• Home

  • Consultancy

  • Videos

  • Facebook

  • Contact

  • About

  • YachtCom

  • Marine MF/HF SSB Radio HF Antennas & Installation Which SSB?

  • HF SSB Email HF Weather Broadcasts Satellite Communications

  • HF Frequencies VHF Marine Channels MF/HF Coastguards

image

Marine Radio Weather Broadcasts
weather bulletins received free via SSB

Weather Information is transmitted by speech, text and fax on the HF bands.

If you have access to a good quality SSB receiver or an SSB transceiver, then you should be able to receive these transmissions. To decode weather fax and text message you will need to have a computer and appropriate software.


There are a number of software packages available, doing an internet search for ‘weather fax software’ will usually bring up several popular software packages.


The main issue is getting the audio out of the SSB receiver into the computer. Some software packages do this by using the microphone input into the computer and there are some software packages that use a dedicated modem.


A Pactor modem can also be used for decoding weather-fax and text (RTTY and Navtext) broadcast, using a software package called Getfax.



Coastguard Voice Broadcasts

Around Europe coastguards broadcast weather and navigational warning in voice on MF frequencies.


UK Coastguard


Coastguard transmit frequency

Coastguard transmit frequency

Coastguard

MRCC

Location and times

2226 kHz


Aberdeen

Aberdeen Coastguard, Gregness 0730 & 1930 local

1883 kHz


Belfast

Belfast Coastguard, Tiree 0810 & 2010 local

1880 kHZ


Falmouth

Falmouth Coastguard, Isle of Scilly 0710 & 1910 local

1925 kHz


Humber

Humber Coastguard, Flamborough 0750 & 1950

1770 kHz


Shetland

Shetland Coastguard, Collafirth 0710 & 1910

1743 kHz


Stornway

Stornoway Coastguard, Butt of Lewis 0710 & 1910


European Coastguards



Coastguard transmit

Frequency

Coastguard transmit

Frequency

Coastguard

MRCC

Location and times

1677 kHz


Malin Head

MalinHead Coast Guard, Ireland

1752 kHz


Valentia

Valentia Coastguard, Ireland

2761 kHz


Belgium

Oostende, Belgium. MSI 0233 0633, 0820, 1033, 1433, 1720, 1833, 2233 utc

1650kHz


France

French Coastguard – MSI 1700 utc

2677 kHz


France

French Coastguard – MSI 1700 utc

1698 kHz


Finisterre

Pastoriza Finisterre Spain

1707 kHz


Coruna

Ares Coruna Spain

1677 kHz


Bilbao

Rostrio Bilboa Spain 0703, 0903, 1503, 2033, 2303 utc

1644 kHz

2069 kHz

Arrecifie

Arrecife Canarias

1689 kHz

2114 kHz

Las Palmas

Las Palmas Gran Canarias

2657 kHz


Portugal

Portugal MRCC, Lisbon, Horta, Madeira

3673 kHz


Netherlands

Netherlands Coastguard






Weather Fax Broadcast


Weather picture charts are transmitted by HF radio from a number of stations around the world.

The technology used for sending weather fax is rather old slow analogue facsimile media and each picture can takes several minutes (10 minutes) to receive.

Being an analogue transmission means that the picture quality can vary depending on radio propagation and local interference at the receiving station.


UK Weather Fax transmissions

Broadcast schedule and frequencies for Northwood (GYA), England.


GYA Frequencies

Broadcast Type

Times in UTC/GMT

2618.5 (2616.6) kHz*
4610 (4608.1) kHz
8040 (8038.1) kHz
11086.5 (11084.6) kHz
18261 (18259.1) kHz*

Surface Analysis

0300, 0400, 0500, 0900, 1100, 1200, 1500, 1800, 2100, 2300.

Surface prog T24

0524, 0800, 1000, 1300, 1736, 2200.

Wind

0812, 2112

Fronts Centres

0848, 0912, 1124, 1136, 1400, 1600, 1700, 2000, 2012, 2024, 2036,

Gale Summary

0348, 0600, 0700, 1148, 1548, 1900,

Sea Swell

0924, 1912,

in brackets() frequency to tune to using USB mode. *not 24 hours

Example weather fax picture from Northwood


World-wide weatherfax stations

There is a worldwide network of stations transmitting weather fax pictures.

