Marine MF/HF SSB Radio HF Antennas & Installation Which SSB?
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
Text Weather Transmissions
Weather broadcast are transmitted by text in either RTTY or Sitor/Navtext format.
-
World-wide
NAVTEXUS Coastguard
using Sitor (NBDP)German weather
service HamburgGreece 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 NAVTEXTransmits from more than 1 location.
Speed = 75 BaudRTTY
Speed = 50 BaudTimes 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 kHzOn 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