ROFFS™ Announces New Prices for 2017 Special Note from Mitch **Pre-Season Discounts Ending Soon!** As President and owner of ROFFS™ I have made a major attempt to maintain our prices over the last 10 years. We have been able to achieve this in the past, but there are several reasons why we have to raise our prices now. Among them are the new costs in developing satellite data products with the new European and United States satellites that are about to come online. We must now upgrade our processing software, which is an expensive endeavor as new software licensing and maintenance are substantially higher than before. We have other data costs that have skyrocketed too. Our computers are due to be upgraded and our office needs work as well. This adds on the increasing costs of operating a private business, as many of you know. In addition, the health care costs continue to climb and we must offer retirement benefits to our excellent and deserving employees to be able to employ the best operational fisheries oceanographers in the world, which we have. The price increases will go into effect March 01, 2017 (See new prices at https://dev.roffs.com/about-roffs/rates/). Since we have already distributed our preseason discount prices we are honoring them. Please note that you will not be able to get such prices during the main season in 2017 or 2018.  YOU MUST PURCHASE YOUR PLAN PRIOR TO MARCH 1, 2017 TO GET THE PRESEASON PRICES. Please consider this a reminder that NOW is the time to purchase your discount plans for the 2017 fishing action. When you evaluate the prices you will see that the savings on some plans are as high as 52%. We will remind you one more time, that every fishing trip is important to have the information that will significantly increase your chances for a successful fishing trip. The money you think you will be saving by not getting a seasonal plan will be used up during one slow fishing trip. None of us has time and money to waste when we are trying to have as much fishing success as possible. You already know that ROFFS™ provides the only interpreted and comprehensive fishing oceanographic analysis, so give us a call, send us an email or visit our website to purchase a plan online. Updated Videos on ROFFS™.com – Be Sure to Check Out the “Hot News” Button on the ROFFS™ Homepage

Massive Gator!                         A massive alligator was spotted walking across an open pathway a few feet away from visitors at a nature reserve in Lakeland, Florida on Jan. 15. Video Courtesy: AccuWeather | YouTube Please click HERE to watch the video on our website now! Drowning in Snow!                Tom Oye was snowboarding in the Canadian backcountry when he triggered a massive avalanche. An airbag saved his life…and he caught it all on camera. Video Courtesy: GrindTV | Facebook Please click HERE to watch the video on our website now! Fishing the Buccaneer Cup is a great way to help support the Recreational Fishing Alliance and you’ll have a great time doing it. To learn more and to enter online go to www.buccaneercup.com. More Videos… Surfing!                       Kelly Slater & Jeffreys Bay is a beautiful thing. Video Courtesy: World Surf League | Facebook Please click HERE to watch the video on our website now! Ruby Seadragon First Glimpse in Wild!                     Researchers at Scripps Oceanography and the Western Australian Museum capture on video the first-ever field sighting of the newly discovered third species of seadragon. As they observed two Ruby Seadragons on video for nearly 30 minutes, the scientists uncovered new details about their anatomy, habitat, and behavior. Video Courtesy: Scripps Oceanography | YouTube Please click HERE to watch the video on our website now! Poor Turtle!                      You won’t believe what they pulled from this poor sea turtle’s mouth! Video Courtesy: NTD.TV | Facebook Please click HERE to watch the video on our website now! Coming to your Next VHF: New Channel Numbers Article Courtesy: workboat.com | By: Kirk Moore | Originally Published: January 11, 2017

Evolving international standards will bring a new channel numbering scheme to marine VHF radios, with 18 channels getting new, four-digit designations in the U.S.

The move is part of the International Telecommunications Union’s move to make marine radio communications more efficient. For U.S. mariners, it should be a seamless transition, with the new numbers indicating simplex use of the ship station transmit side of what had been international duplex channels.

“They were seeing there’s not a need for all these duplex channels,” said Joseph Hersey, a retired Coast Guard communications expert who now works at the Coast Guard Navigation Center. “If we’re going to do this, we need a new way of numbering the channels.”

Duplex channels use two different frequencies for ship transmit and ship receive, typically through a shore station. Simplex channels send and receive on the same frequency, allowing direct vessel-to-vessel communication. Above: A digital selective calling VHF-FM marine-band radio. Coast Guard photo. Please click HERE to read the full article on our website now! Backlash? Feedback?

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