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Old 30th Nov 2017, 2:29 pm   #22
frankmcvey
Rest in Peace
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Cottesmore, East Midlands, UK.
Posts: 858
Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

Quote:
Originally Posted by M0FYA Andy View Post
I'm always intrigued why they speak in 'shorthand', so for example the shipping forecast might say "rain from West" where the ordinary weather forecast would say "rain from the West". Is it because at some time it has been sent in something other than speech, for example in Morse?
Andy - it's because the BBC only allows the Maritime & Coastguard Agency 370 words for the complete forecast (380 in the 0048 broadcast, because Sea Area Trafalgar is added to this one), so brevity is needed!

Cheers,

Frank
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