Best Way For Weather Reports

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by SV Demeter

Last night I installed viewfax on the boat computer and dowloaded some gribs and a few other items.

Just now playing with this program too. Do you see a way to request not only GRIB files, but weather faxes all in one request? It seems this would be the most efficient for data use... if we can clump all request into one time send a receive vs having to log onto the server for all GRIBs and then for wefax.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

Just now playing with this program too. Do you see a way to request not only GRIB files, but weather faxes all in one request? It seems this would be the most efficient for data use... if we can clump all request into one time send a receive vs having to log onto the server for all GRIBs and then for wefax.

I run ViewFax too and don't know of anyway to do that using ViewFax.

However, you can probably construct a request to Saildocs to get what you want in one email message. Then you can display the files using ViewFax. See esp the "sub" and "send" commands.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

Just now playing with this program too. Do you see a way to request not only GRIB files, but weather faxes all in one request? It seems this would be the most efficient for data use... if we can clump all request into one time send a receive vs having to log onto the server for all GRIBs and then for wefax.

As belizesailor says, you can request multiple WFAXes and GRIBs in a single email to Saildocs. Be aware that if you are using SSB Sailmail then you will not be able to get the WFAX images as these files are larger than Sailmail allows. If you are a ham and using Winlink, then these WFAX files are allowed (but it will take a while to transfer). With satphone email these files are pretty reasonable in size.

[Ozbullwinkle]

I have read all the posts in this thread which is of interest to me as I am preparing for a Pacific crossing from St Martin to Vanuatu in March 2013. I have a new Iridium Satphone with the Accesspoint module which makes the phone a wireless hotspot to enable web access through an onboard laptop.

So, to summarize this is what it appears that I need to do:-

1. Join Sailmail which is $250 per year which will give me a compressed email account which is much more effective in terms of bandwith usage through the Satphone than say a Hotmail email account.

2. Request GRIB files and Weather files through Saildocs which are free of charge. (I assume that these weather files would be synoptic charts - Correct?)

3. Install the Viewfax application on the laptop to view these files which will be transmitted by Saildocs to the Sailmail email account.

4. Once setup I would of course test this setup to become familiar with it prior to setting off on the passage.

Have I got everything covered?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

[Paul Elliott]

I think you've got it! Using Saildocs, you can get just about any WX chart that the NOAA produces. There should be a list of available filenames somewhere in the Saildocs documentation, but it's pretty hard to find (at least for me). I've got a list of the ones I usually request (somewhere around here) -- let me know if you need help finding the charts.

Regarding the Accesspoint module, make sure that you are able to force it to disconnect when you are done using it. There's probably a trick, but I found that once it connected, it kept my Iridium connection active. That's an unpleasant way to waste airtime and $$$!

I helped a friend sail his boat from Fiji to Vanuatu several years ago, and spent a couple of days in Port Vila. I loved it, and can't wait to return to those islands for a long visit.

[Paul Elliott]

Here's some info on requesting WFAX charts via Sailmail:

Here is the NOAA directory showing some of the available files:
Radiofax Charts - Pt. Reyes, CA
Look at the filenames under the "TIF" buttons. Saildocs knows how to get (and compress) these if you just ask for the filename -- the full path isn't required.

These are the wfax images I get for a West Coast USA to Hawaii run:

PYBA90.TIF (the eastern portion of the n pac surface analysis) PWBI10.TIF (the 48-hour ne pac surface forecast)
PWBM99.TIF (the 96-hour ne pac forecast)
PWBE10.TIF (the 24-hour wind / wave forecast)

No doubt you will want SWPAC charts instead!

I request these by sending email to query@saildocs.com with the body text (for example) "send PYBA90.TIF" (one file request per line.) You can also subscribe, which is what I usually do. Dig onto the saildocs subscription details, you can schedule the delivery for any given time (to suit your habits and the update schedule of the images / data you are requesting.) I can walk you through this is you like, but once you find the info it's not complicated. You can find on Saildocs the schedule details for the GFS forecast computer run, which provides the GRIB data.

[jackdale]

Someone earlier mentioned that fronts are not visible on grib files. While that is true, if you get the precipitation included you can use that and wind shifts to determine the location of fronts.

[Dos Gatos]

Grundig Yachtboy from ebay, jvcomm software and a 12 year old laptop with xp and a mini pin male/male patch cord to receive noaa weatherfax and telex. Total setup cost <$120us. Worked fine for coastal CA to Gulfo de California, Hawaii and back.

[jackdale]

Originally Posted by Dos Gatos

Grundig Yachtboy from ebay, jvcomm software and a 12 year old laptop with xp and a mini pin male/male patch cord to receive noaa weatherfax and telex. Total setup cost <$120us. Worked fine for coastal CA to Gulfo de California, Hawaii and back.

Yep - weatherfax is great.

I must check out that setup.

[daddle]

Also not shown on GRIB files are Tropical Revolving Storms ... until they are huge. The Synoptic charts are quite informative.

[jackdale]

On a forced choice between and weatherfax, I will go with weatherfax which has sea states.

[donradcliffe]

I'd choose gribs--smaller files, more detail, and the forecast is for every 6 hours for up to 8 days. The fronts are easy to see from the wind shifts, they do wind, pressure, wave height, and precipitation. They also show the TRS development way ahead of time, even if they are not as accurate on the TRS wind fields.

My experience with gribs is that if you add 5 to 10 knots to the forecasts, they are pretty accurate in the open ocean.

In addition to using gribs for half a circumnavigation, I also did the last virtual Volvo Ocean race. When we were among the fleet of real boats, they generally went about 3-5 knots faster. While we were sailing to the same polars as the real boats, they were seeing more real wind. The only time the virtual fleet went faster was in the Southern Ocean, where the virtual boats didn't need to worry about falling apart in the strong winds.

[daddle]

A GRIB might show a TRS. My 2 year experience in the SW Pacific typhoon nursery is they do not. A few random 5 knot barbs could be a calm area or a soon-to-be-dangerous TRS. The synoptic or other proper information should be regularly examined. I read the text summaries as often as looking at the pretty GRIB picture.

[donradcliffe]

Pictures are worth 1000 words. Can you find the TRS?? Which weather would you prefer? Note that the GFS model in the grib file underpredicts the max winds around the cyclone by 30k, but who really cares? These were all downloaded for free through Airmail/Winlink.

[SV Demeter]

I did not bother with the $250 to sailmail just yo get compressed email offshore. I installed view fax (free) use it through my iridium phone. No accesspoint just the phone and external ant. Prepaid card for the phone. I pull gribs from gfs and other models keeping my file size to 15kb or smaller. Get the query set up in view fax then connect the iridium and hit send.

I then use my Kaito reciever and jvcomm for the noaa maps. They take a lot of iridium time and you can get then for free just as clear with jvcomm. I find using the sat phone just for small gribs keeps the airtime charges low and using the NOAA faxes helps see the thins gribs don't show. I could not justify the $250 to sailmail or ocens just for the compression of email. Who wants email offshore? Txt is plenty fine for me off the iridium and if I'm really concerned I just call. Ymmv.