STATION

COUNTRY

CALLSIGN

FREQUENCY

CHARLEVILLE

AUSTRALIA

VMC

2628 kHz, 5100 kHz, 11030 kHz, 13920 kHz, 20469 kHz

WILUNA

AUSTRALIA

VMW

5755 kHz, 7535 kHz, 10555 kHz, 15615 kHz, 18060 kHz

RIO DE JANEIRO

BRAZIL

PWZ

12665 kHz, 16978 kHz

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA

CANADA

CFH

4271 kHz, 6496.4 kHz, 10536 kHz, 13510 kHz

VALPARAISO PLAYA ANCHA

CHILE

CBV

4228.0 kHz, 8677.0 kHz, 17146.4 kHz

BEIJING (PEKING)

CHINA

BAF

5526.9 kHz, 8121.9 kHz, 10116.9 kHz, 14366.9 kHz, 16025.9 kHz, 18236.9 kHz

TAIPEI

CHINA

BMF

4616 kH, 8140 kHz, 13900 kHz, 18560 kHz

HAMBURG

GERMANY

DDH

3855 kHz, 7880 kHz, 13882.5 kHz

ATHENS

GREECE

SVJ

4481 kHz, 8105 kHz

KYODO NEWS AGENCY

JAPAN

JJC

4316 kHz, 8467.5 kHz, 12745.5 kHz, 16971 kHz, 17069.6 kHz, 22542 kHz

TOKYO

JAPAN

JMH

3622.5 kHz, 7795 kHz, 13988.5 kHz

SEOUL

KOREA

HLL2

3585 kHz, 5857.5 kHz, 7433.5 kHz, 9165 kHz, 13570 kHz

MURMANSK

RUSSIA

RBW

5336 kHz, 7908.8 kHz, 10130 kHz

BANGKOK

THAILAND

HSW64

7395 kHz

NORTHWOOD

UK

GYA

2618.5 kHz, 4610 kHz, 8040 kH, 11086.5 kHz

KODIAK, ALASKA

USA

NOJ

2054 kHz, 4298 kHz, 8459 kHz, 12412.5 kHz

PT. REYES, CALIFORNIA

USA

NMC

4346 kHz, 8682 kHz, 12786 kHz, 17151.2 kHz, 22527 kHz

HONOLULU, HAWAII

USA

KVM

9982.5 kHz, 11090 kHz, 16135 kHz

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

USA

NMG

4317.9 kHz, 8503.9 kHz, 12789.9 kHz, 17146.4 kHz

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

USA

NMF

4235 kHz, 6340.5 kHz, 9110 kHz, 12750 kHz

 

 

 

 


When receiving weatherfax broadcasts, use USB mode and tune 1.9 kHz low of frequencies.
e.g. 3855 kHz tune to 3853.1 kHz
Not all stations are 24 hour operation

Example weather fax picture transmitted from Offenbach - Germany

dwd






Text Weather Transmissions

Weather broadcast are transmitted by text in either RTTY or Sitor/Navtext format.



World-wide
NAVTEX

US Coastguard
using Sitor (NBDP)

German weather
service Hamburg

Greece weather
using Sitor (NBDP)

490 (488.5) kHz

6314 (6312.5) kHz

4583 (4581.5) kHz

8424 (8422.5) kHz

518 (516.5) kHz

8416.5 (8415.0) kHz

7646 (7644.5) kHz

4209.5 (4208.0) kHz

12376 (12374.5) kHz

10100.8 (10099.3) kHz

 

 

16806.5 (16805.0) kHz

 

 

International NAVTEX is transmitted on 518 kHz in English.
National NAVTEX is transmitted on 490 kHz in local language.
4209.5 kHz NAVTEX

Transmits from more than 1 location.
Speed = 75 Baud

RTTY
Speed = 50 Baud

Times 0930 & 2130 UTC
rest of time callsign SVO being sent in Morse code




Example of RTTY from Germany

Example of sitor from Greece


NOTE: Range is for guidance only and will depend on your operating conditions and HF radio propagation conditions.
When receiving RTTY or NAVTEX broadcasts, use USB mode and tune 1.5 kHz low of frequencies.




Aeronautical Weather Voice Broadcasts

Weather information is continuously being transmitted on Aeronautical HF frequencies by voice in English and gives the current weather conditions at airports around Europe.


VOLMET

Frequency, mode USB/J3E

Times

Shannon Volmet

3413 kHz
5505 kHz
8957 kHz
11306 kHz
13264 kHz

On the hour and half hour:-

0:00 Frankfurt, Brussels, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Bonn, Munich

0:05 London, Amsterdam, Manchester, Shannon, Prestwick

0:10 Copenhagen, Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki, Dublin

0:15 Madrid, Lisbon, Athens, Paris, Leon

0:20 Rome, Milan, Zurich, Geneva

Information and format of transmission for each airport includes:-

Station & Time recorded

Wind speed & direction

CAV OK = Visibility, weather and cloud good.

Visibility

Weather

Cloud height in feet.

Temperature & Due Point

QNH = Air pressure

NO SIG = No significant change.

RAF Volnet

5450 kHz, 11253 kHz

24 hours service

New York Radio

6604 kHz, 10051 kHz, 13270 kHz

24 hours service