Mobile phone coverage Northern Scotland and the Western Isles

Planet said:
Thanks for that Ian, that's pretty much what I am after plus getting my daily forcast would be handy. If this is not always possible can someone suggest how I can get the forcast daily. Many thanks
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When we were in Talmine last June, we couldn't get CG or Navtex but Vodafone (spit) let us ask a friend,
Keep options wide open; something will probably work. Don't dismiss the damp seaweed and other traditional techniques.
Derek
 
Thanks, I understand that but I am led to believe that the forcast on 16 is not always that accurate, I was thinking of maybe passage weather, xc weather and gribb files through my phone. I would say that getting an accurate forcast daily is one of the most important things for me. My boat is very low tech, charts, barometer, garmin gps 72 handheld that's about it.
 
Planet said:
Thanks, I understand that but I am led to believe that the forcast on 16 is not always that accurate, I was thinking of maybe passage weather, xc weather and gribb files through my phone. I would say that getting an accurate forcast daily is one of the most important things for me. My boat is very low tech, charts, barometer, garmin gps 72 handheld that's about it.
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Do you think "the forecast on 16" is specially degraded? You might be better sailing in your comfort zone. :rolleyes:
 
The only problem I have with the CG forecast is that, of necessity, it covers a broad area and cannot really describe local variations in detail.
 
As I've said in post #8 and #15, I've got quite lot of experience of sailing on the West Coast of Scotland (as have many others on the Forum) I started in 1971 and since I retired I spend most of the summer sailing.
My experience of the weather forcasts is that on the whole they are quite good, if you look at a few, and I use Met Office, XCweather, Magicseaweed, Franks-Weather (synoptic charts) and the CG forecast. They often have slight variations (as you expect) the Met Office and XCweather seem the best, but the Met Office needs a lot more bandwidth on a mobile phone than XCweather, and as a result it often won't load on my mobile in areas of poor mobile phone reception, whilst XCweather will. To get multiple forecast I normally look for WiFi and I use my laptop computer, rather than my mobile.
Magicseaweed and Franks Weather are good for getting a good overview and I use the swell forecast on MagicSeaweed to give me a good idea of how rough it will be.
The problem I find with the CG inshore forecast is that it is too general, Ardnamurchan to Cape Wrath is a big area to cover in just few lines of forecast, In contrast both XCweather and the Met Office will give a forecast based on the location. It can be raining and very wet in Fort William and sunny and windy around Coll, it hard for the CG forecast to reflect this in a very limited time slot.
I also find that the CG forecast is, in general, pessimistic. This probably because it goes to 12 miles offshore and covers such a large area, however, on occasions, especially when strong winds are forecast, it can be spot-on. So, having been caught out several times when I've said, "that's just the CG forecast, it'll probably come to nothing", I now make sure I have a good look at other forecast if the CG forecast strong winds.
As others have said, It's often much easier to get a good mobile signal at sea, than when anchored up a sheltered Loch, but I need the forecast to help to me decide if I should move or not.
It's clear that Mobile coverage over the West Coast is not as good a it should be. By comparison on a visit to Norway last year, 4G was available in most locations, even in steep sided fjords. Similarly. in Spain whilst walking in remote regions south of Granada in the Sierra Nevada (the foothills of Mulhacen) there was 3G readily available, even when there wasn't a house in sight. I was also fortunate enough to spend Christmas sail on the East Coast of New Zealand, Auckland to the Bay of Islands, and we had no real problems with mobile phone reception.
I hope this helps the the question set in the OP, in summary, accurate weather forecast can be hard to get on the West Coast of Scotland, you can't rely on getting a mobile signal and the CG forecast is in general pessimistic, if you are sailing relatively close to the shore, but be wary because it can be correct!
 
I agree with ian_edwards. I'd add that as well as being pessimistic, the Met Office Inshore Waters forecast is generally useless more than 24 hours ahead: the "following 24 hours" forecast at lunchtime on Monday is likely to be very different from the "what's about to happen" forecast at lunchtime on Tuesday.

The size of the areas can be mitigated slightly by averaging, so if you are around Ardnamurchan than somewhere in the middle of the "Mull of Kintyre to Ardnamurchan" and "Ardnamurchan to Cape Wrath" forecasts works OK. Similarly, Gigha seems to get the average of "Irish Sea" and "Mull of Kintyre to Ardnamurchan".

Sometimes all the forecasters get it completely wrong. I was one of more thana dozen yachts which took shelter in the canal basin at Crinan a universally agreed F8 with heavy rain ... what we got was a short shower in the evening and a brief spell of F4.

In general, I think that if you feel the need for constant, accurate weather forecasts, the West Coast of Scotland is probably not the place for you. If you're OK with intermittent guidance, self-reliance and applying whatever degree of caution you are happy with (it's high for me, as I sail with a small crew person) then it's fine.
 
When I first started sailing on the West Coast, the ONLY forecast available was the Shipping Forecast, so we've come on a long way from there. However, even sailing without any forecast, you can use your own feeling for the weather, and anyway, there are so many secure, sheltered anchorages available, that although it might become unpleasant for a wee while, shelter is never far away. (Unless you're out at St Kilda).
 
Beware, there are only a limited number of forecast models, and individual websites may use the same one, but buy it at different time intervals or different grid sizes. GFS is common and is often optimistic, particularly at longer time frames.... I think XC uses GFS
 
NormanS said:
When I first started sailing on the West Coast, the ONLY forecast available was the Shipping Forecast, so we've come on a long way from there. However, even sailing without any forecast, you can use your own feeling for the weather, and anyway, there are so many secure, sheltered anchorages available, that although it might become unpleasant for a wee while, shelter is never far away. (Unless you're out at St Kilda).
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I took shelter in Loch Moidart for a couple of days last summer. Pleasant enough place, even in continuous pelting rain and F6+, but there is no VHF reception there. Or broadcast radio. Or mobile phone. I imagine that other bolt holes can be similarly devoid of contact with civilisation.
 
JumbleDuck said:
I took shelter in Loch Moidart for a couple of days last summer. Pleasant enough place, even in continuous pelting rain and F6+, but there is no VHF reception there. Or broadcast radio. Or mobile phone. I imagine that other bolt holes can be similarly devoid of contact with civilisation.
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There's a spot in the middle of the N Loch where you get reasonable O2 signal, but little or no VHF. Once heard a Mayday from someone in dire straits in the main Loch, and tried a Mayday Relay. Nobody heard it, but I did (just) manage to get SY CG on the phone. Yes lots of the most sheltered places have no command.
 
NormanS said:
There's a spot in the middle of the N Loch where you get reasonable O2 signal, but little or no VHF. Once heard a Mayday from someone in dire straits in the main Loch, and tried a Mayday Relay. Nobody heard it, but I did (just) manage to get SY CG on the phone. Yes lots of the most sheltered places have no command.
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I was in the south loch. Thought of trying the north as well, but it was far too wild to stick my nervous wee nose outside for three days, after which I just wanted to escape, so over to Muck we went, for a horrible night in Gallanach Bay.
 
pagoda said:
If you can't get VHF reception (not unusual in some sea lochs) you could have Navtex collect the forecasts for you - without waiting up!
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Yes, Navtex is very useful. It even records the forecast for you, when you're away ashore up a hill. :D
Worth programming from both Portpatrick and Malin Head.
 
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