SSB receivers

[davealves]

Does anyone have any experience with or know anything about the ICOM SSB receiver that hooks up to a computer to download weather info, or the Si-Tex Nav Fax 200 which is esentially the same idea?

Thanks for any input you can share.

[RichH]

Any SSB (or HF receiver) is capable of communicating to a computer for WeFAX download. What you need for Fax download with a WinDoze system is a SSB or HF, a patch cable from the radio sound output, a demodulator (card or external) and the proper software.
If you have a Macintosh all you need is a patch cable from the radio to the computer''s sound input port ... and the proper software.
I run a Sony made HF receiver, a Mac and (excellent) software: "Multimode" which essentially is a software-demodulator program. "Multimode" is about $40 and is shareware. PC systems require fairly expensive software and a demodulator. Besides WeFAX consider a program that decodes RTTY, Sitor, etc. so that you can also download TEXT high seas broadcast weather reports. Also consider that with many (good) programs you will be able to direct download the satelite imagery from weather satelites so that you can make your own or augment other forecasts; but you will need (build) a special helical satelite antenna to be connected to the SSB/HF radio.
Go to: www.blackcatsystems.com/software/multimode/html. for a description /discussion of whats available for Macs, etc.

[JohnDrake]

Boy those Mac users just can''t waste any opportunity... :O). Good post though.

At any rate, there IS software that lets you connect the analog audio output of an older SSB directly to the sound card input of your PC or notebook computer (Windows). One such product is called PC RadioFax, I cannot vouch for it.

From the looks of it, the Si-Tex Nav Fax 200 has a direct RS-232 dataport connection for your PC and all the software needed: WEFAX, RTTY and TEXT.

Other weather info options include an Iridium phone and hailing Herb with your SSB.

Hope this helps.

[kimberlite]

we have a icom-710 on the new boat and a furuno weather fax with a navtec card installed.
that gives the use of the ssb as a backup to the weather fax and also navtec report receiving. and gmdss warnings.

have a sea 235r unit on the old boat --not such a good unit
eric

[JohnDrake]

And, another way to get weather FAX via email (SailMail, etc). This is really neat. From weather.noaa.gov:

This National Weather Service (NWS) FTPMAIL server is intended to
allow Internet access for users who do not have direct access to
the World Wide Web but who are equipped with an e-mail system.
The service is free and no signup is required. Using FTPMAIL,
users can request files from NWS and have them automatically
e-mailed back to them. Turnaround is generally in under one
hour, however, performance may vary widely and receipt cannot be
guaranteed.

Although these instructions are tailored for marine users to gain
access to graphic(radiofax) and text products via e-mail, all
publicly available data on any *.noaa.gov Internet FTP server is
accessible using the FTPMAIL server.

To use FTPMAIL, the user sends a small script file via e-mail to
NWS requesting the desired file(s). An error message will be
returned if the script file is in error.

Users should be familiar with sending and receiving messages and
attachments with their particular e-mail system. Attachments are
received in UUencoded form. The majority of modern e-mail
systems handle the conversion automatically, other users will
need to run the UUdecode program for their particular system.
See your system administrator if you have any questions on this
topic. The UUencoding process can add 0 to >100% overhead
depending on your system and the type of file.

Files sizes for NWS radiofax graphic files average 35KB. Users
should be aware of the costs for operating their particular
e-mail system before attempting to use FTPMAIL, especially when
using satellite communication systems. For marine users, using
FTPMAIL via INMARSAT-C for obtaining current NWS radiofax graphic
files is cost prohibitive. Using the FTPMAIL compression
feature of FTPMAIL is not recommended as these files are already
in a compressed T4(G4) format enveloped in TIFF for viewing.
You will need a graphics program capable of displaying files in
this format in order to view them. Suggestions for TIFF viewers
may be found in file http://weather.noaa.gov/fax/rfaxtif.txt

NEW! Radiofax .TIF files now also available as (larger) .gif files

The following examples demonstrate the use of FTPMAIL. Indexes of
currently available marine products, the list FTPMAIL commands,
and suggestions for TIFF viewers may be obtained following these
instructions.


To use FTPMAIL:
o Send an e-mail via the Internet to: ftpmail@weather.noaa.gov
o Put anything you like on the subject line
o Enter a command script in the body of the message

NOTE: Correct capitalization for commands, directory and file
names is critical


Example scripts are:

help

Connect to default_site (weather.noaa.gov) and send back
this help file to e-mail address of requestor

open
cd fax
get PWAE98.TIF
quit

Connect to default_site (weather.noaa.gov) and send back
the chart file PWAE98.TIF to e-mail address of requestor

reply-to captain.kidd@noaa.gov
open
dir
quit

Connect to default_site (weather.noaa.gov) and send back the
contents of the top level directory to captain.kidd@noaa.gov

open
cd fax
get ftpcmd.txt (List of FTPMAIL commands)
get rfaxtif.txt (TIFF suggestions)
get rfaxatl.txt (Atlantic radiofax file directory)
get rfaxpac.txt (Pacific radiofax file directory)
get rfaxmex.txt (Gulf of Mexico and Tropical Atlantic radiofax file dir)
get rfaxak.txt (Alaska radiofax and ice file directory)
get rfaxhi.txt (Hawaii radiofax file directory)
get marine1.txt (Highseas,Offshore,Open Lakes,NAVTEX text file directory)
get marine2.txt (Hurricane text file directory)
get marine3.txt (Coastal forecasts text file directory)
get marine4.txt (Offshore forecasts by zone directory)
get marine5.txt (Atlantic coastal forecasts by zone directory)
get marine6.txt (Pacific coastal forecasts by zone directory)
get marine7.txt (Gulf of Mexico coastal forecasts by zone dir)
get marine8.txt (Great Lakes coastal forecasts by zone directory)
get marine9.txt (Alaska coastal forecasts by zone directory)
get marine10.txt (Hawaii&Trust coastal forecasts by zone directory)
get nhclist.txt (NHC hurricane listserver instructions)
get uiuclist.txt (UIUC hurricane listserver instructions)
quit

Connect to default_site (weather.noaa.gov) and send back the
requested files to e-mail address of requestor.


Many, but not all National Weather Service forecast products may be
obtained using FTPMAIL if the WMO Header is known as follows. Be aware
that several NWS products share WMO headers so the desired forecast may
be overwritten at times by another product.

Example:
To obtain the Atlantic high seas Forecast, WMO header FZNT01 KWBC

Send an e-mail to: ftpmail@weather.noaa.gov
Subject Line: Put anything you like
Body: open iwin.nws.noaa.gov
cd data
cd text
cd FZNT01
get KWBC.TXT
quit