AmateurRadio.com

Weather out over oceans?  That, and more.

More than international broadcast stations and amateur radio operators exist on the shortwave radio spectrum.  For instance, any non-broadcast signal that is not amateur radio is often lumped together into a category known as Utility Radio, abbreviated, UTE.  To dig deeper into UTE activity, you could check out the UDXF – the Utility DX Forum, located here:  https://www.udxf.nl/

Utility stations (UTE) are quite common, from marine (ships, fishing vessels, etc.), transoceanic air traffic (international passenger or cargo jets and other aeronautical trans-oceanic radio traffic), to military radio (weather, coordination, and much more).  UTE is a rich subdomain of the radio experience.

As an amateur radio operator, I listen to and monitor utility stations on shortwave, at times when not operating as an amateur radio station.  I check weather for air traffic or for marine traffic, because it helps me see the larger-scale weather patterns.

One of the captured weather images via shortwave radio.

Here is a video I made of my reception of weather charts via shortwave radio from radio station NMC, at Point Reyes, CA, using FLdigi software to receive these weather fax transmissions:

WEFAX 22.527 MHz on 2024 JUNE 14

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N66y9HFX_Q[/embedyt]

This video is a screen and sound capture of my reception of weather charts and images by shortwave radio, from a station in California running about 4 kilowatts of RF power. This HF WEFAX (Weather Facsimile) service is on every day for ship (marine) weather dissemination so that ships out on the ocean can get weather charts and images not by satellite, but by receiving shortwave signals.

Below is a snippet from the published schedule from Point Reyes WEFAX Radio, callsign NMC, as follows:

22527 kHz – tune offset 1.9 kHz (see note, below)

UTC   WHICH CHART
----- --------------------------------
19:13 TROPICAL GOES IR SATELLITE IMAGE
19:23 WIND / WAVE ANALYSIS
19:33 96HR SURFACE FORECAST
19:43 96HR WIND/WAVE FORECAST
19:53 96HR 500MB FORECAST
20:03 96HR WAVE PERIOD / DIRECTION
-------------------------------------

The above snippet of the NMC chart transmission list is from the page, “NMC Point Reyes, Marine Radiofax Broadcast Schedule” found at:
https://weatherfax.com/nmc-point-reyes/

One of the captured weather images via shortwave radio.

Here is a detailed description of the weather charts, and online access is at:
https://www.weather.gov/marine/radiofax_charts

Note: In the video, you see that I am tuned to 22.526 USB thus I was tuned to 22526 kHz USB, based on this: “Unless otherwise stated, assigned frequencies are shown, for carrier frequency subtract 1.9 kHz. Typically dedicated radiofax receivers use assigned frequencies, while receivers or transceivers, connected to external recorders or PC’s, are operated in the upper sideband (USB) mode using carrier frequencies.”

==================================
Source:

WORLDWIDE MARINE RADIOFACSIMILE
BROADCAST SCHEDULES
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
NATIONAL OCEANIC and ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
April 12, 2024

https://www.weather.gov/media/marine/rfax.pdf

Here is video footage of the journey to Antarctic Bouvet Island, made by the 3Y0Z amateur ham radio team. This footage caught a few moments on the deck of M/V Betanzos.

As you can see in the last moments of this footage, the weather conditions contributed to the decision to abort the DXpedition, as it was far too dangerous to continue this expedition.

As reported by ARRL:

“Our captain has decided that it is in the best interest of safety and expediency to proceed directly to Capetown, South Africa, rather than Punta Arenas, Chile. We are now heading north to avoid the possibility of encountering ice. Currently, there is no ice in sight or on radar. In due time, we will head easterly toward Capetown. Our entire team is safe. Most are resting in their bunks and in good spirits. We will keep the amateur radio community and our families informed, as we continue our journey.”

In a huge disappointment for the DX community and the members of the 3Y0Z Bouvet Island team, the DXpedition’s leaders announced at 2000 UTC today (February 3) that a decision had been made to abort the DXpedition and head back to Chile.

“During the last 72 hours, we continued to experience the high winds, low clouds, fog and rough seas that have prevented helicopter operations since our arrival at Bouvet,” said an announcement on the 3Y0Z Bouvet Island website. “No improvement was predicted in the weather forecast for the next 4 days. Then, last night, an issue developed in one of the ship’s engines. This morning, the captain of the vessel declared it unsafe to continue with our project and aborted the DXpedition. We are now on our long voyage back to Punta Arenas. As you might imagine, the team is deeply disappointed, but safe. There is already talk about rescheduling the DXpedition.”

Bouvet Island currently is the third most-wanted DXCC entity, behind Kosovo and North Korea. The 3Y0Z DXpedition, comprised of top operators with considerable DXpedition experience, has been in the planning stages for 2 years and had attracted contributions from clubs and individuals around the world.

A dependency of Norway, Bouvet is a subantarctic island in the South Atlantic. The last Bouvet activation was 3Y0E, during a scientific expedition over the winter of 2007-2008.

Video Author: Nodir Tursun Zade, EY8MM

This copy is used BY PERMISSION from EY8MM, given in writing on 23 February 2018