Where's northwood weatherfax gone?

michael_w said:
Winds are back!

http://www.cincfleetwoc.com/HF-Fax/North_Atlantic/NEATL_10M_WINDS_0000_T006.png
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If it is synoptic charts on-line that you want, there are several sources eg
http://weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weather/Latest-Uk-Forecast-Charts-5-Days 5 days on one page ~790KB or http://weather.mailasail.com/Franks-Weather/Latest-Uk-Forecast-Charts-5-Days-Reduced-Size 5 days on one page in reduced size ~260KB

I have never had much success in getting the charts like the one you reference from the CINCFLEET site. They seem to come and go. I did see an index page to all the RN (Met Office) charts but cannot find it now. Do you have a URL?

But, if you do have Internet access, then why not use zyGrib for whatever area, times, resolution, elements you want?
 
Northwood usually updates every 6 hours and are available 2 hours later. Dunno how often the Met Office updates. I do like having the human input rather than relying on pure GRIB files, especially when the models can't agree.

Sure Internet is fine for coastal and home use, but it isn't out there in the middle of the ocean, without vast expense. The URL I use for Northwood's stuff is:
http://www.cincfleetwoc.com/HF-Fax/North_Atlantic/matrix.html#matrixLatestZData
 
Hello GHA,

has the chart you are showing been received by fax?

Just asking because the "cincfleetwoc" link charts cover a different area with regards to the former Northwood ones (like the mailasail link). The "cincfleet.." more recent charts have cut out the western mediterranean, which is(was?) instead included in the "old" Northwood charts instead.

regards
r
 
Roberto said:
Hello GHA,

has the chart you are showing been received by fax?

Just asking because the "cincfleetwoc" link charts cover a different area with regards to the former Northwood ones (like the mailasail link). The "cincfleet.." more recent charts have cut out the western mediterranean, which is(was?) instead included in the "old" Northwood charts instead.

regards
r
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Yes, it was recieved on 8040Mhz the other day.

Rfax.pdf worldwide schedule says this about Northwood...

All MAPS 54°N.82°W 26°N.45°W 54°N.51°E 28°N.12°
 
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michael_w said:
Northwood usually updates every 6 hours and are available 2 hours later. Dunno how often the Met Office updates. I do like having the human input rather than relying on pure GRIB files, especially when the models can't agree.

Sure Internet is fine for coastal and home use, but it isn't out there in the middle of the ocean, without vast expense. The URL I use for Northwood's stuff is:
http://www.cincfleetwoc.com/HF-Fax/North_Atlantic/matrix.html#matrixLatestZData
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Thanks for the URL. I was being a little more dense than normal. I knew that I had seen that page.

Regarding what the RN produces, ifyou look at www.cincfleetwoc.com/matrix.html, you will see the Met Office logo. All the BW charts on the page you quote are NWP (ie GRIB) output. I am 99% sure thqt they are from the Met Office computer. They could just be US navy NAVGEM , the GFS, or from other NATO countries.

Northwood and Met Office surface synoptic charts are all produced as man-machine mix although, these days, I guess that there is more machine than man than when I last worked as a senior forecaster at Bracknell. The surface charts on the fax broadcast look like rather simplified versions of Met Office charts. I find the Met Office frontal charts to be over complex with multiple frontal structures. These may have value to Met Office forecasters but are of doubtful use to us amateurs.

At 6 hourly intervals, the Met Office issues synoptic charts fot T+0, T+24. Twice a day the issue T+36, T+48, T+60, T+72. Onve a day, T+84, T+96 and T+120.
 
I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to see if anyone knows whether Northwood is gone for good now.
I've just bought a SW radio with a view to getting Weatherfax but don't get a peep on the listed GYA frequencies.

I can hear what I think is WFx Hamburg, but it's quite noisy and my phone app just receives a black page. I don't think the isobars are that close together at the moment. But at least I do hear something warbling like a fax machine at the expected time, so I know the radio does work a bit, and I just need to tweak things until, hopefully, I can receive usable charts.

I'm in Hampshire using a short wire plug-in antenna indoors, so if I can hear Hamburg I'd expect to be able to hear something from North London. I can also hear the Volmet forecast from Shannon.

So perhaps GYA is finally gone altogether.

