Offshore weather

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by conachair

My opinion is that it will be a rare boat go way offshore without 2 way comms these days and one without a laptop onboard must be a rare beast indeed, adding a cheap ssb reciever is fairly insignificant in the bigger picture, why would anyone not have one as a must have?
IMHO of course

Not as rare as you think. e.g. I am in the Gambier Islands right now and there at least 2 of the 15 or so boats here that have only ssb rx fax, one I think is without a computer and uses only a fax receiver.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Littlechay

Not as rare as you think. e.g. I am in the Gambier Islands right now and there at least 2 of the 15 or so boats here that have only ssb rx fax, one I think is without a computer and uses only a fax receiver.

That's actually very heartening to hear it's easy to get the impression these days that no one would consider leaving sight of land anymore without being able to update Facebook every few minutes

Sent from my SGP511 using Tapatalk

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Australia puts out both Sopac http://www.bom.gov.au/difacs/IDX0032.pdf and Indian Ocean fax.

Check their schedule for times and freqs.

( I don't think I would want to be in the central south South Pacific just now)

There is also a Japanese station that you can pick up all over the pacific on 13986.6 designed for their fishing fleets.
Transmits an interesting assortment of stuff.

THanks - I'll try the Aussie frequencies again. I didn't have much luck at the time of day that I was interested in trying whilst further east but propagation should improve as I make westing. I haven't tried the Japanese station yet but do have the frequencies somewhere.

Looks fresh down there; good thing you nipped across when you did

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I would buy an ssb receiver (or even the newish ICOM 7300 transceiver) even if I started with a sat phone solution. I just like to listen to our ssb spitting out muslim chants and pieces of cruisers nets. I also like dials and switches and such likes. feels like grandpa's automobile.

When our nasa box dies I may get something like the Dagen. Nasa has no memories, no backlight, no audio out, etc. It is OK buy sorta behind times.

Cheers,
b.

My experience has been that sat phones are generally expensive, not all that reliable and not terribly useful. And, I have an Iridium via Ocens. The money I spent for the phone, the minutes, the optimizer and the email program could have been better spent on something else.

SSB is much more reliable.

[Littlechay]

Originally Posted by sneuman

My experience has been that sat phones are generally expensive, not all that reliable and not terribly useful. And, I have an Iridium via Ocens. The money I spent for the phone, the minutes, the optimizer and the email program could have been better spent on something else.

SSB is much more reliable.

In general I agree with that as a broad statement.

I started out with an Iridium and SSB. I no longer have minutes on the Iridium as the SSB is a much more useful tool, we decided (mainly for budget reasons) to drop the Iridium.

There may well be of course a time when I regret that but we simply couldn't afford to replace the minutes. In the future we will buy one of the cheap emergency plans that keep a SIM alive and give you a few minutes a month plus texts but unlimited minutes in an emergency. Of course the price of those minutes is astronomical but if your on a reef I guess you won't mind paying. The SSB is not very practical to take into the liferaft.

For many people the learning curve of using a SSB effectively is just too steep and I accept that. My career was in radio and I sometimes forget how much of black art it seems to the uninitiated.

[poiu]

Originally Posted by Littlechay

THanks - I'll try the Aussie frequencies again. I didn't have much luck at the time of day that I was interested in trying whilst further east but propagation should improve as I make westing. I haven't tried the Japanese station yet but do have the frequencies somewhere.

Looks fresh down there; good thing you nipped across when you did

I managed to get an Aussie weather fax in the North Atlantic once whilst messing around. It's got to be easier for you in the Gambier Islands a third or less of the distance away.

[Captndave1]

I have a Faruno weather fax receiver that has never been used for sale, retail $2500.00, will sell for $1000.00 plus shipping from Florida.

[boatman61]

My current boat came with an SSB.. it will be GONE when I finally get round to that side of the refit.. it serves no purpose for me as I've no desire for waffle over the airways..
I sail to escape the waffler's.
As for many other 'AID's' for sailors.. to me they only create dependant cruisers to lazy, dumb, whatever to learn how to read the world.. just rely on other people to do it for them.. and if anything breaks.. hit the EPIRB.

