Goetz Romahn's Homepage

Last updated 2005-Jan-18

Once upon a time there existed machines, called Personal Computer ( PC ), that did not have any integrated multimedia interfaces nor even audio I/O. Therefore for decoding weathersatellite image transmissions one had to use so called WeFAX or SSTV decoders.

The decoder I used at those ancient times was a very advanced one - called Easyfax - and was controlled by a special purpose microcontroller. The developer was Ulrich Bangert, DF6JB. There is no further documentation available on the net, but some specimens occasionally pop up at eBay. Input to computer is via handshake lines of an RS232 serial port. This gear is still functional and has proved its reliability.

This type of hardware had to be complemented by special Wefax software. A very advanced software, already providing animations and running under MS-DOS was - and still is - JVFAX V7.0 from Eberhard Backeshoff. Eberhard has an actual 32bit Windows version available at his website that could be well worth given a test.


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