Short wave radio ??

[Riggerman]

Those cute little radios are good for marina hopping. Any one that goes off shore need a real SSB. and they are not cheap, but worth every penny. Most in the Caribbeans need a 180 MTR antenna. Most of Us blue water sailor uses Chris Parker at https://www.mwxc.com/ He sends NOAA weather forecast daily, and you can even get e-mail daily of the same forecast. There is a time and chanel on his site for time and location of your boat.

[gmakhs]

Originally Posted by Riggerman

Those cute little radios are good for marina hopping. Any one that goes off shore need a real SSB. and they are not cheap, but worth every penny. Most in the Caribbeans need a 180 MTR antenna. Most of Us blue water sailor uses Chris Parker at https://www.mwxc.com/ He sends NOAA weather forecast daily, and you can even get e-mail daily of the same forecast. There is a time and chanel on his site for time and location of your boat.

You mean there will be no reception?

[PirateBarnabus]

If all else fails, there are other methods of getting weather.
I had a data modem connected to inmarsat to download grib files.
In theory it's great but in practice, the quality of connection was poor or mostly non existent.

I used MeteoGib.com to send SMS text forecasts directly to the Satphone in short code format.
The service for my transatlantic crossing was excellent and basically, I could afford to forget about receiving weather as it was delivered by a real forecaster with eyes on my situation.

It's a highly affordable solution and can be used as a primary or secondary solution.
Disclaimer : I now do work for this company, although I'm not involved in the service mentioned above. It's just how I became connected.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by Riggerman

Those cute little radios are good for marina hopping. Any one that goes off shore need a real SSB. and they are not cheap, but worth every penny. Most in the Caribbeans need a 180 MTR antenna. [...]

What is a "180 MTR antenna"?

And you are being too dismissive of those $100 receivers. With an adequate antenna they work pretty well for receiving WFAX and voice WX reports. True, a proper SSB has a better receiver and lets you do way more than you can with a RX-only setup, but if all you want is WFAX then the "cute little radios" will certainly do the job for a lot less money.

Of course you still need a computer of some sort to decode and display the WFAX, but unless you have a dedicated WFAX receiver/printer you will need the computer regardless.

By the way, on my boat I use Iridium for most things, and SSB/modem mainly as a back-up. But this isn't the only way to do it.

[Riggerman]

@ gmakhs Yes those little radios works the same as a small portable radio... lets say in the mountains. or 10 miles out of town you lose reception. SSB radio's have a world wide possibility according to location, wave length weather etc.... Also with a pactor modem you can receive grib files that shows you weather systems. You can also connect your SSB radio to your laptop with the proper equipment I.E. Pactor modem and a couple of small hardware units But I am getting way beyond My technical knowledge here. Also with a SSB you can get one with an AIS capability. meaning you can see cargo traffic and they can see you. an excellent tool especially around busy sea lanes. It all depends what you use it for, and/or what is your sailing requirement. SSB radio would be over kill if, say you only do afternoon sailing. within a few miles of your area. But for longer distances, SSB is a must in My opinion.

[drcat]

For a very good youtube video on receiving weather faxes on equipment that will cost about $300, see Sailing Atticus youtube vlog Jan 29 2018. Has equipment list (including a regular Sony $130 Shortwave radio) , instructions and how to set up using your laptop. This set up allows you receive the 2x? daily NOAA weather map transmissions. Other inexpensive shortwave radios will work as well.

[Riggerman]

180 MTR is 180 meter antenna. means there is 180 meter of copper wiring catching radio wave. It can be looped, vertical surface area directional etc...... A vertical one is best on a boat due to mounting and area. It determines what range of frequencies you need access to. SSB uses (not sure of the lows) I think 1.5 Khz to 30,000 khz. The smaller the metering, the lower the band you can access. Bands works in waves bouncing from stratosphere to earth, or in our case oceans. Oceans increase reception since there are less obstacle to the radio waves. It sounds technical, but if you take a HAM license course or better yet a marine license course that you should have anyway, it will all be explained in details.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by Riggerman

180 MTR is 180 meter antenna. means there is 180 meter of copper wiring catching radio wave. It can be looped, vertical surface area directional etc...... A vertical one is best on a boat due to mounting and area. It determines what range of frequencies you need access to. SSB uses (not sure of the lows) I think 1.5 Khz to 30,000 khz. The smaller the metering, the lower the band you can access. Bands works in waves bouncing from stratosphere to earth, or in our case oceans. Oceans increase reception since there are less obstacle to the radio waves. It sounds technical, but if you take a HAM license course or better yet a marine license course that you should have anyway, it will all be explained in details.

I have never heard of a boat using such an 180 meter antenna. The marine SSB frequencies range from around 2 MHz to 25 MHz, and the usual backstay antenna plus tuner and ground do a quite adequate job there.

And for what it's worth, I am an engineer who has designed radio gear (as well as other things), and have been a radio ham for over 40 years now. I have my amateur "Extra" class ticket, and used to have a "radiotelephone second class" commercial license.

[Paul Elliott]

OK, I found a reference to an antenna for the 180-meter band (1.65 MHz):


This is an installation you might find on a ship, but not a typical pleasure boat. If you really want to receive this frequency there are more practical antennas that do not involve 180 meters of wire!

Does anybody really use 1650 KHz these days? The frequency is at the top end of the commercial AM radio band, and will be good for short-range in the daytime, and as much as perhaps 1000 miles at night, using ground-wave propagation (not ionospheric skip).

[Riggerman]

Well guess what. 180 meter is what I use, I reach and receive world wide. Talk to My family in Canada regularly from Australia. Also from French Polynesia, Japan, Leeward and windward etc......you might have never heard of it, but there it is. What system do you use and where ????? Florida 10 miles out ?????

[Paul Elliott]

OK, there is F-layer ionospheric skip on 180 meters at night. I've never used it and I suspect that I'm not unique. I doubt that my tuner and backstay would even be very effective down there.

And please don't be a jerk. I've used my SSB extensively between the U.S. mainland and Hawaii on many passages as well as on a few south Pacific trips, day and night.

So please tell us about the antenna you use for 180 meters!

[Riggerman]

My boat is in Guatemala right now. I'll be there in a week and 1/2. I'll post the the specs then.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

And you are being too dismissive of those $100 receivers. With an adequate antenna they work pretty well for receiving WFAX and voice WX reports. True, a proper SSB has a better receiver and lets you do way more than you can with a RX-only setup, but if all you want is WFAX then the "cute little radios" will certainly do the job for a lot less money.

Check the eham reviews. I can certainly hear the difference between the degen 1103 and Icom7000 but there's not really a huge amount in it and really a hindrance for wfax, only really you're going for faint DX transmissions. The "toy" has worked for many years both music in port and wfax offshore though other options these days.

[Riggerman]

What would be the range of those $100.00 radios ???

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Riggerman

What would be the range of those $100.00 radios ???

Worldwide, dependent on antenna and frequency/propogation etc. Though you could probably get CRI on a wet piece of string stuck in your ear these days

On a 1103 I had Wfax no problem Carib to UK, that was before knowng anything about radios so just using a broadcast FM antenna which happened to be at the top of the mast.
New Orleans, Boston then Northwood.