Wetter Navtex

[SailingDoc]

Apologies if this has come up before - but no sign on searching...

Has anybody had experience of the new Wetter WIB2 navtex unit? It consists only of a small box, and plugs into the USB port of your onboard laptop/PC. You simply use your browser to display the navtex data. It looks an excellent piece of kit; but I'm concerned about the size which must restrict the efficiency of its internal antenna. At those frequencies, picking up a signal from a tiny antenna, however well tuned, must be questionnable.

Brian

[hubert]

You are right to be concerned about the small antenna. It does limit the range. It is a ferrite rod and has to point in the correct direction. If you ar 90 degrees out it will not receive anything.

[SailingDoc]

Yes, I suspected as much. I suppose the problem is that Navtex must be received at the moment it's transmitted, unlike, say, the internet where info is permanently available. So if your ferrite antenna is not correctly aligned at the right moment, it's too late.

But since the Niton (or wherever) antenna is vertically polarised, would not the ferrite antenna work omnidirectionally, if it's positioned vertically?

Brian

[quaelgeist2]

Sorry to say, but the need for precise pointing of the antenna is nonsense as far as it concerns the weather box from Moerer. I have it and I don't care how and where it is lying before I connect it to the PC again.

You charge it via the USB connection and when fully charged, it receives for approx. 3 days with out recharging andalso without being connected to the PC at all.
It is effectively are ceiver plus memory card.

(+) Very easy to read out with the PC (acts as an external drive), no manual needed, absolutely intuitive use. Securely receives lying in the cabin of a GRP boat.
(-) You WILL forget to charge it at some stage if you use your PC aboard infrequently (as I do) and then have missed the last message & have to wait for the next (no problem if permanently connected to PC)

[SailingDoc]

Thanks for that - a first-hand recommendation is what's needed. I shall break open the piggy-bank at the earliest opportunity......now, where did I put that hammer? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Brian