Which would make getting weatherfax in the East Atlantic rather problematic.
 
2618 is trundling away at the moment.

Inside there is quite a bit of interference so the image is poor - the shed is much better. Might try later.
 
Ah! Yes - I can hear 2618.
It's much more audible outside, but still rather noisy.
And the chart is all black. I need to do some tuning, apparently.

Perhaps I should start another thread "Weatherfax for dummies"
 
Are you using HF WeatheFax app? If so you should see the graph leap around a bit in time with the rhythm of the sound. There is also a black/white balance which you can adjust. Beyond that I don't think there are any other settings. Perhaps it is a microphone setting, or a permission thing?
 
lampshuk said:
I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to see if anyone knows whether Northwood is gone for good now.
I've just bought a SW radio with a view to getting Weatherfax but don't get a peep on the listed GYA frequencies.

I can hear what I think is WFx Hamburg, but it's quite noisy and my phone app just receives a black page. I don't think the isobars are that close together at the moment. But at least I do hear something warbling like a fax machine at the expected time, so I know the radio does work a bit, and I just need to tweak things until, hopefully, I can receive usable charts.

I'm in Hampshire using a short wire plug-in antenna indoors, so if I can hear Hamburg I'd expect to be able to hear something from North London. I can also hear the Volmet forecast from Shannon.

So perhaps GYA is finally gone altogether.

Which would make getting weatherfax in the East Atlantic rather problematic.
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Sorry to resurrect such an old thread. I was not sure if I should start a new SSB WEatherfax for Dummies thread
I have bought myself a Tecsun SSB radio so I can play with trying to get weatherfax whilst landlocked at home in London

I guess my first question is whether I should be able to receive anything from GYA? I have lots more questions, but that is a start

Thanks
 
tudorsailor said:
Sorry to resurrect such an old thread. I was not sure if I should start a new SSB WEatherfax for Dummies thread
I have bought myself a Tecsun SSB radio so I can play with trying to get weatherfax whilst landlocked at home in London

I guess my first question is whether I should be able to receive anything from GYA? I have lots more questions, but that is a start

Thanks
Click to expand...

Web sdr is a great resource to check what's actually out there from a good radio > websdr.org
First entry is a good one >> http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

Strong clear signal on 8040Mhz at the moment
CoM6e1n.png


You might struggle a bit in a city getting a decent signal, 20 feet or so of wire out a window as an antenna should help. 10.1Mhz also worth checking out, usually a decent RTTY text signalk coming from DWD.

12.350Mhz at 10pm BST in the webapp you might pickup some transatlantic boats at the moment as well.

Happy listening :cool:
 
OK so gone to the SDR that you suggested and found radiofax from Hamburg. Could you tell me if these are the settings that are correct for detecting fax? Are the volumes what you'd expect? What volume is the minimum on my Tecsun required to decode the Weatherfax?

SSB1.JPG
As I am in London, am I better finding a SDR that is nearer to me?

Sorry for newbie questions

TS
 
tudorsailor said:
OK so gone to the SDR that you suggested and found radiofax from Hamburg. Could you tell me if these are the settings that are correct for detecting fax? Are the volumes what you'd expect? What volume is the minimum on my Tecsun required to decode the Weatherfax?

View attachment 94088
As I am in London, am I better finding a SDR that is nearer to me?

Sorry for newbie questions

TS
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Can you also get. A signal from Northwood? FWOC Northwood radio-fax schedule for the North Atlantic and Mediterranean. A have no news about whether or not they still provide this service. Many thanks for any info on this. I think that GHA was suggesting thst in London reception might not be good with all the buildings etc.
 
Hi Frank
Using the SDR (Software Defined Radio) logged into the receiver in Holland, I got a signal on 8038.1 from GYA Northwood. I have recorded it and it does sound like a weatherfax. I do not know if all my settings are correct. The signal stopped at 7.58 utc but did not restart at 8.00 UTC as I expected it to

The SDR is found here http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/

This is the display of the waterfall that shows an output
NOrthwood GYA.JPG

Of course I have not picked this up on the radio at home in north London but its a start.

I decoded one of two messages successfully using Black Cat HF Weather Fax and obtained this:

sat weather.JPG



TudorSailor
 
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