Weatherman unreliable. Can I get the RTTY forecast on the net?

[beluga]

I've managed to get the NAVTEX forecasts on the internet but I just can't find the German RTTY forecast. More often than not we don't receive it on Weatherman so would like to have somebody land based check it for an Ionian crossing next week as it's such a useful forecast. I've had a look at the DWD website without luck. Not being able to speak German makes it tricky to navigate and I keep coming across pages saying 'this is not available in English'. Thanks ever so much

 

[trouville]

This lists Hamburg and others

http://www.rtty.com/rtty_list.htm

And this: http://www.franksingleton.clara.net/rtty.html

Wouldent it be great if there was a "scutelbut" net which would give forcasts via voice & data?

 

[beluga]

Thanks for that, but it's the actual text of the forecasts I'm looking for. Cheers

 

[trouville]

Thats possiable!I say possiable becouse i have a ibook which i havent got any working software for yet

Ill go & switch Hamburg on and see what i get

When do you want the forcasts?I can ask someone else still PC powered im sure he'll help

Then we i or we could post them hear?

 

[beluga]

Hello Trouville

That's ever so kind of you, but I would like to check them every day for the next few weeks. I have internet access so if I can find a website page where the forecasts are shown I will be fine. It doesn't matter if the actual forecast is in German by the way. Cheers.

 

[LadyJessie]

in the Ionian; if you have a VHF radio onboard it is usually a lot easier to just pick up the forecasts from the Italian and Greek Coast Guards than all this bother with ssb and the internet. Saves you a lot of cruising time. The Italian one is constantly transmitting on channel 68 for 24 hrs, for the Greek you have to check your pilot for the channels and times. Both are in local language first and then English.

Edit notes: you got me out of my comfy place to pull out my pilot so here goes: VHF channels for Greek vx in the Ionian are 27, 85 or 87. Vx times are 0600, 1000, 1600 and 2200 UTC. My experience is that they are very clear and reliable.

BTW: if your question really is "where is the best web source for weather forecasts; then answer is Windguru

 

[minquiers]

hi ian, mick here from silver fox, looks like you are on the move, have a nice trip, and the italian forecasts are very good and accurate by the way, in english also, bi bi for now and regards to you both

 

[ChrisE]

Can I suggest that you look at UGRIB? A free (yes, free...) service that downloads the latest NOAA forecasts to your PC. Google UGRIB and you'll find out how it works and where to download the free software to run it.

 

[trouville]

Not free for MAC swmbo Nr2 has just paid $129 for an inferior JFAX !We have a communications problem!(French woman are wonderful but)

Ive been looking for a replacement for my IBM X40 which sank last year,in June i think,they were costly around 400 euros on ebay or second hand from shops

SWMBO knew of my desperate situation.When she bought new laptops for her practice she had an "old" ibook revamped new HDD becouse of client data new OS rather than destroying it cost to her 800 euros!!!

Value of ibook 150 euros as sold to me WOMAN! Now im stuck with another mac thats a financial burden and cant be programed at any price!I cant resell it,no takers & it would hurt her if i dont use it.Now i have to use the old compaq for pactor jfax data etc and email with a shiny white apple

Woman are so thoughtful kind and.If only they listened i could have been half as costly tax deduction and with a realy useful PC!

For the boat buy a compaq or IBM (euros 80 to 120 or IBM 250 to 350)Dont use firefox its slow & blotted but very useful save for when needed and run Opera then it will never crash and be faster better than Linux or apple & far more useful

 

[HenryB]

You can see it (in German) here

http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/appmanager/bvbw/d...tml__nnn%3Dtrue

Hope the trip goes well,

 

[Eeyore]

Message on screen.........The resource /Sites/DWDWWW/BEA_Navigation/Spezielle_Nutzer/Schifffahrt/Seewetter was not found.

Ugrib and Windguru remain the best!

 

[HenryB]

Sorry about that - it seems that the DWD weather site is dynamic so you can't post the direct URL.

Get to the RTTY forecast this way

Go to http://www.dwd.de (the home page)

Click the heading Wetter + Warnungen

Click Seewetter in the panel on the left hand side

Click Seewetter aktuell on the left hand side

Click Seewetter Mittelmeer + Ostatlantik in the panel 2nd from left

Choose your forecast by clicking the title in the left hand panel - Seewetterbericht Ostteil for eastern med

Hopefully, that will give you it

 

[trouville]

What a great forum!I looked for that & couldent find it!!

Thanks from me too!!

You have to stay with Greman if you choose "English" it keeps saying sorry for no English abd dosent offer the same menu!

