for cruising around WA/San Juan Islands/Alaska/Oregon - would a navtex receive
be useful? It doesn't seem there's any stations in Washington/oregon area; so
the closest is SF & Alaska.

Thoughts?

On Thu, 22 May 2008 20:24:08 -0700, Josh Assing
wrote:


for cruising around WA/San Juan Islands/Alaska/Oregon - would a navtex receive
be useful? It doesn't seem there's any stations in Washington/oregon area; so
the closest is SF & Alaska.

Thoughts?

There is a Navtex transmitter at Tofino, on the wet coast of Vancouver
Island. I expect that signals from that station would be weak or
non-existent in the inside waters. I don't know how much of the data
it broadcasts would be useful in Puget Sound/Strait of Georgia.


--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca

In article ,
Josh Assing wrote:


for cruising around WA/San Juan Islands/Alaska/Oregon - would a navtex receive
be useful? It doesn't seem there's any stations in Washington/oregon area; so
the closest is SF & Alaska.

Thoughts?

Don't know about Oregon, or the Washington Coast, but NavTex isn't really
all that usefull on Inside Waters from Olympia Wa. to Cape Spencer, AK.
First, it uses LF Frequencies, and has limited range during Daylight
Hours. (250-500 Miles MAX) Nighttime may only double that typical
Distance. The whole Inside Passage, is well covered by NOAA, USCG, and
Canadian DOT VHF High Sites, that do a very good job of coverage, for WX
and NTM's, as well as Cellular High Sites, that cover most of the
passage area, especially around the population centers. A good Marine
VHF System will serve much better, with a good External Digital Cellular
Antenna, and maybe one of the Cellular Amplifiers, as a Backup
Communications System.

--
Bruce in alaska
add path after fast to reply

Nav Tex is very useful, if there is coverage. I would not be without a
receiver, they are very inexpensive. Perhaps there is not adequate coverage
in that area, I don't know, but don't let that dissuade you from installing
a Nav Tex system. Most of the world is well covered. Perhaps you should be
thinking what that really means.
Steve

"Bruce in alaska" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Josh Assing wrote:


for cruising around WA/San Juan Islands/Alaska/Oregon - would a navtex
receive
be useful? It doesn't seem there's any stations in Washington/oregon
area; so
the closest is SF & Alaska.

Thoughts?

Don't know about Oregon, or the Washington Coast, but NavTex isn't really
all that usefull on Inside Waters from Olympia Wa. to Cape Spencer, AK.
First, it uses LF Frequencies, and has limited range during Daylight
Hours. (250-500 Miles MAX) Nighttime may only double that typical
Distance. The whole Inside Passage, is well covered by NOAA, USCG, and
Canadian DOT VHF High Sites, that do a very good job of coverage, for WX
and NTM's, as well as Cellular High Sites, that cover most of the
passage area, especially around the population centers. A good Marine
VHF System will serve much better, with a good External Digital Cellular
Antenna, and maybe one of the Cellular Amplifiers, as a Backup
Communications System.

--
Bruce in alaska
add path after fast to reply

There is a Navtex transmitter at Tofino, on the wet coast of Vancouver
Island. I expect that signals from that station would be weak or
non-existent in the inside waters. I don't know how much of the data
it broadcasts would be useful in Puget Sound/Strait of Georgia.

that's kind of what I was thinking -- it seems the station locations up here are
few & far between making it near useless as the few stations cover soooo much
area.

thank you
-josh

Don't know about Oregon, or the Washington Coast, but NavTex isn't really
all that usefull on Inside Waters from Olympia Wa. to Cape Spencer, AK.
First, it uses LF Frequencies, and has limited range during Daylight
Hours. (250-500 Miles MAX) Nighttime may only double that typical
Distance. The whole Inside Passage, is well covered by NOAA, USCG, and
Canadian DOT VHF High Sites, that do a very good job of coverage, for WX
and NTM's, as well as Cellular High Sites, that cover most of the
passage area, especially around the population centers. A good Marine
VHF System will serve much better, with a good External Digital Cellular
Antenna, and maybe one of the Cellular Amplifiers, as a Backup
Communications System.

Great info -- thank you.
I don't have a cell phone so that's something I want to keep living w/o! ;-)

When I go on the boat (I work on computers for a living) I don't want to bring
an actual computer (wifi) to check the weather -- it'll seem too much like
work...

Cheers
-josh