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Skip Gundlach

January 29th 06 01:07 PM

Weatherfax software opinion sought

Below is a crib from the Island Packet mailing list I monitor, and my
response:

WeatherFAX basics by Mike Trautman, K9MLT

I've been exploring the WeatherFax system because I would like to get
these valuable weather graphics and photos while far from shore on my
sailboat, Island Princess. We sailors can't do anything about the weather,
but knowing what is coming and having some indication how bad it is, and how
long it will last can make a sailing voyage much more pleasant for captian
and crew.

Hams and Marine SSB users have radios that work well with this system, but
it's also possilbe to utilize this great resource with an inexpensive Single
Side Band receiver and a laptop computer's sound card input!

Some of the graphics availabe include: Surface analysis, Wind/Wave
forcasts, Cyclone/Storm, High Wind/Waves, Wave period/direction, and
Photographic satelite images. You can view currwnr examples of these
graphics on the Internet at the New Orleans site:

http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/gulf.shtml

Here's the main NOAA URL for WeatherFax, also called WeFax or RadioFax

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/radiofax.htm

The frequencies of the U.S. stations broadcasting WeatherFax are listed
toward the bottom of the URL. Scroll down to see them.

I've been dialing in to broadcasts from Boston and New Orleans.

Example: New Orleans -

New Orleans (NMG) 4317.9, 8503.9, 12789.9, 17146.4(12,18Z) kHz

IMPORTANT! - The frequency is for USB and the actual tuning on my reciever
is the listed frequency minus 1.9 Hz, Therefore New Orlean's 4317.9 comes in
on 4316.0 USB.

From Central Illinois, I've been getting good reception on 17m and 20m
during the day and mediocre reception on 40m and 80m at night.

The schedule starts at 00:00/12:00 for New Orleans (CST) and 01:00/13:00
for Boston (CST). It can take 30 minutes for the larger files to transmit.

The software I've been using is SeaTTY. It's a free download at:

http://www.dxsoft.com/seatty.htm

They ask for a $35 registration fee if you like the software. Which I plan
on doing. There are other sources for software (and hardware) listed on the
main NOAA site.

I use a 1/8" male/male stereo plug, from the earphone jack of my Yeasu
FD857d transceiver directly to the Mic jack on my laptop. So far I haven't
seen any particular effect from changing the record volume in Windows. It
took me some experimentation to realize I did not need my TNC in the loop at
all. The manufacturers do not make this option clear while describing their
product.

I think you could use any receiver that can receive Single Side Band
broadcasts. A fancy Ham rig is not needed. Note: for about $250 you can buy
a dedicated "WeatherFax" receiver that will connect to your computer, or
even direct to a printer and eliminate some hardware. For non Hams and
boaters who don't have Marine SSB aboard, a "YachtBoy" SSB portable
receiver, with a good external antenna would probably do the job, .

Tip: The software allows you to fine "tune" the frequency even when AFC is
turned on. You can move the red vertical lines so one lines up with the peak
in the spectrum display and improve the resulting graphic's sharpness a bit.

I'm NEW to this technology, so don't take my word as gospel. But do check
out the technology if you would like your own weather information out where
the Weather Channel doesn't reach!

Happy Sailing!

Mike Trautman, K9MLT
s/v Island Princess,
Island Packet, 27/9
Sarasota, FL

Listees, this is very timely for me, as we're just about to get our HF
radio gear, going with the Icom M-802 and the MMSI antenna. We already have
a satellite picture capture hardware setup - which allows us to see ~1/hour
45* downlook picture from a satellite overhead. That, of course, will give
us a very good representation of what's around us, covering lots of ground.
However, there's no intelligence along with that - just a great ability to
(if we record them) make a visual track of what any particular weather
system is doing.

For intelligence, our supplier, Steve Bowden, of Sea Tech Systems, has
recommended Xaxero WeatherFax 2000 - USB, a dedicated program. No doubt
there are lots of bells and whistles in this $199 program - but not having
used any, let alone this and the referred one, I can't speak to the merits
of either.

Is there anyone here who's used the Xax, and can give me a reason to spend
that vs the shareware Mike recommends?

Thanks.

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Gary	January 29th 06 06:53 PM

Weatherfax software opinion sought

Skip Gundlach wrote:

The software I've been using is SeaTTY. It's a free download at:

http://www.dxsoft.com/seatty.htm

They ask for a $35 registration fee if you like the software. Which I plan
on doing. There are other sources for software (and hardware) listed on the
main NOAA site.

