Guest Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 Hi. I am planning to sail to the pacific next year and I need to be able to read my emails. I was recommended the Pactor-4 modem. Which is around $3000 dollars. Anybody has had experience with this modem. Any recommendations/ Comments. Thanks Joannes Link to post Share on other sites
Jean 5 Posted September 20, 2012 Share Posted September 20, 2012 We have used a Pactor 3 for 5 years and goes well. The pactor 4, from what I have read sends/receives very quickly. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 Hi Jean thanks for your reply. Were you able to check your emails anywhere between here and the pacific or did you have to be relatively close to land? regards Joannes Link to post Share on other sites
Jean 5 Posted September 22, 2012 Share Posted September 22, 2012 hi We can check our mail and get weather anywhere..middle of Atlantic, Indian Ocean across NZ to Australia etc. Yet to come across the Pacific but now there is a station on Nuie as well as NSW that should be good. Indian Ocean was a bit slow connection mainly because there was about 50 of us trying to get weather and send emails all at once. 2010 crossing the Indian ocean we were all a bit nervous so were keeping a close eye on the weather to get the quickest possible passage. Also it was a bit of a no mans land area between the Brunei station and Egypt but managed to connect to Africa and Belguim at night so just had to be a bit patient. Winlink is free if you have a Ham licence but I am not sure but I think there are not as many stations as Sailmail. Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,240 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 We use a pactor 3, pacific, indian ocean, anywhere. sailimail works fine, but if you have a ham licence, then winlink has heaps MORE stations than sailmail and is free. Also much conjestion sometimes on sailmail. You may have to wait a few minutes before you find a quiet time to transmitt. I still think the pactor soultion is the best, but others like sat connections. I must admit that some sat solutions are great, but they do cost (sometimes a lot) to operate... The pactor will only be as good as your HF radio - make sure that it is well installed, with a good antenna and ground plane.. Any reasonably modern HF will do, if properly installed. Matt Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 HI Jean and Matt Thanks for your helpful comments. Especially with regards to the antenna and ground plane. I am getting a new SSB installed at the moment a ICOM IC-M801E. Cheers Joannes Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,240 Posted September 23, 2012 Share Posted September 23, 2012 Make sure the unit works well - try a call to Taupo Maritime, and something further - 1000 miles or so. Don't accept any crap about your location etc. Make the calls, or listen to then as the radio tech does. The Antenna receives the transmission, the ground plane is what makes a good transmission. Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites
tuffyluffy 76 Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 Excuse my ignorance and thread drift, but am i correct in assuming that you can recieved grip weather faxes via an ssb without a modem? Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,240 Posted September 24, 2012 Share Posted September 24, 2012 there used to be a windows program for receiving weather faxes that just used the microphone input to the PC - but you needed to get the sound out of the radio! Some sets this was easy some not. Most (virtually all) people using HF for forecasts and GRIB files have modems. The Pactor 3 is by far the most popular, but may be about to be replaced by the Pactor 4...(although the 4 is 2x the price, it's 2x the speed as well)... Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Thanks for your relies. One other question. Did you use any special laptop of Ipad to excess the internet. Is there a particular brand of laptop that uses little energy to operate that you can recommend? Thanks Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,240 Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 No, not really. Generally though, smaller screen laptops use less power. Screen brightness makes quite a difference on any laptop - turn it down as much as you can. When buying, have a look at the small writing on the power supply - they normally give the power requirements in amps or watts... We have several laptops, the smallest is an ACER AspireOne Happy. It's a netbook, but it works fine, and uses a fairly small amount of power - about 2.5 amps. Good Luck Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 Thanks for that. Will have a look at the ACER. Cheers Joannes Link to post Share on other sites
idlerboat 116 Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 Hi, I run an "Emachine" which is an acer netbook. It has been running for two years.....I did have a hard drive die in the first few months...but acer replaced it very quickly and with no fuss. SO , I run an auto back up USB port powered remote hard drive. I plug it in....it does its thing and thats that. My little baby pooter is wonderful. small enough to cary anywhere....not get stolen..does all that a larger laptop does....and if I really need a big screen I can plug it into the telly !! I run open CPN (the absolute best laptop navigation in the universe) as a back up to my chart plotter. I have....USB sticks...USB GPS...USB..harddrive....USB light.....USB DVD burner/player......USB internet dongle....USB wireless mouse and a weather fax lead. It all sits in a small shoulder bag. It uses very little power and yep...Im typing this from my boat on it now.. PS...I use XP....yep XP....its stable !!! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 Hi Thanks for that info. I am not a computer expert at all, but it sounds that you got it all sorted. Will have a look at the emachine netbook and see how much they are. Cheers Joannes Link to post Share on other sites
Farrari 4 Posted October 9, 2012 Share Posted October 9, 2012 There is a range of laptops called Ultrabooks that might be worth a look at. Unlike the netbooks they are a fully fledged laptop but have been designed with weight, size and power consumption in mind. The ones with solid state drives (SSD's) might be a bit more reliable if you are worried about hard drive issues due to mechanical failure. Google is your friend when researching these There are others on this forum that would be better qualified to make any specific brand or model recommendations. Link to post Share on other sites
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