 

[beluga]

Thank you so much HenryB! That's exactly what I was looking for, I knew it had to be there, but I just couldn't navigate the site. Thanks everybody.

 

[Anonymous]

Sadly you haven't got what you asked for /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I want the same and have been through the same exercise. What you have found is the three day forecast, not the five day RTTY one. I do have the static urls for the 3 day forecasts which is more useful to you as you can use saildocs.

http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/generator/lang_de...__strecke__node,templateId=renderPrint.html

http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/generator/lang_de...24__MM__w__node,templateId=renderPrint.html

http://www.dwd.de/bvbw/generator/lang_de...24__MM__o__node,templateId=renderPrint.html

<span style="color:red"> Those urls work but you will have to copy and paste as the ybw board does not recognise them </span>

I wrote to Frank Singleton about this some weeks ago, after it became apparent that both the Germans and Spanish had changed their urls making it hard for those of us who use sailmail/winlink etc. via saildocs. We finally got that sorted out but beware those of you expecting last year's links to work - they won't.

Frank wrote to a contact at DWD to ask about the RTTY availability on the internet but I haven't heard back. I've written to him to see if we have had a reply and will report back.

 

[LadyJessie]

Just use Wind Guru instead. Much better and a lot easier to use, IMHO.

 

[Anonymous]

[ QUOTE ]
Just use Wind Guru instead. Much better and a lot easier to use, IMHO.

[/ QUOTE ]I think you'll find that Wind Guru, like many of the other online services, issues 'forecasts' which are simply output from the Global Forecasting System (GFS) without any forecaster input. There are many other ways to get GFS data, the simplest of which is the 'grib files' (a misnomer, really, as 'grib' is to 'weather forecasts' as 'pdf' is to 'any document'). Other sources of GFS data include www.buoyweather.com and www.grib.us.

The German weather service, DWD www.dwd.de issues forecasts prepared by forecasters who, of course, use the GFS model along with much other data - and experience. Note, for marine weather you have to use the DWD website in German, not English. Select German and then look for 'seewetter'.

For myself, I always get at least one source of GFS, the 3 day weather from DWD and the local forecast (France, Spain, or wherever). Having gone to all that trouble you'd think that I get better forecasts. I'm not sure that I do but I do feel that I have done everything that I reasonably can to avoid inappropriate weather.

Frank Singleton covers all of this in great detail on his excellent website at:-

http://www.franksingleton.clara.net/

It is certainly a lot easier not to bother. At the end of the day, that's your choice. I know plenty of people who use nothing but GFS forecasts in one form or another and swear by them. I don't, and the OP clearly doesn't, either.

 

[LadyJessie]

[ QUOTE ]
I think you'll find that Wind Guru, like many of the other online services, issues 'forecasts' which are simply output from the Global Forecasting System (GFS) without any forecaster input.

[/ QUOTE ]I do know that windguru is a 'computer generated' forecast service, without the interference of any human 'forecaster' hand. However, I have found that it is surprisingly accurate. Maybe a nod to all those supercomputers and their programmers who have worked on these models. They seem to have got it right and are performing better than the 'forecaster'. One test of this is the Greek wx VHF forecast that is supposed to be done by 'forecasters' but is in reality so close to the GFS forecast as to be normally identical. Computers rule nowadays in this field! Good 'forecasters' spend their time giving input to the computer models, not doing daily forecasts.

 

[2nd_apprentice]

We're talking about this?

 

[Anonymous]

There isn't a single weather forecaster anywhere in the world who would agree with that. All weather forecasters look at the models but no forecasters rely on them. A fully automated weather forecasting system is the 'holy grail' of forecasting and we are a long, long, way from that.

Have a look at Frank Singleton's site or speak to him about it. There isn't much he doesn't know about weather forecasting for yachtsmen.

By the way, one other downside to using Wind Guru is that you need internet web browsing ability. Many of us use MF/HF radios with saildocs (a service run by Sailmail but available free to all) to access weather. I send an email to saildocs calling for a particular page and it comes back (text only) in seconds or minutes. This way I can get the full local forecasts, Germany and the GFS data in GRIB form (or text form). Using buoyweather, I can also access other weather models - e.g. the Mediterranean-specific one.

So, to say that Wind Guru is 'easier' is wrong if you don't have internet access. Without browser access you cannot access Wind Guru at all.

The advantage over listening for the forecast is that it arrives in text form (so you can translate it easily and don't struggle to hear it) and can obtain it 24 hours a day at sea or in harbour. The same kit and techniques are good for ocean crossings and weather anywhere in the world.