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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. |
Weather updates. Reminds me of the Tanker sport during far-flung Trails with SAR protection. In addition to oceanic navigation, leading the formation, adjusting RAPS/NAPS, running the quiz, etc, it was always good to be able to provide the latest weather to the formation and the SAR team!;)
Honestly though, the SAR NIMROD was a great loss after they were deleted from virtually all Trails IMO.:uhoh: OAP |
Bit late getting to this one, but used to listen to Volmet on 5450KHz regularly years ago to get local pressure readings (Benson) for a rough check of instrument calibration. A rather formal male rp voice originally. Later replaced by a female voice and remember quite clearly the pronunciation of “Larnaca”, which must have been most uplifting to crews on cold stormy nights thousands of miles away from home :-). Anyway, reason for the post is that RAF Volmet used to be a model of clarity years ago,with words at a clear, measured pace. Now, totally expressionless computerised voice, at fast pace, often with words and phrases jumbled into each other, stops midflow, poor modulation quality etc, making it nearly unintelligable much of the time. Compare that with Shannon Volmet on 5505KHz, which is completely understandable, even when the s/n is poor. 5450 was just as sloppy a couple of years ago when I checked and it seems nothing has changed since. Doesn’t anyone at management level ever monitor this, or doesn’t anyone care any more ?... |
sadly syseng, probably both!
Unless something was specified in the contract re the voice, we will have got the cheapest option. |
Thank you Syseng!
"Compare that with Shannon Volmet on 5505KHz, which is completely understandable, even when the s/n is poor." SV :ok: |
Thanks :-)...
I guess those who are paid to verify that the system works as intended never have to listen at the end of a radio link. Radio receivers have to deal with a very wide range of signal levels and have automatic gain control (agc) built in. This prevents overload on large signal levels, while still providing enough sensitivity to hear signals not much greater than the noise floor. In practice, this means that the first syllable or word can sometimes clip / distort while the agc catches up, making that first syllable unintelligable. Shanon volmet get round that by repeating the first word twice eg: "Heathrow, met report, Heathrow", with pauses, so it's always clear what location the report refers to. Contrast that with RAF Volmet, where we often get an unintelligable mumbled / rattled off first word and no idea of what the following report refers to. Outward facing services often reflect the internal culture. If it looks sloppy, then it probably is. The people who use this service deserve better... |
Last went to one about 9 years ago, but the POC at Wycombe used to hold HF Service Working Groups 6 monthly covering both 'Tascom' and RAF Volmet.
II guess the usual,gapped post, posts joined together current person in post no longer understanding what he/she is signing for re the contract has happened. My guess (and it is a guess) is that current POC is an 'ABM' and if the TADs are fine, then 'we're golden'. |
Some years ago I sold a radio to a man who told me he had removed all the equipment from Defford where a HIRTA was still shown on the charts. Having reported this to NATS it appeared there was no process for noitifying the removal of such a hazard. In the end, they were looking at pictures of Google Earth to see what was there. West Mercia Police had taken over the site and didn't understand any of the questions relating to high power transmitters. Eventually the HIRTA disappeared.
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Just had a listen to RAF VOLMET on 11253 Khz USB, via a Wide Band WebSDR based in the Netherlands. It would seem the Station/Airfield ID's, announced via the Female Synthetic Voice, are the main problem (not all are readily intelligible) ... actual MET Data is otherwise good.
http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...pscijsnwct.jpg For those interested, here is the WebSDR URL. WebSDR QTH Netherlands Just punch in the desired frequency where indicated ... |
Oh dear,
The only way to work out the airfield is to work out its place in the sequence in the BINA That voice is strangely familiar: The Flight Ops Officer Do VT Merlin / VT BABCOCKS / Radio Op R us,employ out of work Ops Officers or just a cheep program? |
MILITARY ONE ex RAF VOLMET
I cannot read the timeslot 4, 3rd station, coming after Catania/Sigonella. It should be in the back of the No 1 AIDU EN-ROUTE SUPPLEMENT for British Isles & NORTH ATLANTIC. My copy is too old. Anyone care to look-up this?
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Souda Bay
Let me guess; she says "...ay at 1150" I do hope the (realitively) new software was cheep; but, I bet the geeks saw the MOD's "expert" coming. |
Well, TASCOMM (previously ARCHITECT) HF station is still manned; we still use it for HF phone patches and weathers.
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Nobody had a voice like Geneva Volmet. A few minutes listening to her on a night recovery to the U.K. used to lift the spirits and expectations on the way home.
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Didn't click re the OP's first line, the service isn't even using "RAF Volmet" as its callsign:-
https://soundcloud.com/thomas-woodro...0khz-mp3cutnet It all started to go downhill when the old automated voice, (the MD of the software company legend had it), used to announce proudly; " This is Royal Air Force Volmet.......Royal Air Force Volmet"; was replaced. |
A Colleague has just sent an email to the Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, about the clipped 5450 KHz St Ival transmission.
So we might see some progress made to improve this abysmal signal now. . |
I guess I will be using it for a while until the new 737max aircraft have the satellite ACARS and WIFI fitted.
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We have just had the reply from MoD ISS-Secretariat, following the email to Sir Michael Fallon. They got the Contracted Service, Babcock International, to test the transmission, and they report everything is Ok... 'The transmission is fully audible without interruption'.
So there we are... Its all Ok... Tuned it in again on 5450 kHz, and you guessed it... First word still clipped... '*****ster at time 1200.. etc'. Well we tried ! . |
Remember this when you vote. Fallon is a politician. Judge him by his actions. I have previously had an official reply from his office about Officer's LSGC that discounted the service of all Officers before 2014. :mad:
OAP |
Post GW1, a certain long-haul outfit whose owner had a beard decided that to save money, ACARS was not to be used for weather that could be obtained from the volmet. It was free!!
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NOBODY held a candle to Geneva Volmet in the 70s . . . she sounded absolutely gorgeous (may have looked like a dog, but what a voice).
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