View Single Post
Old 01-01-2009, 12:47   #10
Hud3
Moderator
 
Hud3's Avatar
Moderator
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Nevis, West Indies
Boat: Island Packet 380 "The Belle of Virginia"
Posts: 4,513
I don't think anyone explicitly mentioned that you will need a computer to make all this work onboard. The SSB receives the info and then the Pactor modem sends it to your laptop, where specialized software allows you to send and receive text email, receive weather faxes, and download GRIB weather files for viewing. Jim Corenman's Airmail client is a widely used program for doing all this. He's written a pretty good description of how it all fits together at Pactor Primer.

To have access to email, text weather forecasts, and GRIB downloads, you need to sign up with a service such as Sailmail or Winmail. They operate a network of shortwave radio stations located all over the world.
__________________
Hud
s/y The Belle of Virginia, IP 380
Nevis, West Indies
Click to Search Cruisers Forum Archives
Hud3 is offline   Reply With Quote