Navtex questions

paulsmith

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I posted these last week but got no answers so here we go again.
My NAVTEX is tuned to national 490Hz. The two areas I require are covered by Niton (I) and Portpatrick (C) I get the info but not at the Scheduled times. ie not 20 past the hour but on the hour for Niton and at random times from Portpatrick. the other puzzle is why although the correct station ident is displayed before the message it says 'from met office Aberdeen'
Any thoughts?
Paul
 

johnwest

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Since the demise of the Met Office in Bracknel all the marine weather
forecasts are promulgated at the Aberdeen office, hence the heading,
and possibly why the 3 day forecast seems to focus more on northern
waters.
As to the descrepancy in the timing of the transmission, perhaps the
Coastguard dont turn their sand glasses at the right moment?
 

Oldhand

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I'm sorry my answer time stamped 00:03, 24 March 2005 is considered "no answer". /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I'll try and do better next time and by the way 2 other people also answered. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 

paulsmith

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Sorry Oldhand I wasn't dismissing the answers received to the last post .it's just that they didn't answer the two questions I 're-asked'and I'm still a bit confused as two replies relating to Niton contradict each other. ie does it come from Aberdeen or Falmouth or Niton. I have since been told that Niton is at Ifracombe in North Devon I thought it was on the Isle of White.
 

paulsmith

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Old hand, I have just been back again to the original post and read your comprehensive answer, I don't know how I missed It. thanks and sorry again!
Paul
 

Oldhand

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That's OK, one can be overwhelmed with input on these forums and a dreadful number of thread responses totally wander away from the question asked which makes one lose interest.

Niton is both a village just east of St Catherines Point on the Isle of Wight and was also the location of a BT run ship to shore radio communications centre before they were all closed down. However, it is now the location of the Navtex transmitter that covers all of the English Channel but it is just that, a remotely controlled transmitter. I believe the transmission content is prepared by the primary area MRSC, which is Falmouth.

Transmission times are supposed to be tightly controlled. Each station in an area which could conceivably be received by any one receiving station, i.e. Corsen, Niton and Ostend, are allocated a 10 minute slot following on consecutively from each other. Overruns of the 10 minute slot do sometimes occur when there are many and/or long navigation and/or severe weather warnings. It is thus possible for at least the first message from a station to be missed if the overrunning station's reception is stronger at a particular location. The message preparation authority, i.e. Falmouth MSRC for Niton, should do a "dry run" to time the length of transmission if it is likely to be close to the 10 minute slot duration and should edit the content if the length is over 10 minutes. Perhaps they don't always have the time to do this.
 
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