Coastguard Voice

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NormanS

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Stornoway CG are introducing the MSI broadcast on Channel 16, with what I take to be a recording of a computer generated voice. It's 'orrible! Having said that, I hope it is indeed a computer voice. I wouldn't like to think that someone is really saddled with such a voice. The actual forecast etc is read by a human. If the introduction has to be pre-recorded, can we please have the voice of a human.

Is this peculiar to Stornoway, or are other CG Stations using the same voice?
 
As of last weekend Belfast appeared to be still using humans.

Of course, it could just be somebody in Stornoway with a cold. I believe it can get a bit wet and draughty up there. Or maybe they'd used a drop too much whisky the night before to ward off the cold.
 
A couple of days ago they had the pre forecast announcement in the most alluring female voice I’ve ever heard on VHF. Disappointingly the actual forecast was some bloke..

In the summer someone read out the Storny-bag forecast in the style of the old football results you used to get on the radio - that had us in stitches.
 
wully1 said:
A couple of days ago they had the pre forecast announcement in the most alluring female voice I’ve ever heard on VHF.
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Glad to hear that lady is still there. I spent a month and a half on the west coast in 2013 and regularly heard her. As you say one of the most beautiful female voices ever on the radio. It would be an utter shame to have her replaced by a synthetic voice.
 
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I caught the announcement on Sunday down near Rothesay Sound (a bit out of Stornaway's territory). The best way I can describe it is like the lassie Ryanair use for their pre-records... a kind of posh Dublin D4 accent that's been programmed into a computer. Rips ma knittin'...

Would it really take that much for the human that's going to read the actual forecast to do the announcement?
 
NormanS said:
Stornoway CG are introducing the MSI broadcast on Channel 16, with what I take to be a recording of a computer generated voice. It's 'orrible! Having said that, I hope it is indeed a computer voice. I wouldn't like to think that someone is really saddled with such a voice. The actual forecast etc is read by a human. If the introduction has to be pre-recorded, can we please have the voice of a human.

Is this peculiar to Stornoway, or are other CG Stations using the same voice?
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As part of the grand destruction of the service - sorry, modernisation - they are moving to prerecorded and automated announcements in the same way that air traffic do for met conditions.

It's easier to build the business case for sacking more people and closing more stations when you don't give people anything to do.

Quality of service has long since been abandoned as being a measure of effectiveness.
 
My understanding was the msi announcement has actually been pre recorded for a wee while.

Not sure why the notice on 16 can't be pre recorded once!

The counter argument to ChannelYacht is by joining up stations you can make sure someone is available to prerecord announcements etc so they can happen on time even if the CG guys locally are busy
 
ShinyShoe said:
My understanding was the msi announcement has actually been pre recorded for a wee while.

Not sure why the notice on 16 can't be pre recorded once!

The counter argument to ChannelYacht is by joining up stations you can make sure someone is available to prerecord announcements etc so they can happen on time even if the CG guys locally are busy
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Don't fall for the MCA myth that stations weren't joined up before - they were.

For example, when I was at Milford I could access any of Holyhead, Swansea or Falmouth's aerials.

MSIs were pre recorded a long time ago, because they were broadcast on a dedicated channel that was not an issue. The problem with prerecords on Ch16 is you can end up blocking an incoming call.
 
chanelyacht said:
Don't fall for the MCA myth that stations weren't joined up before - they were.

For example, when I was at Milford I could access any of Holyhead, Swansea or Falmouth's aerials.
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Yes but would you have either done their MSI because they were busy or done some other work for them because they needed to do their MSI? And you couldn't have done Stornoway's...
MSIs were pre recorded a long time ago, because they were broadcast on a dedicated channel that was not an issue. The problem with prerecords on Ch16 is you can end up blocking an incoming call.
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Daft question - once you start transmitting the announcement on 16, you wont know if someone else is calling in. Pre-recorded or manually spoken the result will be the same.

I agree you can't have the announcement on 16 automated in case there is casualty working going on that gets over-spoken.

Are the MSI's played automatically at the "right times" on the MSI channels?
 
ShinyShoe said:
Yes but would you have either done their MSI because they were busy or done some other work for them because they needed to do their MSI? And you couldn't have done Stornoway's...
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Yes. Each paired station used to do each other's MSI on a week about basis - why you'd always here the Ch16 announcement as "Falmouth and Brixham Coastguard" or "Milford and Swansea Coastguard".

We frequently used to pick up other stations MSI, routine phone and VHF during incidents - for example, if Solent were working a job at Brighton, we (Portland) would pick up their Selsey, Lee, Needles and Ventor sites to handle the routine traffic. If I was casualty working in Poole, I'd kick my Portland and Beer Head aerials over to Brixham.

ViSion, the incident system, allowed me to log into flank station's incidents and details to run remotely, this was regularly practiced in case of building evacuations, etc.

ICCS did actually allow me to dial into anyone's sites, so I could have done Aberdeen or Shetland's MSI if needed - although obviously their flank stations would have been their first call.

The system simply was not as disjointed as the false business case for FCG presented it - but what you did need was people at the flank stations, whereas the FCG plan was (and I have no reason to think this has changed) just three centres - Aberdeen, NMOC and Dover.

Daft question - once you start transmitting the announcement on 16, you wont know if someone else is calling in. Pre-recorded or manually spoken the result will be the same.

I agree you can't have the announcement on 16 automated in case there is casualty working going on that gets over-spoken.
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The last point is the risk - although if reading a long announcement on 16, we used to break at various points so the 16 desk could listen for background - done quickly off the foot PTT, but it worked.

Are the MSI's played automatically at the "right times" on the MSI channels?
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They used to be started manually by hitting the button after the Ch16 announcement - so you could delay if you needed the MSI channel for SAR working. I believe the current system is a timed automatic broadcast, but I'll check.
 
mm42 said:
I know exactly which Stornaway CG you mean, she sounds gorgeous.
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I believe that you are mistaken. There was a lady on the radio who did make me wonder what she looked like.

The recorded voice is more so obviously synthesised it's unreal. Some of the message is so run together and garbled it took me several times to decipher what she was trying to say.

After being told by Belfast to call back later as they were busy I considered calling Clyde, or Oban but it's not the blokes at Belfast's fault.
 
aquaplane said:
I believe that you are mistaken. There was a lady on the radio who did make me wonder what she looked like.

The recorded voice is more so obviously synthesised it's unreal. Some of the message is so run together and garbled it took me several times to decipher what she was trying to say.

After being told by Belfast to call back later as they were busy I considered calling Clyde, or Oban but it's not the blokes at Belfast's fault.
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If you want to call Clyde or Oban, you'd be better off with a ouija board not a VHF!
 
aquaplane said:
I believe that you are mistaken. There was a lady on the radio who did make me wonder what she looked like.

The recorded voice is more so obviously synthesised it's unreal. Some of the message is so run together and garbled it took me several times to decipher what she was trying to say.

After being told by Belfast to call back later as they were busy I considered calling Clyde, or Oban but it's not the blokes at Belfast's fault.
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I'm glad that someone else has heard "That Voice". It started sometime during the Summer, then it was humans for a while, but now it's back to the computer voice. Ugh!

It's a long time since Clyde CG closed, and even longer for Oban.
 
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