Navtex, does it have future?

[onestepcsy37]

Originally Posted by Jon Eisberg

Surprising how many people ask me what that distinctive antenna on the stern rail is for ...

Most think its a GPS antenna and never ask. They would be surprised to learn I dont have a GPS Chartplotter - just three cheap battery powered handhelds like a Garmin 72. And a lot of paper charts.

[roland stockham]

Originally Posted by ka4wja

Yeah onestep, while I have great respect for the UK Met office, Aus and NZ met offices, and the French met office, and their respective maritime forecasts....
As in some other areas, it is the US (the US NWS/NOAA forecasters and USCG transmitters) that sets the Gold Standard that others are measured against....
If you really want to see the "Gold Standard", have a look at the NWS/NOAA wefax charts....they are VERY comprehensive, including 500mb charts, and cover the entire N. Atlantic, and most of the Pacific (all of the Pacific of interest to 99.9% of cruisers, until you reach Aus / NZ waters)...

John

Weather fax is also world wide, through Northwood in UK and Hamburg in germany for N Atlantic and gives the same quality as he NOAA service. Indeed it has much more detail than Navtext but requires SSB (or a dedicated SSB/Wf machine) which is far more expensive. If you have SSB you can also get Navtext through a decoder running on a laptop.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by roland stockham

Indeed it has much more detail than Navtext but requires SSB (or a dedicated SSB/Wf machine) which is far more expensive.

Maybe not as much as you might thing, a tablet running an app and a receiver like a degen 1103 can get very usable images.

[roland stockham]

Originally Posted by conachair

Maybe not as much as you might thing, a tablet running an app and a receiver like a degen 1103 can get very usable images.

Good point, a receive only set is not much more than a Navtext unit. For coastal I would still go with navtext unit due to simplicity and reliability. Forecasts are perfectly adequate for short trips

[joehersey]

The International Maritime Organization, the UN-specialized agency which requires NAVTEX equipment be carried on shipping, is reviewing its global maritime distress & safety system requirements for modernization. Interestingly IMO is inclined to leave systems such as NAVTEX alone despite its being long overdue for modernization.

The US Coast Guard is under strong continuing budget pressure to cut back HF maritime safety services, and although there is pressure to close NAVTEX there are no immediate plans that I am aware of to do so. However the stations that transmit NAVTEX are due to be unmanned and fully remoted in the coming months, which mean future outages may take longer to repair. USCG NAVTEX stations transmit for longer periods than IMO desires them to, which may explain in part why their weather forecast content is as good as they are.

JoeHersey
USCG retired

[matureee]

I recently did a delivery from the Azores to the UK. We had Navtex coverage from multiple stations all the way despite being over 400NM from some of these station at times.

[onestepcsy37]

Although I have never been more than 250nm from a station its good to know you got signals at over 400.

And yes, its possible to receive navtex with a contrived setup, although being electronically challenged, I would rather leave it to Furuno. That little 300 is just left on and does its thing night and day with a minimal amp draw.