I think you could use any receiver that can receive Single Side Band
broadcasts. A fancy Ham rig is not needed. Note: for about $250 you can buy
a dedicated "WeatherFax" receiver that will connect to your computer, or
even direct to a printer and eliminate some hardware. For non Hams and
boaters who don't have Marine SSB aboard, a "YachtBoy" SSB portable
receiver, with a good external antenna would probably do the job, .

Listees, this is very timely for me, as we're just about to get our HF
radio gear, going with the Icom M-802 and the MMSI antenna. We already have
a satellite picture capture hardware setup - which allows us to see ~1/hour
45* downlook picture from a satellite overhead. That, of course, will give
us a very good representation of what's around us, covering lots of ground.
However, there's no intelligence along with that - just a great ability to
(if we record them) make a visual track of what any particular weather
system is doing.

For intelligence, our supplier, Steve Bowden, of Sea Tech Systems, has
recommended Xaxero WeatherFax 2000 - USB, a dedicated program. No doubt
there are lots of bells and whistles in this $199 program - but not having
used any, let alone this and the referred one, I can't speak to the merits
of either.

Is there anyone here who's used the Xax, and can give me a reason to spend
that vs the shareware Mike recommends?

I have a similar lashup on my own boat for weather fax. I use a Sony
2010 with a headphone wire to the mike input on my laptop and the SeaTTY
software. I don't use any external antenna, just the attached whip and
I can pull in either Hawaii or Alaska at different times of day. The
fax picture is clear and can be drawn on etc on the computer screen.
The whole works can be set up to work automatically so you don't have to
get up to copy the weather. I can also copy NAVTEX and teletype with
the same software.

On the tall ship I command, I use a dedicated Furuno wefax machine and
it is not nearly as easy. First of all I have no graphic of the signal
and tuning the receiver is always a challenge. It runs through a
complicated antenna system as well. When it is set to automatic I
sometimes find it has gone through reams of paper with a lousy signal
wasting expensive paper that is always in short supply at sea. In order
that I don't have to rely on this system I am connecting my HF radio
onboard to a laptop so I can have a similar setup as in my own boat.
The SeaTTY software is a thing of beauty.

The trick is the radio. You have to have a decent SW radio capable of
SSB. The Sony 2010 is ideal.

Gaz

Wayne.B

January 30th 06 03:50 AM

Weatherfax software opinion sought

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 08:07:25 -0500, "Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach at
gmail dotcom wrote:

Hams and Marine SSB users have radios that work well with this system, but
it's also possilbe to utilize this great resource with an inexpensive Single
Side Band receiver and a laptop computer's sound card input!

That is true but if you already have a decent SSB radio like the ICOM
M-802 and a Pactor TNC for Winlink or Sailmail, you already have
everything you need. The Airmail software does everthing
automatically including setting the frequency and mode on the SSB.
Fax images and NAVTEX broadcasts get saved to your laptop as they
arrive.

purple_stars

January 30th 06 10:28 AM

Weatherfax software opinion sought

i'm in the middle of all this right now. i have an icom 706-mkiig, an
old laptop, etc, and have been prototyping a basic setup to do all of
this, including airmail. i haven't gotten very far because i passed
the written tests for "extra" but haven't taken the morse test yet, so
i haven't been on HF. through a really dumb mistake i also hooked one
of my deep cycle's up backwards and burned a diode in the icom (and
another radio) and had to send it off to have the diode replaced, so i
have been waiting a week or two on that and haven't been messing with
the setup. i am prototyping this system in an old truck instead of a
boat so that i can work on it more conveniently and get it all working,
then later i'll move it over. i don't have a TNC and have been hopeful
that i can use a soundmodem type of setup instead of a TNC. i haven't
seen a bit of this work yet! i'm just full of hope and optimism! lol.
the only thing i've actually done with the icom is use vhf/ufh and hear
a satellite using a yagi antenna, that's it so far! i was in the
middle of installing an icom antenna tuner and HF antenna on the truck
when i made that battery mistake, so i haven't even heard anything on
HF frequencies yet. i'm excited to get all of this working and gain
some real experience using it, i will feel a lot safer knowing i have
all of this available to me in addition to the usual radio equipment.

you can never have too many radios! :)

Skip Gundlach

January 30th 06 05:44 PM