Hey All,
Any advice on using a sat phone for getting weather fax and sending email. I assume we need some sort of email compression software similar to the airmail software that sailmail uses. Basically I want to use saildocs for my gribs and then get noaa radiofax.
Thanks,
Garrett
For the satphone email ISP I've used "XGate" from Global Marine Networks (http://www.globalmarinenet.com/xgate.php) for quite a few years. They provide the compression software and email tools. Actually, the software does much more than compression -- there are a number of protocol optimizations that really make a difference when using the long-latency and occasionally unreliable satphone connection. There are other providers who may do the same thing, but XGate is tried and true and I've been very satisfied with it. The annual fee is around $250 (if I recall correctly), but I believe they also have a short-term plan.
Using the satphone email I get gribs *and* wfax files from saildocs. The wfax files are compressed down from the images you can get directly from the NOAA website, so they are smaller and still perfectly readable. Saildocs has much more than gribs available. Look at their catalog, and do some tests from your home email account before casting off the docklines. The file request syntax can be tricky, and it will probably take a few tries before you are getting the files you want.
Of course you can always get your wfax the old-fashioned way, using SSB, your pactor modem, and GetFax. I use this method occasionally, to make sure I still know how in case the satphone breaks.
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