Volmets

[Danny]

Anyone else come to the conclusion that the German authorities have taken a retrograde step with regards to Frankfurt Volmet? In its previous incarnation it was always a pleasure to tune in and get the required metars in an extremely clear and precise fashion. Then someone comes along and flogs them a new system that is only just about as bad as the one the mafia flogged the Italians.

Who are the decision makers that decide on the acceptance of something that is so obviously worse than the original system that they are allowed to waste such lare amounts of money? First we get rid of Concorde and next we have the Germans replacing a perfectly good Volmet with a computerised voice that sounds like a strangled cat and is almost as frustratingly slow as the Mickey Mouse Italian system.

Give us a break... please!

PS. CAA, please take note... don't try and change the UK Volmet with one of those voice replacement systems. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[Notso Fantastic]

The departures/arrivals announcement voice in Spain is a very good male computerised voice. I only realised it from thinking how clever of the same chap to go running around all over Spain making these announcements. What gave him away was the way he pronounces 'Palma de MaJorca' in a way the Spanish would never say it. Is it typed in? If so, why don't they type MaYorka?

(Bring back that bird on Geneva Volmet. Always woke us up first thing after flogging across the Sahara.)

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

It is a shockingly retorgrade step. Very very slow and laboured.

I think Volmets should have national accents.

Cheers

WWW

[CrashDive]

Without doubt some of the Italian Volmet’s purgatory to listen to, i.e. terribly slow; That the Germans have seemingly gone down the same route just beggars belief.

Of course at the other extreme you've got the Balkan states ( to say nothing of Athens ) who use plain voice recordings but wherein they seem to take some sort of delight in speaking as fast as possible...... and, furthermore, the airports they report are often not as per the published order.

Now remind me again what we pay for EuroControl charges ?!

[fireflybob]

Perhaps we could get our own back at them by talking on the RT at the same rate and timbre as the VOLMET broadcasts!

I agree, Danny, why on earth did they need to change it?

[CR2]

Probably hired a bunch of consultants, had endless meetings in expensive hotels. That would have taken care of the annual VOLMET budget, requiring a quick and dirty fix....

[Wing Commander Fowler]

I once took the time to email the met office at the CAA to ask them why some countries provide information in such a painful way ( zero, zero, zero........ zero knots) and often include useless information such as wind variations at like 3 knots...... Wasted me time - never got a reply! Even our own guys don't have an interest in the system!

C'est la guerre mes ami.....

I know, I know - I have to get a life!

[Farty Flaps]

dont bother with em myself anymore.
acars is the way forward. flat rates for the whole fleet per annum, twice as fast , fwd overview on you route insantly . no unnecessary diversions off rt.
Its a peculiar thing to the uk to write down weather you already have in you wx pack , when you can see all over europe, there is no impending need to get wx for a diversion , or emergency.throwback to the days of abacus and sextant. Bit like circle tick cross on waypoints on tango 16. Its been a while since nav systems could only store 9 waypoints.

Some dinosaurs never change their spots

[toon]

on the subject why on earth when you tune into london main does it trawl through half of europe before getting to london ?

if i wanted amsterdam i would get amsterdam, likewise i think all other volmets start with the home countries main airports !

[Airbubba]

>>Its a peculiar thing to the uk to write down weather you already have in you wx pack , when you can see all over europe, there is no impending need to get wx for a diversion , or emergency.throwback to the days of abacus and sextant.<<

Yep, with ACARS, D-ATIS and HF-DL does anyone really still use volmet? Must be tradition...

[Panama Jack]

Well that's a first, that in the UK they put all of Europe ahead of London

The ATIS recordings in the US sound like they were recorded by some severly constipated guy. The US may be a leader in aviation technology, but no, not on WX recordings. Even Canada warps ahead of them.

The VOLMET recordings in Saudi Arabia are an extremely cute sounding female voice. I imagine some nice girl with pretty eyes wearing an abaya.

[Arkroyal]

And the new Dublin ATIS?

CDG ATIS that takes an entire channel crossing to copy?

The only good system is old 'Metal Mickey' on the majority of UK ATIS broadcasts.

[one four sick]

Then you have "CONTROLLERS ON THE JOB" as well!

[Robert Vesco]

I agree, the FRA VOLMET sounds terrible these days.

The only good system is old 'Metal Mickey' on the majority of UK ATIS broadcasts.

