pogen
Sailing canoe "Kūʻaupaʻa"
It is possible to buy very inexpensive SSB receivers for $100 - $200 that should work for receiving voice weather briefings on 4 - 8 - 12 MHz bands, as well as decode weatherfax when hooked to a PC with suitable software. There are a bunch of guides on cruisers forums that show how to do this.
I have a Grundig radio like this:
Like this one, http://www.amazon.com/Grundig-Globe-Traveler-Portable-Shortwave/dp/B001QTXKEW but not as nice and cheaper.
and it really doesn't work. I got if from Defender for about $120, and I as it was the only radio like that they carried, I thought maybe it was useful for marine comms. The front end is overwhelmed by noise anywhere near civilization, and the only way I ever got it to work was by going way up to the hills one time.
Does anyone have a better experience with low-end radios? I have heard Sangean or Kaito might be better, or there is a Sony model that many think is good.
I also recently got a FUNCube Donble Pro+ RF receiver (an SDR, or "software defined radio") to fool around with
but I haven't had time to mess with HF yet ; though the VHF works pretty well.
The issue with SSB weatherfax is that the reports you are interested in are only broadcast a couple times per day, and only last a few minutes, so you need to be alert and making sure you are on the correct frequency at broadcast time. It would be cool to have a cheap system that was collecting everything as it came in for later perusal.
I have a Grundig radio like this:
Like this one, http://www.amazon.com/Grundig-Globe-Traveler-Portable-Shortwave/dp/B001QTXKEW but not as nice and cheaper.
and it really doesn't work. I got if from Defender for about $120, and I as it was the only radio like that they carried, I thought maybe it was useful for marine comms. The front end is overwhelmed by noise anywhere near civilization, and the only way I ever got it to work was by going way up to the hills one time.
Does anyone have a better experience with low-end radios? I have heard Sangean or Kaito might be better, or there is a Sony model that many think is good.
I also recently got a FUNCube Donble Pro+ RF receiver (an SDR, or "software defined radio") to fool around with
but I haven't had time to mess with HF yet ; though the VHF works pretty well.
The issue with SSB weatherfax is that the reports you are interested in are only broadcast a couple times per day, and only last a few minutes, so you need to be alert and making sure you are on the correct frequency at broadcast time. It would be cool to have a cheap system that was collecting everything as it came in for later perusal.