HF Weatherfax, Download Weather Charts Over HF Airwaves!

Here is an interesting but useful concept. How about getting your weather maps without internet. Whether you are on a boat out at sea, camping out with your HF radio, or in a natural disaster, this may be all you have. I am using a Wolphilink interface in this video, which can be seen in a previous video. It connects your phone to your radio for reception. In the video I will explain several options for utilizing this mode.
www.wolphi.com/...
Download the WeatherFax app on the Play Store
www.nws.noaa.go...
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[@HamRadioConcepts]

www.nws.noaa.gov/os/marine/radiofax.htm

[@WW5RM]

I was about to comment the link didn't work. Good job bro! de WW5RM

[@N4UPD]

I was doing this years ago with a shortwave radio and a MFJ -1278 TNC Terminal Node controller. I also listened to rtty marine transmissions that typed out marine wx like tropical wx outlooks. It was awesome. Loved watching the goes satellite pics when they were broadcast over the fax frequencies. I received my transmissions from Norfolk Virginia on 8.080 mhz but they ceased operations several years ago. Thanks for the info I will try to get back into the hobby again. I have the Icon 718 and it does very well. Take care and 73.

[@N4UPD]

That should have said Icom 718 sorry.

[@seefunk373]

A very usefull backup ssb-rx is the " Superseefunk Volksempfänger". You connect the rx dir. to the android phone. The power consumtion is less than 100mA.

[@sailorjim7115]

Great video and useful info. I said oceans on a small, simply equipped sailboat. This is quickly becoming my preferred method of receiving weather info away from land. Keep the vids coming!

[@recumbentogiro26]

Thank You. As I'm beginning to put my travel kit together, you've given me some great guidance as to what options I have.

[@kenenthkozak6004]

love it! ham, new to digital. bringing out the old grundig portable, and gonna check the weather! 73

[@Drekkag]

Great video Eric. I used to love to decode WeFax a few years ago. Really impressed my son seeing a map come up. Nice to see the old modes still impressing people. They arw fun when signals on the ham bands are hard to copy. 73, ad0am

[@RESlusher]

Yeah, that is pretty slick! I'm going to test it out with my County Comm GP-5. Might be fun to play around with!

[@joseantoniovallejo3816]

Thanks for the video, really liked and learn something new!!...I´ll go into that. Gracias from Spain!!

[@luismc75]

Wonderful. Thank you very much. I really enjoy your videos. Getting my general next month. Also in Florida.

[@davidhuffman4013]

I used to install and teach people to use these, and many other marine electronics on boats. but I am new to ham radio

[@leanlafitte]

thank you, I live on the Mississippi gulf coast. and I am using a rtl-sdr to do this. All for $20.00

[@patm5165]

Excellent video, always wanted to do this.

[@gerryorlandostagehand3705]

Thank you for a great video. I never seen that before, very interesting.

[@ClarkTelecom]

Great video, very informative! Many thanks.

[@jacknifedbl]

I do this quite a bit w my icom and an easy digi kit and multi psk. it works very well..

[@jsieb]

Good idea about using a shortwave radio to get the signal into a computer!

[@jmoore279]

I'm Active Duty Coast Guard and I'm responsible for sending these faxes out from the USCG Communications Command in Chesapeake, VA along with NAVTEX, SITOR, and VOBRA's. If you have any questions about it, I'll be happy to answer. And Point Reyes, CA is about 30 miles north of San Francisco. The transmitter facilities are right on the beach.

[@kellytaylor3915]

Great Video. I recommend the Alinco DXSR8 Transceiver. For less than $500 usd you get a really good rig. It will work way better than most give it credit for. Shortwave and Ham band listening is really good. Note a good external speaker makes the setup. I use a Ten Tec external speaker MW broadcast 540- 1700 is great. Audio is great with a good external speaker. Keep those videos coming great job! 73’s from N5STK

[@HamRadioConcepts]

I have heard a lot of poor experiences with that radio, in fact better responses from the Xiegu China radio.

[@petbytes7167]

After watching your video, I turned on my HF radio and launched fldigi. I entered the frequency you showed (12.748.1) and WeFax came one after another. Pretty neat. I just have to figure out how to correct the slight slant. Thanks for posting the video! de K6TQ

[@kytecit5653]

FLDigi has a correction - see the UserMan: www.w1hkj.com/FldigiHelp-3.21/html/wefax_page.html

[@jimjeffries2735]

Another excellent video, Eric!

[@edk4590]

Adding you to my top 3 well 4 now :)

[@joeblow8593]

Good presentation, thanks

[@BradSnyder1]

Pretty cool stuff! Thanks for sharing it Eric! 73

[@jstr964]

Eric, great video!! I have been wanting to see this actually done. Now I need to find some good software to do it. 73 K3LH

[@macenglish220]

Links to NWS/NOAA are out of date. Appreciate the video. KM9Z

[@SteveWrightNZ]

fldigi will copy weather fax and marine NAVTEX and SITOR. All you need is a USB cable to your rig.

[@sergealain5660]

Yes, weatherfax software available for IOX

[@WW5RM]

Also these or some of these freqs give the forecast in voice mode just like NOAA VHF channels do. Or maybe its only certain freqs that give the forecast in voice? Im not sure as Ive not listened to all freqs and couldn't listen very long. But I'm pretty sure this is the case. When not sending the Radiofax ( weatherfax ) its giving the forecast in voice mode.

