications, but it does not allow for broadcasts. One could clearly say that he is sending Wheaterfax to his friends, many do with Slow TV images on 20 metres for example, they broadcast images at regular times of the day. Nobody checks really until you step on somebody's toes, which you will if you start occupying frequencies for most of the day time as you would if you provide regular broadcasts.
Your neighbours too will begin complaining that instead of occasional and inexplicabe loss of internet broadband and interference on their phone, they will begin to experience that fairly regularly which will allow them to investigate where the interference is coming from ...
Then there is a matter of cost ... power supply and radio gear, the more you use them and the more power you get through them the less they last.
Last edited:
oldvarnish
Well-Known Member
Yes, so can I. The point I was trying to make was that the power and reliability of a military installation where consistency is vital, is probably somewhat ahead of what most amateurs could manage.
We can all get across the pond, sometimes. But for military purposes 'sometimes' is not good enough.
franksingleton
Well-Known Member
Point taken about speed. I probably got carried away but I was brought up in a low tech, low speed environment.. Until the early 70s the Met Office was using W/T morse to get observations from ships. In the mid 60s in Aden our primary data feed was RTT but when this failed our Somali radio operators came into their own and bombarded us with pages of hand written messages.
Increased speed would be useful but is not of the essence given what can be achieved using GRIB and compressed charts as per the MailASail service. I think sped will come in time. Satellite comms are here now and more reliably than terrestrial radio. It is a question of making all the necessary information (including charts) available reliably and in a cost effective manner.
I just hope, like you, that there will not be a period when HF services are lost but replacement systems are not affordably in place.
ffiill
Well-Known Member
This came up on another forum, and despite being far far away with the wonderful SDR radio prog hamburg weatherfax is coming through loud and clear around Europe but northwood seems silent?
Where's it gone?
Will be very missed if gone forever..
What I noticed last time I checked was that it no longer transmits continously only briefly at set times a bit like the marine forcast on radio 4.
Just about impossible therefore to tune in and download
GHA
Well-Known Member
Seems to be back. On 8040Mhz.
Yay!
Yay!
franksingleton
Well-Known Member
Seems to be back. On 8040Mhz.
Yay!
Good. I reakise that we all like our own witch doctors and that UK Met Office charts are as good as any. However, I still cannot understand why you-all seem to ignore http://www.dwd.de/EN/specialusers/s...t_fax_30092014.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1. That is the GMDSS service, Northwood can be taken off the air at any time as it is a RN/NATO serrvice and not there for the benefit of anyone else.
GHA
Well-Known Member
Nice to have the choice, and after weeks receiving from both sources across the Atlantic it's like having an old friend back
Pye_End
Well-Known Member
How far into the Atlantic do these two services compare - particularly with a hand held radio? Presumably Northwood is going to produce a more reliable signal as it is nearer?
GHA
Well-Known Member
From memory there wasn't much in it, from the Caribbean as New Orleans fades out Boston gets stronger the as that gets weak Northwood/Hamburg take over.
Again from memory, Northwoods schedule was a bit more friendly than Hamburg for receiving manually. (being awake for a while
)
franksingleton
Well-Known Member
I am far from being an expert on HF propagation but, surely, distance is not the factor determining what signal can be received at any particular location. The NOAA publication WORLDWIDE MARINE RADIOFACSIMILE BROADCAST SCHEDULES www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/rfax.pdf should bbe your bible regarding what is available and when.
DFL1010
Well-Known Member
Hopefully they'll start putting them on the website again. Not holding my breath though.