MFJ-1278B MULTI-MODE BASIC OPERATION
NAVTEX OPERATION
Navtex is a new direct printing service operating on 518 KHz.
NAVTEX stands for Navigational Telex. Navtex broadcasts urgent weather, navigational
and other information that is intended for ships.
Navtex Stations and Frequencies
Navtex Stations currently cover most coastal areas of Europe and the Eastern United States.
West Coast Stations for the United States are in various phases of planning or construction,
and will begin transmitting within a few years.
Currently operational Navtex stations in the United States include locations in Portsmouth,
Virginia, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans. A station in Sydney, Nova Scotia can also be
received in many parts of the United States.
Several Navtex stations are planned or already under construction on the West coast,
including locations in San Francisco, Astoria, Oregon, Adak and Kodiak, Alaska, Long
Beach, California and Honolulu.
The system is fully installed in Europe, and is well on its way to becoming an international
standard for navigational information.
A partial list of stations and their broadcasting time is listed in Table 4-5 below:
Station QTH Station ID Broadcast Time (UTC)
Miami O 0000,0600, 1200, 1800
Portsmouth M 0130, 0730, 1330, 1930
New Orleans G 0300, 0900, 1500, 2100
San Juan R 0415, 1015, 1615, 2215
Bermuda* B 0100, 0700, 1300, 1900
Table 4-5 Navtex Station & Frequencies
*Bermuda station is not yet on line.
Navtex Operation
Navtex is part of the Mode B (FEC) AMTOR mode. Each Navtex transmission is prefaced
by the characters ZCZC followed by a four character code of two letters that identify the
station and type of message followed by a number code from 00 to 99 that identifies the
particular message. This prevents your MFJ
-
1278B from receiving messages that have