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GRIT · 26-07-2021, 02:05

I just noticed there are only 8 choices, on each of the three dials. So there's only actually 512 choices. Still too many for me to find by trial and error.

Cheers.
Paul.

gaucho · 04-08-2021, 04:58

Stupid obvious question, but have you tried contacting Furuno themselves to source the manual?

GRIT · 04-08-2021, 05:57

I have tried that. Furuno manuals cost $50 from furuno , and the fax108 is not listed on their site. They have also succumbed to the modern trend of making all telephone contact numbers top secret.
The local dealer says if it's not on furuno's site they can't get it.

I've found a service manual, but not an owner's manual, or operator's manual.

Cheers.
Paul.

Dsanduril · 04-08-2021, 09:31

I guess I missed this thread when it started. I do not have a manual. I did operate one of these a looooong time ago. I took a look at the 207/208/408 manuals and pulled together a few items that might help reduce the trial/error significantly.

Attachment 243238

https://www.weather.gov/media/marine/rfax.pdf

Speed Buttons - select as shown in the WFax schedule, but mostly 120
I.O.C. Button - select as shown in WFax schedule, but mostly 576
Phase - Try Auto first, otherwise the manual (that you don't have yet) for manual adjustments.
Zone - Furuno divided the world into 8 zones. See the attached PDF, I doubt the zones changed at all during the period, would at least be a good starting point.
Station - Within each zone Furuno assigned station numbers. See the PDF for the station assignments within each zone for the 208. These may have changed between units, but I'd guess this is a good starting point. Stations may also have changed, of interest in this, for example, South Africa changed from ZRO Pretoria to ZSJ Cape Naval. I'd have to dig much deeper to see if the kept the same frequencies when the station moved. If yes then it won't matter, if no then the 108 won't be configured to get the new frequencies. I'm not sure about the station "0" on the 208, I suspect you just can't get there on the 108, but there's a chance of a one offset (0=1, 1=2, etc.).
Frequency - Furuno built the 108 with fixed frequency channels, after selecting the zone and station you could select the frequency for that station from 1 (lowest frequency) up to 8 (highest frequency). Most stations had far fewer than 8, so many positions don't do anything. See the "Facsimile Station Tables" from the 408 manual in the PDF. The lowest frequency for each station should be "1" on the 108, the next "2", etc. There's a chance that "1", for instance, is always the 4MHz band, 2 is x, etc., I simply don't recall. Don't think so, but somehow there's a thought in my head along those lines so thought I would mention it.

You may want to spend a little time comparing the frequencies shown in the station list to those in the current schedule, I took at list at a few and they haven't changed in decades.

I hope that's helpful enough for you to sort out receiving a couple of test faxes wherever the machine is currently located while waiting for a manual to arrive.

If you want something era appropriate about the faxes themselves, this might be of interest:
https://furunousa.com/-/media/sites/..._radio_fax.pdf

GRIT · 04-08-2021, 09:36

Dsanduril:

Thank you very much. That's going to make things much easier.

Just your PDF attachment alone is enough to likely get the job done. (though it doesn't work at the moment, your description means it will be a boon for us.)

Thanks very much for that.

We'll keep looking for a manual, but your post is fantastic.

Thank you.

Paul.