Best Way For Weather Reports

[casual]

What a great post.I,am about a half a step ahead of the original post.All of you folk's who responded a BIG Thank's.Everything I,needed to know was spelled out.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Hi Guys, I have now been able to generate some files - the solution was to logon with Administrator level access. I was wondering if you are aware of any catalog of the files as SOME of their descriptions are not that clear and you need to create the file to see what you get which is rather time consuming considering the number of choices. I am trying to determine the appropriate ones for my passage from St Martin to Vanuatu.

I also cannot see where to request Synoptic Charts - any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[SV Demeter]

Not sure about the synoptic charts. I just choose from the big list in the Get Data section. Just curious you mentioned a version of viewfax you downloaded. I'm using the version that was called a beta version but in reality it's stable and has been out for a few years. I think it's still called the beta version though. I use windows 7 and have not had to run as admin.

I'm in Antigua right now and I use a combination of gribs and NOAA faxes from viewfax. Also use passage weather which has a low bandwidth version you can bookmark and pull down with sat phone. Lastly I use the NOAA bouy reports for the leeward islands in our case.

This allows me to bounce other models of each other and build confidence in a report or fx when there is consensus.

All require wifi or sat phone but we find free or nearly free wifi everywhere in the east Carib that we have not turned on the sat phone since the passage to Tortola. If we can't get wifi is use jvcomm 32 and the Kaito reciever to pull down the NOAA faxes.

So far passage weather has been spot on. They even timed the rain today in Antigua down to the hour. Most rain we have had in a month. Passage weathers swell and wind fx have been right on here too.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Ozbullwinkle]

Hi Ted,

I am also using the Beta version of Viewfax and the version number is the one I quoted earlier which is shown when selecting the Help option on the Menu Bar.

I have been trying to find a Help file for Viewfax which would assist in determining what the difference is with the different Models that you can select from the dropdown when requesting Grib files and also the parameter settings, some are self explanatory wheres others are more obscure.

I also took a look at Passsage Weather and it looks good for when we have wifi access. I also looked at the low bandwith version but as it downloads a lot of files although they are around 25kb in total for the whole lot that are downloaded you could be looking at 750Kb which would be too much for the Satphone.

Steve

[Ozbullwinkle]

One other thing - Viewfax is not compatible to run on an iPad is it - only a laptop?

[SV Demeter]

I can't speak to the iPad issue. Don't use one as the battery life ad daylight visibility just frustrate me.

The different models you see in the grib selection are just that different weather models. Try google for definitions and comparisons. I primarily use The GFS which is also what passage weather uses. There are merits to each model and you will get many opinions on them depending on who you ask.

Which grib parameters are you having questions about? I'm no expert but can try and help.

You can set up passage weather to get individual files such as just wind or just waves. That keeps the file size down but yes if you want all the data it will get bigger. I only use passage weather in port with wifi and really just to get swell direction. Very useful in the Caribbean. When using the sat phone I use viewfax and stick with GFS model. I also get the NOAA faxes but when offshore I use SSB to get these as that uses no sat time.

In port I use viewfax for gribs and NOAA faxes then I also use passage weather for swell direction. I like to compare fx's from NOAA and GFS and look for consensus.

Hope this helps

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by Ozbullwinkle

I also cannot see where to request Synoptic Charts - any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

I describe how to get NOAA wfax synoptic charts here: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1116207

[SV Demeter]

Maybe I'm confused at what you mean by synoptic charts? When I go to get data on viewfax one of the headings is images then fax then I use Gulf of Mexico but you probably want E Pacific. There you will see all the NOAA charts. Surface analysis, 500mb etc.

Is there something else you are looking for?

[delmarrey]

Has anyone tried direct contact with the satellites themselves?
>>> http://www.wesacom.de/e_apt06.htm
With>>>> WXtoImg: software to decode APT and WEFAX signals from weather satellites

[Paul Elliott]

CF member "MV" described his direct-satellite reception setup HERE

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

CF member "MV" described his direct-satellite reception setup HERE

He hasn't been online for a few months. I was wondering how that might have been working out for him.
Anyone else using the system?

[Ozbullwinkle]

Thanks very much Ted & Paul. I can see the files I need now in Viewfax.

I do have a question though in relation to the Iridium Extreme with Axcesspoint as I can get the files through home wifi but not through the Satphone wifi. Ted, I read on another thread that you had some issues recently that you seem to have sorted out.

Is this the process that you use?

1. Connect Iridium Exterme & attach Axcesspoint & turn them on.

2. Ensure that Laptop is connected to Satphone by wifi

3. Not sure of this bit. Do you need to then open the Axcesspoint Mail and Web app that I have installed which has an icon on the desktop ? Then click Start.

Then make the file request through Viewfax

OR

Do you just make the file request from Viewfax then click start in the Axcesspoint Mail and Web app?

I have tried differnt ways but no luck yet.

The files I have tried have approx file sizes in Viewfax of between 5 & 15Kb so this should not be the issue.

[Paul Elliott]

I just use my Iridium email app (XGate) to request the files from Saildocs -- can't help you with the direct Viewfax method.

Have you figured out how to get Axcesspoint to automatically disconnect once you have completed the transfer? When I tried Axcesspoint it hooked up and immediately started burning Iridium airtime whether I was sending/receiving data or not. That wasn't what I was looking for, and I had the direct USB satphone connection working, so I ditched Axcesspoint.

[Ozbullwinkle]

Paul, No haven't looked at the auto disconnect yet as still having issues getting it to download files at all. But what I planned was to turn off Axcesspoint after download and then reboot the Satphone which I thought should make sure it is disconnected.

[SV Demeter]

I don't have accesspoint. I just have a 9555 iridium phone plugged in via USB. I use some software that came with the phone called iridium direct Internet. When I'm ready to get the file from view fax I open the iridium direct software and a dial up box appears with the iridium number in it. I hit dial and it makes the call and connection. Once my file is downloaded I disconnect by either shutting off the phone or hitting disconnect in my network connections box in windows.

I thought about x gate and ocens and decided all they did was compress email and for $250/year I could live without email on passages or use the money to but more air time. As it is we haven't turned the sat phone on since we got to the Caribbean. Might be different in other places.