LWDX NAVTEX Loggings 2013-02-17

First off……what is NAVTEX?

NAVTEX (navigational telex) is a radio transmitted telex data signal that, when received by special equipment, is translated into text and either printed or displayed.  Its purpose is to provide a marine forecast for boats on the open sea.  All over the globe, these text forecasts are provided in english on 518kHz in  sideband (SSB) mode.  To the naked ear, these data streams sound like this.  Stations are grouped together geographically and cover between 200-300 nautical miles from their location.  They also transmit on an alternating schedule so each area forecast has a chance to be received.  Broadcasts seem to last anywhere between 2 and 25 minutes depending on how much information needs to be disseminated.  Now that we have that out of the way….

Yesterday I received my Tecsun-PL660 today which is the first radio I’ve ever had that covered 518kHz and had SSB modes for LW/MW.  This is the first time I’ve been able to DX and decode NAVTEX transmissions!  I then downloaded Black Cat System’s NAVTEX decoder for the iPhone.  The two work great together – hold the iPhone up to a headphone speaker about two feet away from the radio (phone causes interference when close) and the phone will display the text being transmitted.  Nerdgasm!

I first decoded the local transmission from Camp Edwards, Cape Cod MA.  The transmitter is about 60 miles away so it’s not really DX.  It was more of a practice run to get acquainted with the decoder app and the radio.  Later that night I went into DX mode.  Here is what I found!!  Be sure to check out the full texts!

There was one faint unidentified broadcast that mentions the Caribbean and Puerto Rico.  Also i received a broadcast that I could hear but was unable to do any decoding on.  Based on the time it came on the air, it probably was Goose Bay Labrador.  I will target this one in the near future.