Sailing away from your home shores and discovering the enviable lifestyle of ocean cruising is a popular dream that often depends on keeping in touch with business contacts, banks, friends and family ashore.
   This book steps beyond basic marine radio instruction and examines the international marine use of cell phones, satellites, amateur radio and e-mail. It reviews a wide range of systems services and explains basic installation details, and points out pitfalls for the unwary.

See also the radio support page

Obtaining weather fax charts by radio, TV or even the newspaper has never been easier but how do you interpret them and turn them into a meaningful forecast? These are essential skills for all seafarers and this book explains how.
   Untied to any particular part of the world "Understanding Weatherfax" begins by explaining world weather principles, forces and patterns. Building upon the basics it looks at features in the upper atmosphere and details at regional and local levels.
   The book includes a discussion of fax transmission protocols and reception hard and software. New additions for the 2nd edition include sections on satellite image reception and interpretation and case studies of infamous storms from the last decade.

See also the radio support page

The magnetic compass is one of the most ancient of navigational instruments yet, even in these all electronic times, it remains a vital piece of equipment for any sea-going vessel; the one instrument likely to remain when all batteries have expired and electronics failed.
   This book describes construction and maintenance and the basic principles of variation and deviation. In simple well illustrated steps it steps it explains the process of "swinging" and "adjusting" the compass" laying bare some trade secrets of professional adjusters.
   "The Compass Book" is a must for independent ocean cruisers visiting parts where professional services are non-existent.