Coastguard Weather Forecast Reception

Y

Yorkshire Exile

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I am having very litle success receiving any of these scheduled forecasts. I am based on the Orwell and the latest failure was last weekend whilst anchored on the Walton Backwaters last weekend. I was expecting to hear the Walton broadcast. The boat and the radio (a Lowrance DSC) are new to me. I am receiving traffic from other boats, coastguard, VTS and I can transmit. I do hear, with very poor reception, the inital announcement on channel 16. But when I switch to the designated channel (63 or 64) there is nothing.

Any ideas what the problem might be? Aerial? Radio DSC setup? Or does nobody in the area receive these broadcasts?!!!

Incidently if I had heard the forecast last Sunday night in the WBW I would have had a sleepless night as Monday's exit from Walton was challenging.

If this proves to be technical in nature i will re-post on the PBO section.

Ta
 
Just to say I concur with your issue. We were up in Walton Backwaters last weekend, from Bradwell and twice heard the channel 16 announcement and switched to 64. Heard absolutely nothing. This was also the case last season, so I suspect it is a systemic problem with whoever is supposed to be imparting the information on ch 64.
 
As the RYA East rep on the RYA national Coastal Navigation Panel I have been mentioning these problems at Panel meetings.

If anyone is having problems receiving these forecasts it should be reported to the RYA with the following form:-

http://www.rya.org.uk/weathertides/Pages/msi-vhf-feedback.aspx

They are keeping an eye on this and will raise it with MCA but they must have hard evidence including time, day, location and channels.
 
Andy & Tim thanks for your replies. Tim - re the RYA connection, is this a nationwide issue? Can you say what problems are generally being experienced? I'm still unsure whether this is a problem with my equipment or something over which I have no control.
 
Thanks to everyone. I wonder what is the point of this service. Last year I was sailing inland in Holland for two weeks. Their broadcasts were very clear, detailed, punctual and in Dutch and English. Makes me proud to be British.
 
Larry and Tim - I have reported this to the RYA via the helpful link. I am still however annoyed that a committment to deliver a service is apparently not being fulfilled!
 
Interestingly I was out on the boat yesterday for the first time since launch, and both the 1310 and 1610 forecasts were bang on time and clear on 64... The only problem is that they were giving out Friday and Saturday range info...
 
I have been noticing poor reception too. The coastguard transmissions used to be clear as a bell but they seem really quite weak and crackly now. I swapped out my set at the start of May and wondered if it was down to that, but as other transmissions come in clear, I thought again, so it’s good to know it’s not just me... in a way. Reception is poor in Shotley, Burnham, and points in between.
 
I'm sure that all this is caused by the wrong aerials being used. You'd think there would be some automation involved but I suspect not, and the CG playing the recorded broadcast has to select the correct aerials.
 
Cantata said:
I'm sure that all this is caused by the wrong aerials being used. You'd think there would be some automation involved but I suspect not, and the CG playing the recorded broadcast has to select the correct aerials.
Click to expand...

enroute Dover from Harwich recently Ch 16 announcement was barely audible Walton and Bawdsey aerial reception was poor with background crackle whilst normal comms from CG on 16 and 67 were fine.


Spoke to CG on arrival at Dover by phone was told Ch 16 announcement was automated and that the implication was that the actual broadcast was recorded which explains why the forecast sometimes starts halfway through don't think its wrong aerials but simply quality of recording equipment
 
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