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by boatman61

My current boat came with an SSB.. it will be GONE when I finally get round to that side of the refit.. it serves no purpose for me as I've no desire for waffle over the airways..
I sail to escape the waffler's.
As for many other 'AID's' for sailors.. to me they only create dependant cruisers to lazy, dumb, whatever to learn how to read the world.. just rely on other people to do it for them.. and if anything breaks.. hit the EPIRB.

A prudent sailor uses as many aids to navigation as are practical and available to him or her. So, ditching the GPS too, I presume?

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by sneuman

A prudent sailor uses as many aids to navigation as are practical and available to him or her. So, ditching the GPS too, I presume?

Why not.

GPS is a nice to have but really shines in tight quarters, when our attention is at premium and best if overlaid RT on a digital chart.

Now when our attention is at premium and the quarters are tight, we are best advised to keep our eyes on the water, other users and the s.c. real world.

This is a truly viscous ;-) circle!

The point is every tool (a sextant is a prime example) creates a barrier between what there is and the one who is sailing. Fewer tools can then add to better sailing.

Do not ask me how I navigate on a dark rainy night.

b.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by boatman61

My current boat came with an SSB.. it will be GONE when I finally get round to that side of the refit.. it serves no purpose for me as I've no desire for waffle over the airways..
I sail to escape the waffler's.
As for many other 'AID's' for sailors.. to me they only create dependant cruisers to lazy, dumb, whatever to learn how to read the world.. just rely on other people to do it for them.. and if anything breaks.. hit the EPIRB.

EXACTLY.
since age 8 i been learning meself how to read weather diagrams, not listen to words. then, about age 9 or so, 1958, i figgered myself out how to see in sky what i see coming on paper. omygods what a novel; concept-- some folks have to pay real money to go to meteorology school. i merely taught self. i am rarely incorrect in my weather for me.
i donot listen to the words of others, as invariably, those words were made for other areas, which is obvious once one learns to interpret the sky and sea signs which are obvious to anyone who is actually a sailor.
learned sailing at age 7, weather age 8, sea and sky signs age 9. okay ready to go. this isnt hard stuff to learn. so why does no one know how to do this?
listen to boaty . he knows how to sail, also. so do a few others on this forum.

[RaymondR]

I sail the Australian coast all year around. I use an Icom IC710 SSB HF which I bought in 2001 to listen to the four hourly reports from VMC or VMW. I also used it for the Shiellanet until it ceased operation a few years ago. I also use it to listen to the BBC and ABC when out of FM radio range.


It's not hard to arrange a sched with other yachties if you are going remote and it may be possible to do so with some of the VMR organisations who usually have HF available.


I have used satphones for work on occasions but don't like the costs and hassles of having to maintain the service - the HF just sits there, costing me not a cent, until I want to press the button and listen for the weather, news or even occasionally some music.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by boatman61

.......
I sail to escape the waffler's.
......

No more scone ( or waffle) recipes for you young man!

I must admit that I have heard nets that sound like CWA meetings...not that I have ever attended a CWA meeting....

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by sneuman

A prudent sailor uses as many aids to navigation as are practical and available to him or her. So, ditching the GPS too, I presume?

I have a notebook CP program and a GPS puck for open water but coastal I use paper and MK1 in the main.
If I lose power then my passage chart, speed/depth log and DR is good enough to get me to the general area I want to be then.. its X bearings to get to port..
So far.. So good..!! as the Jumper said passing each floor..

Originally Posted by zeehag

listen to boaty . he knows how to sail, also. so do a few others on this forum.

Thanks Zee.. but there's better sailors than me by the hundreds here.. I just know how to get across...

[Omatako]

Originally Posted by hoppy

So I started to look at used 9505A's on eBay instead (Aus is a great market for Iridium phones).

Be aware the Iridium 9505A does not have data capability without a whole lot of expensive (at least I think so) add-ons like RS232 interfaces etc. if you want data capability, get a 9555. More expensive to buy but cheaper in the long run.

We have a 9505A on board but it is only for keeping in touch with family occasionally or for emergency comms. To convert for data is for us, not an option.