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RAF Volmet on 5450Khz
Or "Military One Time Slot X Information Broadcast" Do any of you chaps use this facility? I ask only because many Radio Hams use it as a 5Mhz propagation Beacon. It sometimes becomes corrupted,truncated or distorted and only seems to get repaired after a Radio Ham connected to the "trade" gets word to the owners...! :confused:
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yep, used globally depending on the time of day. the other freq. is 11.253 Mhz. A more reliable propagation beacon would be the 2.5,5,10, 15 and 20 MHz international clock you can make out. Series of pips... Long tone starts on the minute.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWV_%28radio_station%29 All hopefully to be replaced by more modern weather gathering methods over the next few years... Nothing worse than HF when there are better and cheaper alternatives! |
Many years since I last heard it - but not as many as the years I spent listening to it every hour when airborne (until we finally got the actuals as well as the TAFs on the broadcast). Funny how HF propogation meant we could hear it fine half a world away when it had no relevance and yet unreadable in our own backyard :p Plus, always loved how the timeslot meant the one station you were listening for undoubtedly got cut-off on the repeat (which you needed due to it being garbled on the first run through). :}
Surprised it is still going actually, suspect the AT world use other means for met these days? |
Yes, all our a/c have ACARS these days but many of us listen out on VOLMET occasionally for old times sake.
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SP, maybe no human intervention? Someone, somewhere is paid to keep "that radio" running but doesn't ask why.
A few years ago the Leuchars NDB on 252 kHz was getting interference from Radio Atlantic. I reported the interference. The initial response was "what NDB", then they discovered it was from days of the Hunter fighter. For decades it had been pumping out a high power for 150 miles range. Turned out the frequency bands had been reallocated and it had been illegal for years. It was replaced with a low powered 15 Miles range one on a different freq. Same with the Leuchars Eureka beacon on long after Rebecca was obsolete. Perhaps no one dare tell the Scottish Group Captain. |
Funny how HF propogation meant we could hear it fine half a world away when it had no relevance and yet unreadable in our own backyard |
It sometimes becomes corrupted,truncated or distorted and only seems to get repaired after a Radio Ham connected to the "trade" gets word to the owners...! |
RAF Volmet on 5450Khz
I still use it when trucking routes, the C130J doesn't have fancy data link stuff so please don't turn it off!
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Spot on, CS. It's part of DHFCS.
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When it was just one loop of weathers, you always pressed the intercom button in to get the weather to hear 'Manchester, at ....' - the one right after Lyneham!!!!
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I'd love to be able to listen in, can you pick these up on a SW radio in the UK?
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The initial response was "what NDB", then they discovered it was from days of the Hunter fighter. (Actually there were Hunter T7s as well, but the ADF fit in those was limited to the aircraft on FGA9 & FR10 units) |
Ty Ken, Hunters was a guess but it was there in the 60s.
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ahwalk01. The transmissions are USB and are easily heard with a radio with LSB/USB facility. :cool:
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Originally Posted by DCThumb
(Post 8904416)
When it was just one loop of weathers, you always pressed the intercom button in to get the weather to hear 'Manchester, at ....' - the one right after Lyneham!!!!
It was assumed that you either wanted a group, so Brize and Lyneham were together, or perhaps split them far apart so you weren't scribbling Kinloss, Leuchars and then Lossie one after the other? "Manchester ....." and you had no idea what was next. |
Ahwalk01 wrote
I'd love to be able to listen in, can you pick these up on a SW radio in the UK? Sometimes the server for the receiver is too busy. http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ Some recordings from 2013. Sounds like they have updated the auto voice in recent years? |
Ha, 150 miles! The BBC have been providing ADF homing for 1000's of miles!:ok:
OAP |
VinRouge said:
"yep, used globally depending on the time of day. the other freq. is 11.253 Mhz. A more reliable propagation beacon would be the 2.5,5,10, 15 and 20 MHz international clock you can make out. Series of pips... Long tone starts on the minute" (How does the Quote box work?:confused:) Spot on but volmet is perfect for estimating Propo around UK, i.e. if stations sound a bit weak tuning into Volmet will confirm that it is just conditions rather than a TX fault. like now with Sunspots, Solar Flares going off etc:) |
It was sometimes a reassuring voice to listen to when sat in a dark tube at xxx ft above the oggin and xxx nm from anywhere while not talking to anyone. Once every 30 mins was sometimes more frequent than any updates from the wet team (just kidding wetties :p)! Once the Hercs are pensioned off - will it get turned off then I wonder? Assuming the DHFCS contract wasn't written to keep it going forever..
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Sandy Parts wrote ... Assuming the DHFCS contract wasn't written to keep it going forever..
The VT Merlin Communications £220m contract (signed in 2003) with the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the Defence High Frequency Communications Service (DHFCS), which will see VT Merlin deliver beyond line of sight high frequency (HF) communication services to the three armed services and other authorised users. As part of the 15 year contract VT Merlin has taken over the operation, maintenance and support of current HF defence communications facilities in the UK and overseas. In addition to assuming responsibility for the continued operation of this service, VT Merlin will enhance capability, quality and reliability through the rollout of new technology, which will be introduced progressively by 2008. The new service was required to enhance the quality and effectiveness of strategic communications, generating savings for the MoD over the existing systems, and will lead to the redeployment of more than 250 military personnel to other, higher priority duties. |
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