Way, way, way back in 2008 when I sailed on Oleander for the first time in the Mediterranean, we had a problem. The NavTex unit didn’t work even though the antenna was there. And we needed the weather reports in Italy and Spain. Being the only one with a smidgen of Italian, French and Spanish I was shanghaied to listen to the VHF at the designated times to write down these weather reports. This was not easy. Moving forward people tell you that with your mobile you can get everything from the internet. But what if you don’t have reception? Bring back the trusty NavTex unit please! So I’d bought one in Scotland. But I never took the effort to install it because I had to replace the old antenna (which had broken off last winter in a storm) and it is a bit of work.

Feeling empowered with my new-found skills, I decided I was going to do it now! Here you can see it in action:

I had to reduce the number of messages I received from all over Europe, such as Belgium, Spain, Germany. The Belgium one is ordering no recreational boat traffic is allowed in Belgian waters because of COVID-19. However, I do get the Irish Sea weather reports now. (And the unit only uses 20mA, so it is running all the time!)