As Swagman says, Navtex is one of the "must haves" on cruising
boats in
Europe. I am from the UK and so fitted a
cheap Nasa unit on my Eclipse
catamaran.
I used it extensively in the
Caribbean and Bahamas. I also got good weather info from it as far south as
Panama so it has a 1000 mile + range.
It always puzzles me why so few Americans use Navtex. It is much easier to have a
forecast written down which you can read at any time, then remembering to listen to a sometimes faint, often garbled, net
forecast at an inconvenient time of day.
And of course Navtex gives much more information than just the weather. Buoys adrift,
lost boats, bridges failed,
distress messages etc
I will certainly be fitting one to my new Romany
catamaran (currently in Va) prior to sailing south to the Bahamas this
winter
Hope this helps
good sailing
Richard Woods of Woods Designs
www.sailingcatamarans.com