[@jomckarth4836]

nice, thanks

[@WHNorthcote]

You need to get your clock sorted to stop that slanting. I use SeaTTY but managed to get the licence key from another radio user. But it does do a good job of decoding which is a bit better than the FLDigi fax that they use.

[@load_nikon6435]

Hi can you elaborate? My time is synced to time.nist.gov.

[@cliffsutton8556]

I’ve been trying to get this working properly on my SEA222 HF transceiver. But I think I have two problems. 1. The iPhone microphone remains in circuit when connected to the radio output with a patch cable. 2. The SEA 222 is a programmable model without the tuning dial. There are fine tuning keys but they only operate in 0.1 kHz increments. So I don’t seem to be able to tune finely enough to get a clear fax image, except on rare occasions. I get my weather forecasts on HF via “VMC” and weather fax on 11030 kHz Charleville Australia. Also noted that tuning around 1.9kHz lower than that frequency. Any comment? I’m thinking of buying a little receiver. Cheers

[@myradiovideos]

HEY!!!!!! You need to move that Hurricane a bit closer to the USA East Coast!!!! :-)

[@yannmonnier4189]

Maybe a bit too simple question for you: Can two persons (one located in North Carolina, the other sailing in the Gulf of Mexico) having a HF radio like yours can communicate effectively with each other? Is there a cheaper radio that can do the same job? thx

[@homefront3162]

Sweet

[@kb5ikr]

will the app work just like the SSTV app? Instead of hooking up a cable from your cell phone to your transceiver just put the phone by the rig speaker?

[@HamRadioConcepts]

Yes, you can set it on the radio and decode

[@kengilcrest8670]

I have done this for years. I have no real reason to download these images other than the fact that it is just another cool thing to do with radio.

[@kenpooler7877]

Cool, Can I run this from my 7300 to my laptop

[@HamRadioConcepts]

Yup. Just use USB audio codec as soundcard input on the software

[@patm5165]

What type of antenna are you using?

[@HamRadioConcepts]

Hygain AV680

[@KurtRWarner]

Pt. Rayes is on the California coast. de KA7ZDD

[@vonzigle]

FYI, it is spelled Reyes 🙂

[@jurgeneitle7638]

yep, there is a famous light house there. Was the backdrop in the movie "The Fog"

[@theharrisonmurray]

Anybody hook this up to a baofeng? It sounds the same as satellite.

[@WW5RM]

I believe weather satellite runs on 137 Mhz. You will need a egg beater or circular polarized antenna and software to process the images. Tons more work but tons better images if that is your preference. Over HF its the basics but provides tons of info in the images. It works and is pretty easy to do. Should work with the RTL-SDR dongle if you do not have a HF rig.

[@Jimwill01]

Link to frequencies?

[@HamRadioConcepts]

oops, sorry.. Illl add to description

[@HamRadioConcepts]

www.nws.noaa.gov/os/marine/radiofax.htm

[@Jimwill01]

Thanks - bookmarked it!!

[@KA6WNK]

I have been using WEFAX on HF since the 80's... nothing new, only the improvements to the display devices. Nice intro video though overall. Except... your comparisons to INMARSAT and its cost. Totally different subjects. The wolphi decoders and aps are not designed to give you full internet access.... 10MB a day is NOT "a few emails," and just because you are making a video in HD and produce a video file size however big also has nothing to do with receiving WEFAX on HF.

[@TwstedTV]

omg that modem is so slow, i would jump into the ocean and invite sharks to kill me for entertainment for the map to download.

[@HamRadioConcepts]

You have the freedom to not watch, there are plenty of other KZbin channels out there.

[@TwstedTV]

whoa dude, I meant it in a jokingly manner, because the map downloaded so slow for a device in 2018. is was meant for the video part 4:15 if you took it the wrong way im sorry. :) next time I will make sure i put lots of :D :D:D hahaha hehehe LOL Lmao and others so youll know im saying it in a funny way.

[@TheRetiredtech]

If you don't really understand it is a bandwidth issue. Nothing to do with the modem it is all that can be done with audio.

[@TwstedTV]

I do understand hence the reason why I said I would much rather throw myself into the ocean & let sharks eat me because it was slow as hell in this day in age. but then I got snapped at.

[@jennibgmailcom]

Offshore sailors often get weather from GRIB files, weather routers, maritime mobile nets (mmsn.org), sat services like Iridium (look up InReach SE Plus), sat radios like Sirius XM and broadcast media. There are many cheaper options for satellite data than the ones you found. Many new chart plotters have built in satellite data receivers. A few give basic weather data but are lacking necessities like barometric pressure. Non ham sailors often use marine SSB transceivers, Pactor modems and Sailmail.com. Hardware and service can get very expensive. Ham sailors can use Winlink.org (free) and many use software modems like WinMor and Tigertronics Signalink interfaces. Winlink is similar to a BBS (like the old dial up days) that includes email, position reporting to Shiptrak.org, and GRIB files. GRIB files are small and can be requested by tiny email messages from various services either free or pay for service. GRIB files import into many programs and overlay weather data over charts (maps in the marine world). Usually GRIB files contain information over a time frame that can be scrubbed to see trends and front movement which make them much more useful than the static weatherfax images. You might want to try Winlink. The most common program is Winlink Express. You don't necessarily need an interface like a Signalink. Signalink is nice because it handles PTT for you so you don't need to mess with VOX and levels like you would if you just use a straight audio connection from your transceiver to your computer. Signalink is also a high quality sound interface so if your computer's sound card is iffy, this helps a lot.