New FAX 30 not Receiving

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01parrothead01

New member
Good afternoon,
I recently installed a complete new Furuno instrumentation package (TZT3, AIS, DFF 3D, VHF, FAX 30, Wind, dual autopilots, etc.). Everything is working perfectly except the FAX 30 is not receiving and the SN is low on all frequencies (about 10). The SS is about 55. I'm using the FAX 5 Pre-amp and I have moved the necessary internal jumper to power the pre-amp.
On the pre-amp antenna installation, I disconnected the ground wire from the body of the pre-amp and routed it back to the main ship bonding ground. I did this to keep from drilling a hole in the 1" stainless riser that the pre-amp is mounted on. Could this be the problem with the signal to noise ration. Does the pre-amp HAVE to be connected to the body or housing?
Thanks in advance for your help and support.

Warm Regards,
Jim
 
So - I went ahead and drilled a hole in the riser and connected the ground to the body of the FAX 5 as it was originally delivered. No change in results. SS is running 56 - 58, but SN is still about 10 - 11.

Any help/thoughts on what might cause the signal to noise ratio to be so low?
 
The wire coming out of the bottom of the Fax-5 coupler must go to the grounding point on the side of the coupler and the grounding from the boat should also be placed on that, meeting up with the wire from the Fax-5. SS is normally 20-60 and your is reading well. The SN is normally 20-60 and yours is reading too low. It could be because you didn't connect properly to the lug on the housing and the pre-amp inside the fax5 coupler is not working.
 
Ah ha - the boat grounding needs to go to the same ground point. Interesting - I haven't done that yet. Let me try that and I'll chime bank in.
Thanks for your response Johnny!
 
So I connected the boat ground to the same grounding on the FAX 5 - no luck. Still getting a SN of about 10.
On a side note - late last night I used the SSB to locate the strongest station. No surprise - it was Boston at 6340.5 kHz ( I'm in St Pete, FL). So I set the weatherfax to that frequency and left it on all night. I received 3 images in the wee hours of the morning. But they really weren't legible - too much noise. So at least now I know that it's working. Just need to sort out the SN issue.
 
Yes, it sounds like your Fax5 coupler is not amplifying. You set the jumper in the FAX30 to Active so it should be working when properly grounded and powered.
 
When I left the unit on the night before last, it was set to receive both weather fax and Navtex messages. As I mentioned previously, I received 3 faxes, but no messages. Last night I left the unit on and set to receive Navtex only. This morning there were no messages.

I double checked the jumper this morning - just to be certain I didn't make a mistake. As I expected, J23 was set to "Active".

Is there any way to check or test the FAX 5 to make sure there's nothing wrong with it? It's brand new, but you never know.

Also, my local distributor seems to think that there's simply too much noise in the form of surrounding buildings in downtown St. Pete. I'm not sure that I'm in full agreement. However, in an effort to test that theory, we plan to take the boat out away from the city for a night or two and give it a try. Will send more info on how that goes - probably next week sometime.

I really appreciate your help and support this far.

Jim
 
A dealer could most likely use a signal gen and bird meter to verify it is working. I can't say I have ever seen a true out of box failure working with Furuno. Is this new or something used you picked up? What antenna did you put on the coupler?
 
I removed all of my old Raymarine gear. So this is a completely new Furuno instrumentation package including:
TZT3 16, DRS12ANXT, DFF3D w/ 165T-50/200-SS260, FM4850 w 2nd station, FA70, GP39 (backup), Qty two 711C AP Systems, SCX20, FAX-30, FAX-5, wind, DST, and five FI-70'S

Everything was purchased new from my local Furuno distributor. Even the N2K backbones are new (I installed 2 backbones in parallel with independent Victron DC-DC power supplies from the 24V house and 12V house respectively for redundancy).

For the FAX-5 coupler, my dealer recommended the Furuno 2.6m whip - PN 001-308-730.
The FAX-30 and TZT3 are connected via a HUB-101

Thanks,
Jim
 
That antenna is a good one. If you pull off the antenna cable from the receiver unit (with it ON) and take a meter to carefully measure the DC volts from the center pin to the outside of the connector, what do you read?
 
0V on the antenna side - as expected. 12.03V on the receiver.
We had a cloudy night last night and I left the unit on again all night - hoping for a good bounce. This time I selected 9110 kHz in Boston. When I left it, the SN was bouncing from 15 - 25. This morning I had 6 good quality images. But still no Navtex messages.
 
It seems to be reading a bit low but that might be because of blockage on the boat. You don't have this mounted right next to a mast or something? It is always best to be in the clear. Blockage on the boat can be a real problem. Do you have photos of the antenna and mounting area? NavTex and Weather fax always work better away from the dock and all the RF of other boats and buildings. The NX300 has to be away from the dock but the FAX30 will normally do okay at the dock as long as the antenna is clear.
 
Here's a photo of the complete arch. You can see the radar, the sat compass, 3 GPS mushrooms, and the bottom of the backstay SSB antenna in the foreground. And of course - St. Pete's beautiful skyline! :cool:
1000016003.jpg
 
Location looks great. It might be nothing is wrong other than giving it time and learning it. The voltage is good. When set to get weatherfaxes full time, it can't get Navtex. It has only one receiver. It is either set to get weatherfaxes OR Navtex, OR get Navtex and scheduled shift to get scheduled weatherfaxes and then go back to NavTex. Latest SN is low but in the ballpark. Really need to look at those numbers when something is being received (broadcast from NOAA). Getting 6 weather faxes shows you have made the correct changes for the good. I would put it into 100 Navtex mode and let it run as well.
 
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