Weatherfax charts via satellite / Iridium Go ?

[El Pinguino]

Plenty of info put out by BOM... Communication Services

I gather this is designed for your situation Marine Weather Services (Lite)

Excellent voice Schedules and Frequencies for HF Marine Radio Voice Services and fax VMC & VMW Radio Fax Schedule

All you need is a portable radio with USB such as my favourite... the Tecsun 880.

[El Pinguino]

A little aside.... sitting outside just now listening to RNZI on 9765 ( simple AM HF on my Tecsun on the whip....nada mas )... At 0900Z/2200 Unzudtime they broadcast a very comprehensive weather warning for Vanuatu regarding TC Oma.... including a warning for ships and small craft....
Regardless of what other kit you carry its probably not a bad idea to have the ability to receive RNZI on HF when in the SW Pacific...

[Bleemus]

https://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/hfmarsh_mobile.htm

[svMarite]

This thread has been outstanding! I've been totally deep diving all the new technology. I sailed the Atlantic once with a Sony receiver and WeatherFax demux serial connector attached to a 1/4 wave length cut wire antenna....pretty rudimentary but all I could afford back in '99. Then someone gave me an old Furuno SSB - installed it and spoke to Southbound II Herb from Gibraltar 5x comms - great weather faxes then, but was on a sled ride East to West to the Caribbean.
Now, I'm enticed with IridiumGo as I believe Pactor&SSB are a thing of the past...well, I'm keeping the SSB for nets can always find a used pactor somewhere on Ebay...if the need comes.
With SpaceX spreading their satellites and Iridiums coverage, prices will start to drop as more users come online...what a boon time for me to be putting back to sea!
I love the fact that I can have cake (Gribs) and eat it too (synoptic charts emailed)!!
I love synoptic charts.
Certainly all this makes for great weather routing - no sense getting caught out there anymore - prudent cruising is picking your weather and this forum just nailed it for me - GREAT Info guys - thank you!!!

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by svMarite

I've been totally deep diving all the new technology.

You might dive deeper. Pactor IV is four times faster than Iridium. Remember that getting gribs, synoptics, and email delivered by Iridium GO! from personal electronics to a laptop is either laborious or takes extra fees, sometimes both.

[svMarite]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

You might dive deeper. Pactor IV is four times faster than Iridium. Remember that getting gribs, synoptics, and email delivered by Iridium GO! from personal electronics to a laptop is either laborious or takes extra fees, sometimes both.

Will do. Yes I noticed those speeds.

[paulbennett]

Does anyone know where I can find synoptic charts for the Indian Ocean via email? NOAA doesn't cover that area, so Saildocs is a deadend. I tried using the Saildocs fetch a URL for the Mauritius Met Service chart, but it won't grab the URL.

[Auspicious]

Originally Posted by paulbennett

Does anyone know where I can find synoptic charts for the Indian Ocean via email? NOAA doesn't cover that area, so Saildocs is a deadend. I tried using the Saildocs fetch a URL for the Mauritius Met Service chart, but it won't grab the URL.

Cape Naval and Bangkok should cover everything between them. https://www.weather.gov/media/marine/rfax.pdf

[paulbennett]

Originally Posted by Auspicious

Cape Naval and Bangkok should cover everything between them. https://www.weather.gov/media/marine/rfax.pdf

Thanks. I'm able to call the Cape Naval surface chart via Saildocs at this URL:

https://www.weathersa.co.za/images/d...ised/ma_sy.gif

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Bangkok publishes one that's grab-able from saildocs. I'll keep poking around to see if I can find one.

[Snore]

Check out LuckGrib.com. $50 for a lifetime subscription and downloads quickly over the GO device.

They just came out with a weather routing package- also $50. I tried it and it was clearly Beta level. Perhaps it is better now.

You can test drive each module for a week no cost

[SV Coronado]

Originally Posted by Snore

Check out LuckGrib.com. $50 for a lifetime subscription and downloads quickly over the GO device.

They just came out with a weather routing package- also $50. I tried it and it was clearly Beta level. Perhaps it is better now.

You can test drive each module for a week no cost

I also use LuckGrib and prefer it over PredictWind. If you’re a Mac user, the desktop app has a few more features than iOS app.

https://luckgrib.com

I like that LuckGrib saves your GRIB downloads individually so you can look at a model run from three days ago to see how well it predicted the current conditions. LuckGrib also has access to more models.

Unfortunately LuckGrib doesn’t have the full ECMWF model, so I still use PredictWind for ECMWF downloads.

[RTP]

Old thread I know. Sailgrib WR for Android. Does gribs and can download the official synoptic charts for most of the world. NOAA BOM etc. Integrates well with Iridium GO. Same charts you would get via HF. Cheap as chips alternative to Predict Wind. Not all that intuitive to use but works well once your used to it. Has a free version as well but limited.

[rgleason]

Agreed. Sailgrib WR for Android has become an excellent program with many easily used features. It is quite intuitive and impressive.

Originally Posted by RTP

Old thread I know. Sailgrib WR for Android. Does gribs and can download the official synoptic charts for most of the world. NOAA BOM etc. Integrates well with Iridium GO. Same charts you would get via HF. Cheap as chips alternative to Predict Wind. Not all that intuitive to use but works well once your used to it. Has a free version as well but limited.