NAVTEX Weather Broadcasts

Background

NAVTEX, a component of the GMDSS,  is one of the recognised ways of providing MSI (Marine Safety Information) "from the fairway buoy to about 250 Nautical miles offshore".  The main characteristics of NAVTEX for this purpose are that  stations broadcast

1)   in English,
 

2)     in 10 minute slots in succession - alphabetical order within a METAREA.
 

3)   using  a common frequency of 518 kHz..

IMO  requires each NAVTEX station

 1)   to have a GUARANTEED range of 250 NM - most, however, achieve 400 NM with transmission power of 1 kW by day and 300 W by night.

2)   to provide forecasts  covering  that 250 nautical mile radius

Reception is intended to be automatic and the text readable in paper or soft copy, on-screen form.   Whilst at sea, this is one of the main methods of receiving weather forecasts. MCA guidance is that all pleasure and other small

craft sailing around the coast or going offshore should have NAVTEX.   Under the SOLAS convention, NAVTEX is compulsory on all vessels over 300 GRT and certain other, eg training vessels..

A useful layman's description of the NAVTEX system can be found at Martin Stubbs' site. 

An easily accessible and very useful list of NAVTEX stations that will meet most needs  is at the ICS site.  For an exhaustive list of all NAVTEX stations and schedules,  go to William Hepburn's site.  METAREAs  are shown on the  INMARSAT Coverage Map. Sea Area boundaries around western Europe are at  my page METAREAs I, II and III  or Martin Stubbs' site go to  his FAQ page.

NAVTEX Weather Broadcasts

Prior to 2000, NAVTEX did not meet the requirements of many small and slow moving craft.  In my personal opinion, cruising yachts require, as a minimum,  short period, reasonably detailed inshore forecasts, short period open sea forecasts and outlook forecasts for up to 5 day ahead.  At that time the UK NAVTEX provided only a 24 hour sea area forecast (basically the Radio 4 Shipping Forecast).

Since then,  NAVTEX weather broadcasts around the UK have improved in several ways.  --

• Valentia (SW Ireland),  Malin Head (NW Ireland) and Rögaland (Norway) each broadcast forecasts for parts of the UK  Shipping Forecast sea areas. This reducing the  size of the weather broadcast from the three UK NAVTEX stations (Niton, Portpatrick and Cullercoats).
• Each Shipping Forecast now has a brief 24 hour outlook.
• An outlook forecast for a further three days is broadcast once a day from Niton, Portpatrick and Cullercoats.
• The secondary NAVTEX frequency - 490 kHz - intended for local use such as broadcasts in the national language - has been used to broadcast Inshore Waters Forecasts plus a three day outlook.

Texts of NAVTEX messages

For NAVTEX messages received from various sites around the world, try http://www.frisnit.com/cgi-bin/navtex/view.cgi. The system obtains the information from a network of shortwave receivers and PCs running decoder software. Messages for the UK and Eastern Mediterranean are reliably available.  The messages are uploaded to the site automatically, as soon as

A better site for looking at western European NAVTEX transmissions is http://olivecottage.homeip.net/Navtex/Navtex.asp  This has some AIS information as well. Also see the DWD site that has texts of 490 transmissions as well.

Current Situation

Thames, Dover, Wight, Portland, Plymouth, Biscay, Sole, Lundy, Fastnet.

 Gibraltar Point to North Foreland,  North Foreland to Selsey Bill,  Selsey Bill to Lyme Regis,  Lyme Regis to Lands End including the Isles of Scilly,  Lands End to St Davids Head including the Bristol Channel

Humber, Tamise, Pas-de-Calais and Antifer

Lundy, Fastnet, Irish sea, Rockall, Malin, Hebrides, Bailey, Fair Isle, Faeroes and   S E Iceland

Lands End to St David's Head including the Bristol Channel,  St Davids Head to Great Ormes Head, including St Georges Channel.
 Great Ormes Head to the Mull of Galloway.
 Isle of Man,  Lough Foyle to Carlingford Lough,  The Mull of Galloway to Mull of Kintyre including the Firth of   Clyde and the North Channel,  Mull of Kintyre to  Ardnamurchan Point and  Shetland Isles.

 Viking, Forties, Cromarty, Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Humber, Thames, Fair Isle

Fair Isle, Viking, North Utsire, South Utsire, Forties, Cromarty,  Forth, Tyne, Dogger, Fisher, German Bight,  Humber, Thames, Dover,  and Wight.

Shetland Isles , Cape Wrath to Rattray Head including Orkney,  Rattray Head to Berwick on Tweed,  Berwick on Tweed to Whitby,  Whitby to Gibraltar Point,  Gibraltar Point to North Foreland,  North Foreland to Selsey Bill,

East Central section of METAREA I

North Utsire, South Utsire, Fisher and German Bight

Hamburg
(S)

518

4-hourly from 0300

Forecasts and warnings

German North Sea Areas

Hamburg
(L)

490

0550/2150

Warnings and  forecasts

German North Sea Areas

1350

Warnings

 Coasts of Belgium and those of Sea Areas Thames and Dover

Thames, Humber, German Bight, Dogger

.Greenland East Coast

Reykjavik
(R)

490

Every 4 hours from 0320

Storm warnings, synopsis and 24 hour forecast
In Icelandic

Icelandic Sea Areas 1-9

0830.1230/1630/2030

Hamburg
(S)

518

4-hourly from 0300

Forecasts and warnings

German North Sea Areas

Hamburg
(L)

490

0150/1750

Warnings and  forecasts

Baltic

0950

Warnings

.Sea Area Forecasts for next 24 hours
(In Portuguese)

.Charcot, Josephine, Finisterre, Porto, Sao Vincente and Cadiz

la Garde

(W)

518

Lion, Provence, Ligure, Elbe, Corse, Maddalena, Sardaigne, Minorque, Baléares, Est Cabrera

South  Adriatic, North Ionia, South Ionio, Patraikos, Korinthiakos, Kithira sea

For historical reasons the Black Sea stations do not conform with the normal alphabetical broadcasting sequence. This will be resolved in the fullness of time. 

NOTES

• Copies of charts showing the UK, French and Spanish sea areas can be found at the Météo-France le guide marine site.  Scroll down for each broadcast (NAVTEX, VHF, INMARSAT etc) to find a chart of the areas.  See also  Martin Stubbs'  FAQ and my  METAREAs I, II and III page.

 
• * Niton (K) on 518 kHz does not include any forecasts.

 
• ** Gran Sol is, effectively, a large area comprising Plymouth, Lundy, Fastnet and E Sole.

 
• *** Marsala is the mid-Atlantic area immediately south of Milne,  Same longitude co-ords as Milne and southern boundary  30 deg N.

 
• . Warnings will be broadcast as soon as possible and repeated every 4 hours

 

• Station Identification letters for 490 kHz transmissions differ from those for 518 kHz.

   
• Warning summaries will EITHER list  areas with a gale warning in force, list warnings by reference number OR say WARNINGS: NIL.

.
• Brief outlooks  will not exceed 30 words,  so will be brief and to the point. If no hazards are expected this is usually stated.

 
• Extended Outlooks  on UK NAVTEX broadcasts (only) cover the three days beyond the latest 24 hour outlook. So, for example, the outlook issued on the night of Monday/Tuesday  is for the period Wednesday, Thursday and Friday..

 
• Warnings on  490 kHz,  are only broadcast if there is a significant change to the Inshore Waters Forecast which could result in problems for small craft.

The Future

To see a sample forecast  Try the direct link.

NAVTEX Abbreviations