About this page
A listing of European marine forecast schedules on VHF.
Related pages
- SOLAS and the GMDSS - how they apply to leisure sailors
- European NAVTEX weather broadcasts
- Radio Fax Schedules, Northwood, DWD and Worldwide
- Radioteletype
MSI Weather broadcasts.
Officially, the primary method of broadcasting Marine Safety Information (MSI) is NAVTEX which can provide coverage up to around 400 nautical miles out to sea although this depends on many reception issues. This service is complemented by radio telephony with networks of remote radio sites around coasts providing VHF and MF coverage out to 30 miles and 150 miles respectively. For much of the time, leisure sailors are withing VHF range with the main exceptions being short sea passages.
The de facto positions is that VHF is the main source for vessels at sea. VHF schedules are available in hard copy in publications such as:
- The Admiralty List of Radio Signals - most complete but expensive and bulky.
- Almanacs such as the Reeds, the CA (Imray), Le Le Livre de Bord (le bloc).
- Pilot books.
These are always likely to be out of date. More reliable should be official publications online:
- HM Coastguard Weather Forecast schedules. UK Waters.
- Le Guide marine de Météo France France and the Channel Islands.
- Irish Coastguard web site
- Oostende Radio Belgium.
- German Maritime agency Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland. Wetter und Warnfunk, in German but easy to read, Google translate may help.
- Dutch Coastguard Netherlands.
- Radio Stockholm VHF Kartan Norway and the Baltic. In Swedish but largely graphical.
- Turku Radio Finland.
- Salvamento Maritimo.. Spain. In Spanish but easy to use.
- WMO - Information for Shipping