Yand Question ?

[BOBRR]

Hi,

Have, again, been trying to receive any Navtex via Yand, and about to give up once more.
Have, more or less, convinced myself that my location, about 25 due W of Boston, and probably an
inadequate ant. (simple 75 long horrid. wire outside) just won't do it.

But am curious about this:

When they say 518 KHz, they truly mean 518.000... ? Right ?

The reason I ask is that I never see on the Spectrum in SDRConsole any signal at 518.0
But, always a signal a few hundred KHz above and below 518.0.

What are these, please ? I have no idea. They are not am.

BTW: What is the "CRF" meter in Yand ?

Is there perhaps a different Navtex Decoder that would be easier for me now at my age to "play with", and might be "better" ? (must be "simple")

Regards, and thanks,
Bob

 

[ka3jjz]

Bob you're mixing up a great many different areas with your questions. Keep in mind that we have many forums, each with their own specialty in many cases. With the moderator's indulgence, let's try to set you straight...

Let's start with SDR Console. I suspect that your readout is in Mhz, not Khz. If you do some basic math you should be able to figure out what the readout should be :.>> This application has its own forums (linked below), and of course you can ask in our Software Defined Radio forum

https://forum.sdr-radio.com:4499/

As to the software - there are numerous packages that can decode NAVTEX. I would suggest a question be posted on the UDXF reflector (I'm pretty sure you're already a member there), but I suspect you will find that YAND is pretty much at the top of the list. Note that just recently, a NAVTEX plugin has been announced for use by SDRUno. It looks to take a bit to set up, but if you're using a SDRPlay device, it's worth looking into.

Antennas are another issue. While your wire will hear some things, it's not going to be all that efficient at 518 khz, and it's going to be prone to hearing most any noise source in the area. I would strongly recommend one of the W6LVP models; Larry has been known to add filtering to his preamp (upon request) for preventing MW. FM and TV breakthrough- something the other loop distributors don't do.

Finally when you listen is very important. You may get some local 518khz stuff during the day, but you would want to listen at night for best results. Schedules can and do change, but this site is a good starting point...

https://www.dxinfocentre.com/navtex.htm

Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

There's a PDF by Mike KD2KOG on how to use Yand with SDRUno here. It's likely to be somewhat similar in the method to go about doing it with SDR Console

https://www.sdrplay.com/resources/decoding_navtex.pdf

Mike

 

[eorange]

Bob, '518' expressed in MHz would be 0.518 . Make sure your radio can actually hear the NAVTEX warble loud and clear before trying any decoding.

I cut the top off one of those orange Home Depot buckets and un-scientifically wrapped a random length of wire around the edge, enough to fill the width of the ring. Put a 500 pf gang capacitor in parallel with the ends of the wire, rigged up a short piece of coax with a BNC connector...and now I had a loop antenna. WHICH allowed me to hear NAVTEX for the first time ever, and these are the stations up and down the east coast. In the winter at least...I had the best luck after 9:30pm ET. Use the directionality of the loop to find the signal.

 

[BOBRR]

Hi,

Thanks.
Help much appreciated.

Best regards,
Bob