Stan Sroga wrote:
Can weather faxes be obtained reliably from a laptop computer/short
wave radio connection

***Yes, a good HF radio receiver, coupled with a *good antenna system*
(probably THE most important), WeFAX software ... will get you all you
need. On a boat for WEFAX reception (and without a SSB antenna system) I
prefer a simple wire dipole antenna ... just a pair of wires and lead-in
'balun' wire that I affix to the stem and stern and then raise to the
top of the mast.

***If you have a Macintosh there is shareware ($49 or $89) available
that requires just a simple connection between the HF receiver sound
output and the sound input jack on the mac ... do websearch for
"multimode" - will also be able to decode CW, Sitor-B (Navtex), TTY
Telemetry Weather broadcasts (ie. Weather station output in eastern
Canada, etc.) ... plus slow scan TV, Hellschreiber, and other 'ham' stuff.

***For older PCs you need a sound card demodulator, the newer PCs now
just require a similar software package as the macs, but are relatively
expensive.

***The ultimate BEST website for getting started in WeFAX is
http://www.hffax.de/