Introduction I just finished a very interesting book about Capt. Cook’s third and final voyage – “The Wide Wide Sea” by Hampton Sides (Ref.1). So I thought it would only be appropriate on Victoria Day to take a lunar measurement as Capt. Cook might have taken. Apparently he also took a K1 chronometer made by… Continue reading CelNav Victoria Day Lunar Distance
OpenPlotter3 – Marine NAVTEX
Introduction In the previous post I looked at using OpenPlotter3 for receiving HF Weather Fax (Ref.1). In this post we will use OpenPlotter3 to receive Marine MF NAVTEX (Ref.2). NAVTEX transmissions contain valuable marine information such as navigation warnings, weather forecasts, ice information and MSI specific messages. The world is divided into different regions and… Continue reading OpenPlotter3 – Marine NAVTEX
OpenPlotter3 – Marine HF Weather Fax
Introduction Recently I revisited OpenPlotter after a two year interval to see what had changed in the latest version 3 (Ref.1/2). I tested the Starter and Headless images and setup AIS & GPS on OpenCPN. In 2021 I had looked at various aspects of version 2 (Ref.3/13). In this post I will look at the… Continue reading OpenPlotter3 – Marine HF Weather Fax
RTL-SDR for HF 40m Band Scan
Introduction Since we are in the middle of Solar Cycle 25 (Ref.1/5), I might as well take advantage of excellent reception conditions on the HF bands. Up to now, I have used VB cable to connect SDR# to my decoder programs Multipsk/Fldigi. However, it is advantageous to be able to hear the signals while you… Continue reading RTL-SDR for HF 40m Band Scan
HF Solar Eclipse Propagation
Introduction Today on April 8th_2024 at 15:19 local time (19:19UTC) we experienced an almost total solar eclipse in Toronto, Canada. I thought it would be interesting to measure propagation conditions using WWV at 10/15/20MHz before, during and after the event. Maybe it was just psychological, but I experienced a popping in my ears almost like… Continue reading HF Solar Eclipse Propagation