Alternatives
Wfax machines are single-purpose units and are not cheap. Consider these alternatives, in increasing order of cost. If you want to LISTEN ONLY to wx reports you could buy a: 1. Shortwave receiver (Grundig, Sony, Realistic) for less than a few hundred $. They are very small and portable. No installation. 2. Shortwave transceceiver (used-on ebay) starting ~$400. Anybody can listen on one of these units, it's transmitting that requires a license. Signal reception with one of these units is infinitely better than any of the sw receivers listed above, but you do need to add some type of antenna. Many of these units are slightly larger than a VHF. All need installation. Only more recent-vintage solid state units are appropriate for a boat. If you want to PRINT weather faxes you could use either of the above setups, combined with a demodulator, software, and a laptop computer to print fax images. This way, you have multiple-use equipment (weather, navigation, etc) that receives both voice and fax reports. But, in my opinion, the best route to take is to get your amateur radio (ham) license and install the transceiver+laptop system described above. This would allow you to transmit and receive, participate in any of the local sailing nets, and also to send and receive email for free via the winlink2000 system. This covers all of your bases, adds immensely to the safety factor while aboard, and can be done easily for the budget you have. Getting a license is not too difficult. Any other questions, just ask. There are a lot of hams on this board.
