On Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:10:11 +0100, Marc Heusser
d wrote:

I am an electrical engineer and could quite easily get a licence for
amateur radio.
Does it pay off if I'd do that to access weather charts etc on a boat -
this year in Europe, both on inland waterways in France and in the
eastern North sea (between Germany, Denmark and Sweden)?

Apart from a transceiver I have a Mac that should decode the signals
without any extra hardware with MultiMode
(http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/multimode.html).

Or are other options better?

TIA

Marc

Amateur licenses are worth another look at now. The morse code
requirement has been swept away, and there are just three available
classes - tech, general and extra.
Tests are held regularly in local areas, and an ARRL license Manual
will get you there - not to mention the several sites offering
practice tests at all three levels.

Brian Whatcott
Altus OK