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#1
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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weatherfax range
i will be sailing from puerto vallarta mexico to hawaii in may. i just
purchased a yaesu FT100D all band radio and am currently trying to set it up to receive weatherfaxes. I was wondering if i will be able to receive the honolulu (station KVM-70) based radiofax transmissions along my entire route? If not, do you have any suggestions for weatherfax reception. thanks! |
#2
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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weatherfax range
dingus wrote:
i will be sailing from puerto vallarta mexico to hawaii in may. i just purchased a yaesu FT100D all band radio and am currently trying to set it up to receive weatherfaxes. I was wondering if i will be able to receive the honolulu (station KVM-70) based radiofax transmissions along my entire route? If not, do you have any suggestions for weatherfax reception. thanks! Unfortunately, we're at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. That aside, at least one of KVM-70's three frequencies should provide usable propagation. There may be periods of insufficient signal strength, of course. If you're using a backstay or similar tuned antenna, there's a good chance it will have some directivity. If you really need a weatherfax and conditions are poor, changing the heading of your boat may provide a noticeable boost in received signal strength. Try it out beforehand on different headings while observing the S-meter. Good luck! Chuck |
#3
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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weatherfax range
chuck wrote:
dingus wrote: i will be sailing from puerto vallarta mexico to hawaii in may. i just purchased a yaesu FT100D all band radio and am currently trying to set it up to receive weatherfaxes. I was wondering if i will be able to receive the honolulu (station KVM-70) based radiofax transmissions along my entire route? If not, do you have any suggestions for weatherfax reception. thanks! Unfortunately, we're at the bottom of the sunspot cycle. That aside, at least one of KVM-70's three frequencies should provide usable propagation. There may be periods of insufficient signal strength, of course. If you're using a backstay or similar tuned antenna, there's a good chance it will have some directivity. If you really need a weatherfax and conditions are poor, changing the heading of your boat may provide a noticeable boost in received signal strength. Try it out beforehand on different headings while observing the S-meter. Good luck! Chuck In addition to the good advice above, you should probably get set up to receive Hawaii, Pt Reyes CA, and Kodiak AK. That way regardless of the propagation conditions you'll get a weather fax of the pacific. I find just relying on one station gets me limited info. Different stations come in differently at different times of day. They all have useful info. Gary |
#4
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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weatherfax range
All great advice, I did the same trip a year ago and we were only able to receive the Pt Reyes station reliably, and did so on the entire passage. We used the same station on the return trip to the NW. I used a similar radio, the ICOM 702MKGII and used the MSCAN METEO software to downloaded directly to my laptop. I also kept in touch with the others making the same passage. I am sure you are aware of Don of Summer Passage. If you get his check in schedule, he does a pretty good job of weather routing. My son just reminded me to suggest that you keep a fishing line out every day. We caught fish all the way across and even more coming back. Any big green lure and the biggest cable you can through out the back. John |
#5
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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weatherfax range
Sorry, I have an 706MKIIG, not the non existent 702
John |
#7
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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weatherfax range
If you go to the web site for Mscan Meteo you will see there is nothing too it. I was in La Cruz a year ago and downloaded all the software at Philos bar. There is no need for anything in between the radio and computer other then a wire from the headphone jack on the SSB to the Mic jack on the computer. When you start up the program there is a graph in the upper right corner of the screen showing the incoming signal. It auto adjusts for the input strength and you just have to adjust the fine tune on your freq to get the test signal to be lined up with the marks on the graph. The test signal precedes the broadcasts for the weather fax. The only thing you will need to do is a one time adjust for your computer clock speed vs. the incoming signal clock. There are instructions on how to do it in the set up, but your first picture will be slanted. It took me about an hour to set it up and be comfortable with the whole thing. If there is a down side, it is that it takes a long time to download all the weather fax info. I found the 72 hour wind wave forecast to be the most helpful and the 50 milbar (sp) good, and the kids liked the sat photo. So during the crossing I would check in with a couple cruisers every day, then check in with Don and download fax on alternating days. Bring a bottle to through a message out half way! Have a great trip. John S/V Pangea (although we sold her last month, we will never forget all the great things she did for us) |
#8
posted to rec.boats.cruising
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weatherfax range
Should be fine. Once you get w/in about 200 miles you will likely be
in the skip zone of the Hawaii faxes. However, you'll get VHF weather the next day, so it usually is no big thing. If you are a Ham (I presume you are with that rig) then you might check in with the pacific seafarer's net -- 14300 @ 0300Z. If you are in a jam or need special wx info someone (often Don N6HG) will probably be willing to troll the net for what you need. Have fun! -- Tom. |
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