PS. CAA, please take note... don't try and change the UK Volmet with one of those voice replacement systems. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Little bit off topic: the UK VOLMETS sound ok, but why does ATC (and the ATIS) in the UK sound like I’m talking to somebody using 2 empty beer cans and a piece of string? The quality is lousy and needs urgent fixing!

BTW, some voice replacement systems sound great, like the Spanish systems! Clear and at a good pace!

[Fright Level]

Delhi is one of the worst. Local accent, manual recording but with the guy trying to beat the world record for speed talking. How someone whose first language isn't English can understand it beats me.

[Spitoon]

WngCo Fowler, maybe you didn't get a reply because there isn't a met office in the CAA....

[Wing Commander Fowler]

Hmm... interesting point! T'was a good few years ago so maybe there was at that time? Not sure but remember it all originating from the "met office aviation" website (.met-office.gov.uk/aviation/) and utilising the "contact us" link..... anyhow whoever I didn't contact didn't reply hehe!

[Danny]

For those not familiar with Italian or Greek Volmet, here are two example extracts:

Italian, laborious computer assembled, female human voice VOLMET example: (Note: Each station takes an average of three to five minutes to copy)

Milan Linate........ Wind..... zero... zero... zero...... zero... zero... knots....... Vi.. si.. bi.. li.. ty... miss... ing........... Cloud....... miss... ing...... Caaa... vokay....... Tem... pe... ra... tura..... two... five................. Dew... point... one... zero............. Quebec...... November..... Hotel.......... one..... zero.... two..... five........

Rome...... Fiumicino......... Wind..... two... three.... zero............. three.... knots.... vary... ing.... two.... zero.... zero.... to... two..... seven.... zero...... Vi... si... bi... li... ty... one... tou... sand... meters... Run... way... one... six...... left.... R... V... R... greater... than... one... tou... sand... five... hundred... meters..... Run... way... three... four...... right.... R... V... R... greater... than... one... tou... sand... five... hundred... meters..... Run... way... one... six...... right.... R... V... R... greater... than... one... tou... sand... five... hundred... meters..... Run... way... three... four...... left.... R... V... R... greater... than... one... tou... sand... five... hundred... meters......... Moderate mist....... light... drizzle...... moderate... rain...... cloud... broken... zero... zero... five... hundred... feet....... cloud.... broken... one... tousand... two... hundred... feet...... cloud..... over... cast... one... tousand... seven... hundred... feet....... Tem... pe... ra... tura..... one... zero.... Dew..... point.... one... zero........ Quebec...... November..... Hotel.......... one..... zero.... two..... four........ Tempo....... Vi... si... bi... li... ty... one... tou... sand... eight... hundred... meters.


Greek, human generated male voice reading in a heavy accent as fast as is possible VOLMET example: (Note: Each station takes an average of five seconds to copy... if you can keep up)

RodosDiagorasTooOneTreeZero TooSefenZeroOneTreeKnotsCAaaVOKTemperatureTooTreeDewpointNin eQNHOneZeroOneSefen
IraklionNeoKazantzakisTooZeroZeroZero TooFifeZeroOneForKnotsTenKilometerSscatteredFourTousandFeetT emperatureTooSefenDewpointOneZeroQNHOneZeroTooFife
KerkiraKapodistriasTooZeroTreeZero TreeOneZeroOneFifeKnotsCAaaaVOKTemperatureTooEightDewpointOn eZeroQNHOneZeroTooFour


Best 5 European VOLMETS, in my opinion:

1. Portugese
2. Spanish
3. French
4. UK
5. Swiss

Worst 5 European VOLMETS:

1. Italian
2. Greek
3. Bulgarian
4. Yugoslavian
5. German

What do you think?

[Robert Vesco]

ZRH VOLMET is OK, but the GVA is sounds like a heartless dyslectic woman reading her first poem: "Twooooo.............four...........zero degrees...................four....................knots"

The French VOLMETS are ok, but why canīt they stick to the ICAO format of giving cloud bases? "Broken, three eight zero zero feet, Overcast twenty four thousand feet" Itīs crap if you want to write it down in standard TAF/METAR format like B/038 and OVC/240.

Is it really so hard to stick to ONE format!?!?!

[Wing Commander Fowler]

Whoa - Danny, you got too much time on ya hands... how long did it take ya to type that one hehe....?

Robert - you just reminded me...... why DO they have to give you the cloudbase at twenty three thousand feet??? That's one HIGH circuit man!!