WEFAX
32
LOCATION
FREQUENCIES (MHz)
Halifax, NS
Norfolk, VA
San Diego, CA
Mobile, AL
San Fran, CA
Washington, DC
4.275, 6.630, 9.890, 13.510
8.080, 10.865, 16.410
8.646, 17.410
9.158
4.346, 8.682, 12.730, 17.151
4.795, 10.185, 12.205, 14.672
In addition, many of the frequency guides for sale by various radio equipment suppliers list WFAX
station frequencies.
Tuning WEFAX Signals on HF
As mentioned earlier, WEFAX broadcasters use an 800 Hertz shift FSK format, using mark and
space frequencies of 1500 and 2300 Hertz respectively. These tones, like voice broadcasts, are
used to modulate the station RF carrier. You can tune these signals with your standard 1200 baud
Packet modem by tuning 1.7 kHz below the published frequency in upper-sideband (USB). For
example, with your HF transceiver or receiver set to USB, turn the dial until the frequency readout
shows 8078.3 to receive NAM (the Norfolk US Navy Fleet Weather Service transmitting on 8080
kHz.)
Receiving WEFAX Transmissions
To receive WEFAX you need to connect an audio cable from your HF receiver to the audio input of
your TNC. The
KPC-4
uses Port 2 and the
KAM
uses the VHF port for receiving WEFAX. You should
connect an audio cable from the audio output jack of your HF receiver to the correct audio input
pin of the
KPC-4
/
KAM
to receive the WEFAX signal. With the
KAM
you can connect the audio from
your HF receiver to the VHF and HF ports at the same time and use the bargraph tuning indicator
to tune your WEFAX station.
For the dual port communicators, you will need to set the MAXUSERS to 0/1 and for the single port
units, set MAXUSERS 1 before starting WEFAX reception. Be sure to read the documentation that
comes with your WEFAX program to determine how to use it.
All of the programs available from Kantronics will require, that you set MAXUSERS as listed above
and each of them will issue the proper WEFAX command to start the reception of the image. The
programs will work best at higher ABAUD rates and we suggest 9600 for the PC and Macintosh
based programs, and 1200 for the Commodore 64.
