NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MARINE PRODUCTS VIA NAVTEX

NAVTEX is an international automated medium frequency (518 kHz) direct-printing

service for delivery of navigational and meteorological warnings and forecasts,
as well as urgent marine safety information to ships. It was developed to provid
e a low-cost, simple, and automated means of receiving this information aboard s
hips at sea within approximately 200 nautical miles of shore. NAVTEX stations in
the U.S. are operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. There are no user fees associate
d with receiving NAVTEX broadcasts. Within the U.S., there are no current plans
to broadcast NAVTEX on the alternate designated frequencies of 490 or 4209.5 kHz
.
It has been reported that some mariners are experiencing difficulties receiving
weather forecasts via NAVTEX, which may be a transmission issue, equipment issue
, or combination of both. Be certain your NAVTEX receiver has been properly prog
rammed with proper NAVTEX station and subject identifiers. A minimum of 4 foreca
sts should be received daily. Both good and poor reception reports, stating your
position, date/time(s), and make/model of your NAVTEX receiver to; marine.weath
er@noaa.gov would be greatly appreciated.
Effective Aug 14, 2012 at 0000 UTC, the U.S. Coast Guard will modify the schedul
ed broadcast times for several NAVTEX stations. Click HERE for the official U.S.
Coast Guard announcement. The new broadcast schedule is also shown below.
Effective Apr 03, 2012 at 1800 UTC the NAVTEX forecasts were reconfigured to lim
it coverage to within 200 nm of the coasts assigned to New Orleans, Miami and Sa
n Juan transmitters. Specifically, the forecast area for the New Orleans transmi
tter will cover the northern Gulf of Mexico from the Suwanee River, FL to the mo
uth of the Rio Grande, out 200 nm. The Miami NAVTEX forecast area will cover the
waters around the peninsula of Florida from Suwanee River on the Gulf Coast, to
Flagler Beach on the Atlantic Coast, out 200 nm. The San Juan forecast area wil
l cover the waters within 200 nm of the San Juan transmitter, to include the Mon
a Passage and part of the Anegada Passage. This reconfiguration will better conf
orm to the range of the transmitters, provide more detailed information along th
e immediate coast, and better meet broadcast time constraints.
NAVTEX is a major element of the Global Marine and Distress Safety System (GMDSS
). For further information on NAVTEX, the GMDSS, and worldwide NAVTEX schedules,
including coverage diagrams, visit the U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Telecommunicat
ions Information webpage.
NAVTEX receivers which are approved for GMDSS contain an internal printer and co
st between $800-$1500. A new generation of NAVTEX receivers intended for non-GMD
SS applications such as the recreational community is now entering the marketpla
ce. These receivers include such features as LCD screens and RS-232 output and h
ave a purchase price in the $300-$500 range.
Effective November 30, 1999 at 1800 UTC, the National Weather Service began to i
ssue a new series of forecast products specifically tailored to fit the broadcas
t ranges of the U.S. Coast Guard NAVTEX transmitters on the CONUS and Puerto Ric
o. This action was taken as there was insufficient time available to broadcast a
ll existing NWS offshore and coastal marine forecasts within the coverage range
of each of these transmitters which resulted in an unacceptably increasing numbe
r of missed broadcasts. The new NAVTEX forecast products are a blend of the exis
ting offshore marine forecasts and coastal marine forecasts, however, the inshor
e portion of these forecasts contain less detail than available in the coastal f
orecasts. Mariners can continue to obtain NWS coastal marine forecasts by other
means including NOAA Weather Radio, USCG MF Voice, USCG VHF Voice, NOAA telephon
e recordings and the Internet. NWS and the U.S. Coast Guard are working actively
to improve the broadcast of marine forecasts via NAVTEX through a combination o
f product enhancements and technology upgrades.
SITOR (NBDP) is similar in many respects to NAVTEX but does not offer all of the
same functionality such as avoiding repeated messages.
A Listing of NWS Marine Products Broadcast via U.S. Coast Guard NAVTEX is avai
lable.
For a complete listing of NWS marine text products (with links) visit the NWS Pr
oduction Schedule for Marine Text Products webpage.
Refer to NGA Publication 117, which is updated through the Notice to Mariners, f
or the latest official listing of U.S. Coast Guard and worldwide broadcast sched
ules. The British Admiralty List of Radio Signals is an excellent reference sour
ce for NAVTEX and GMDSS information.
All NWS marine forecasts rely heavily on the Voluntary Observing Ship (VOS) prog
ram for obtaining meteorological observations.