Weatherfax charts via satellite / Iridium Go ?

[wilpro]

Hello ,

In addition to receiving GRIB files, I would also like to receive the weather charts that are sent via weatherfax. I've heard that these charts went through human intervention and in contrast, the GRIB files are straight out of computer simulations so they can be quite wrong.

Is there a way to receive the Weatherfax charts via satellite / Iridium go ? Like some kind of compressed / vectorised version of the weatherfax images ?

And by the way, are the weatherfax charts available online / plain old internet ? I could not find them.

ps: I will eventually install an HF radio, but I need a solution now for an impending passage.

Thanks!

Wil

[El Pinguino]

You don't give any clues as to where you are.... but yes plenty out there on plain old internet...
Weather Maps

https://www.metservice.com/maps-rada...thwest-pacific

https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/fax/marsh.shtml

http://web.directemar.cl/met/jturno/indice/english.htm

Gough Lui also has some interesting stuff on his site... https://goughlui.com/2019/02/01/radi...ienst-germany/

Enough there to keep you going....

[El Pinguino]

And also for when you get a radio... http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/marine/rfax.pdf

You don't need a big and fancy HF transceiver... something like the Tecsun 880 will do the job for you.. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tecsun-P...d5ui:rk:2:pf:0

[billknny]

Originally Posted by wilpro

Hello ,

In addition to receiving GRIB files, I would also like to receive the weather charts that are sent via weatherfax. I've heard that these charts went through human intervention and in contrast, the GRIB files are straight out of computer simulations so they can be quite wrong.

Is there a way to receive the Weatherfax charts via satellite / Iridium go ? Like some kind of compressed / vectorised version of the weatherfax images ?

And by the way, are the weatherfax charts available online / plain old internet ? I could not find them.

ps: I will eventually install an HF radio, but I need a solution now for an impending passage.

Thanks!

Wil

You are correct, the weather maps sent over weather fax are the real output of the weather service and not raw computer output of the usual downloaded grib files. Few people seem to really understand the limitation of model output grib files. They present so much precision, how could they be wrong???

Other posters have already steered you to the online versions, but you can get weather faxes anywhere you can get email, which of course you can on IridiumGo.

Go to this link,
https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/fax/robots.txt
and follow along. It is complex and very un-user friendly but it works. Easier than getting them on SSB however, since they are available at any time, not just on schedule.

[wilpro]

Thank you for the links , will check them out.
The regions I'm interested in for the weather charts are the Caribbean and south Pacific

[Freedom45]

You can get a plethora of charts etc by email
ie, I send PYFE87.TIF via sail docs and receive 24 hour surface forcast
Check here for catalog codes https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/fax/rfaxhi.txt

Cheers

[wilpro]

Thank you billknny and Freedom45 ; this is what I was after! The file size of the charts is reasonable so it should be fine on the satellite link ��

[wilpro]

By the way, it is possible to see all the charts at once there:
https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/fax/

[El Pinguino]

For people who seem to be very clever in so many areas why is it so hard for them to present stuff in a reasonable manner?

Compare that https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/fax/ which yields stuff like this https://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/fax/PBFA99.gif with this http://web.directemar.cl/met/jturno/indice/english.htm bearing in mind that for the latter english is a second language.

[franksingleton]

For online use, see MailASail Automatic Weather Chart Responder - Franks-Weather - The Weather Window for a way to get charts as compressed email attachments visa MailASail. The only cost is the slight extra cost of some advertising blurb.

[HBrew]

An alternative approach - I use Predictwind which has an Iridium GO approved app. As well as the GRIB models download, a nice feature is that you can see the GMDSS forecast for your area of the world in the app.

[philiosophy]

Originally Posted by wilpro

Hello ,

In addition to receiving GRIB files, I would also like to receive the weather charts that are sent via weatherfax. I've heard that these charts went through human intervention and in contrast, the GRIB files are straight out of computer simulations so they can be quite wrong.

Is there a way to receive the Weatherfax charts via satellite / Iridium go ? Like some kind of compressed / vectorised version of the weatherfax images ?

And by the way, are the weatherfax charts available online / plain old internet ? I could not find them.

ps: I will eventually install an HF radio, but I need a solution now for an impending passage.

Thanks!

Wil

Contact Sailmail. You can get all available weather fax and meteorologist generated weather informaion thru your Iridium Go from them. It will cost a yearly fee of I believe 200.00 US per year.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by philiosophy

Contact Sailmail. You can get all available weather fax and meteorologist generated weather informaion thru your Iridium Go from them. It will cost a yearly fee of I believe 200.00 US per year.

The Saildocs catalog from Sailmail is free. You only need an email connection to use it.

[philiosophy]

I love this discussion because it is such an important one. So important to have actual man made and frequently updated weather information which any form of grib file definately IS NOT!
That said we are currently in Queensland Australia cruising and are having much difficulty finding weather faxes for SW Pacific. Eastern Australia to New Cal to Vanautu. Sail Docs does not have much coverage of this area. Is there another source someone knows of we can get with our Iridium Go.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by philiosophy

I love this discussion because it is such an important one. So important to have actual man made and frequently updated weather information which any form of grib file definately IS NOT!
That said we are currently in Queensland Australia cruising and are having much difficulty finding weather faxes for SW Pacific. Eastern Australia to New Cal to Vanautu. Sail Docs does not have much coverage of this area. Is there another source someone knows of we can get with our Iridium Go.

To each his own. We find comparing GRIB models before we start a passage and using a single model when on passage works very well. To say a GRIB is not frequently updated is just wrong. The models are updated with actual ground data on either 6 or 12 hour cycles, depending on major model. This is often more often than you can get high seas weather at sea. The GRIBs are exactly what the forecasters start with to create their charts. A weatherfax chart can be easier to quickly see the overall large area picture. Looking at isobars on a GRIB gives similar. Getting predicted timing of moving systems is far easier on a GRIB.