Short Wave Radio and Weatherfax

[Hansdg53]

I have read about SW radio''s being used to receive weatherfax info. Are all SW radio''s capable of this or does it need to be equipped with some special interface?

I have an old (20 year old) Sony, one of the first booksize IC SW radio and it works still pretty well. On one side it has a port with a tape symbol. Could this be used?

[WHOOSH]

Hans:

You can probably make your old SW receiver work, provided you install a JVComm or similar program in your laptop but only IF you can get a decent consistent signal from the receiver. Even with an external antenna, this can be quite a challenge. The more important question to ask is: how will you use the info? If you''ll be in coastal waters and have other wx info sources - and hooking this up is for its learning value - have at it! If you are planning on this being a primary source of wx info while island hopping or offshore, you should probably consider a more viable, dependable option. As one example, you can pick up a used, serviced/bench tested ham transceiver from a place like AES and, even if you only use it in receive mode, you''ll have a more sensitive receiver with better filtering capability. Choices should exist for any pocketbook, starting with a used Icom 50.

Jack