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Old 30th Nov 2017, 2:06 pm   #21
Brigham
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

I loved the shipping forecast as a kid. The word 'visibility' was taken out at one point, and the announcer would simply say "Gale force nine, Good..."
Well, YOU might think it's good, Mister, but you're not out at sea...
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Old 30th Nov 2017, 2:29 pm   #22
frankmcvey
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

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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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Old 30th Nov 2017, 9:19 pm   #23
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

A lot of areas have been mentioned, such as Finistere (sp?), but the one I remember, long since disused, was Heligoland. What happened to that one?
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Old 30th Nov 2017, 9:25 pm   #24
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

One of my great uncles would use "Heligoland! Dogger!! and Forties!!!" as a mild curse when things were going not-quite-right. it always struck me as something that Captain Haddock in the Tintin stories would have said.

[he had a range of other rather more viscerally fruity and emphatic curses which I guess he acquired from having lived through having his destroyer torpedoed out from under him in the later stages of WWII]
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Old 30th Nov 2017, 9:30 pm   #25
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

I remember reading France also has a shipping forecast, which uses some of the southern British areas.
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Old 30th Nov 2017, 9:42 pm   #26
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

I can't remember exactly when I used to listen to the shipping forecast. I vaguely remember that it was on just before "Listen With Mother" and I always heard the tail end whilst waiting for Daphne Oxenford.
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Old 1st Dec 2017, 12:21 am   #27
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

Bit of history; from 1861 to 1964;
At numerous ports and fishing stations, many of which are Lloyd's signal stations, warning signals are hoisted in connexion with the Meteorological Office to advise as to the probability Of an approaching gale.

A cone [3ft high x 3ft across] pointed downwards means that strong winds are probable, at first from the southwards — from S.E. round by S. to N.W.

A cone pointed upwards means that strong winds are probable, at first from the northwards — from N.W. round by N. to S.E.

The drum is added to either cone when a very heavy gale is probable. No drum is used at dark, or without the cone.

The signal is kept flying until dusk and then lowered to avoid unnecessary wear and tear, but it is hoisted again at daylight next morning; and so on until the end of 48 hours from the time at which the message was issued from London, unless orders to lower the signal are received previously.

At dusk, whenever a signal ought to be flying if it were daylight, a night signal consisting of three lanterns hung on a triangular frame is hoisted in place of the Cone, point downwards (for South Cone), or point up*wards (for North Cone), as the case may be.

The hoisting of either of these signals is a sign that an atmospherical disturbance is in existence, which will probably cause a gale from the quarter indicated within a distance of fifty miles of the locality.

The signal is frequently kept flying after a gale is over, one gale being often followed by another within a very brief interval."

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Old 1st Dec 2017, 10:26 am   #28
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

When I lived in Coverack, west Cornwall, back in the late 1960's and 1970's, listening to the shipping forecast on BBC Radio 2 1500m was a necessity for most coastal fishing communities, there four broadcasts a day were the most accurate and reliable forecasts available.
Many people would also listen to the local shipping and coastal forecasts from Land End radio which in those days was broadcast on the MF trawler band somewhere between 1.7 Mhz and 2 Mhz using good old AM later going to SSB.
As a result of this I still try and listen to a shipping forecast if I can and can understand all the details of the forecast and where all the sea areas are etc. For me its not just the pleasure of listening to these forecasts but I find they are still the most accurate of forecasts available today. For authenticity and sentimental reasons I still try and listen to the shipping forecasts on BBC R4 198Khz long wave.
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Old 1st Dec 2017, 4:14 pm   #29
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

The cone information was also given in the old Arthur Mee's Childrens Encyclopaedia!

There were photographs of it in use. I was fascinated by this as a child.

The same edition also had some quite in-depth explanations of various types of wireless coherers. I actually made one, and also a morse inker, using Meccano.
I think that this was my initial point of interest that got me into a lifetime of Radio/TV/electronics.

Unfortunately I no longer have the Encyclopaedia set, it would have been interesting to re-visit.

David.
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Old 1st Dec 2017, 4:55 pm   #30
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

I too remember listening to the Shipping Forecast as a child. What use it might be to a school-kid in Birmingham can be misted over. The announcer's diction was always fascinating to me - the pronunciation of "visibility" as "Vzzabilly-teaah" always got me.
The names of the sea areas was often puzzling, too. I heard "Finisterre" (now Fitzroy) as "Phil Astaire" and wondered if the dancer Fred Astaire had a brother who was someway associated with Shipping.
At least I didn't misspend my childhood in billiard halls....
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Old 2nd Dec 2017, 12:37 am   #31
Graham G3ZVT
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

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Originally Posted by bluepilot View Post
I can't remember exactly when I used to listen to the shipping forecast. I vaguely remember that it was on just before "Listen With Mother" and I always heard the tail end whilst waiting for Daphne Oxenford.
Yes, me too, when I was 7, at boarding school, on a Bush DAC90A in the hall.

I later became fascinated by the aviation equivalent of the Shipping Forecast,
Shannon Air Radio on 5505kHz, with it's equally cryptic phrases like "CAV-OK", "NO SIG" "Tempo", QNH, and "Four octa cumulonimbus at 1000 feet"

Yes, it's still on the air as Shannon VOLMET with a computer's voice, but in my day it was real people at all hours of the day and night.
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Old 2nd Dec 2017, 9:59 am   #32
Mike Phelan
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

As a sprog in infants school, we converted 'Fastnet, Lundy and Irish Sea' to 'Parsnips on Monday and Irish stew!'
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Old 2nd Dec 2017, 11:23 am   #33
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

And still my mother, who's never been to sea in her life, listens daily to the shipping forecast at 6.00 pm on the Light program! I've never understood why...!
The old GEC transistor radio, bought in 1958, is still used every day for this purpose. The dial says 1500M 'Light', so R4 198Khz cuts no ice with mum: she still listens in metres
All the best
Nick
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Old 3rd Dec 2017, 4:44 pm   #34
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

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Originally Posted by rambo1152 View Post
I later became fascinated by the aviation equivalent of the Shipping Forecast,
Shannon Air Radio on 5505kHz, with it's equally cryptic phrases like "CAV-OK", "NO SIG" "Tempo", QNH, and "Four octa cumulonimbus at 1000 feet"
I was similarly addicted to Gander Radio [Canada] on 13.272MHz. I'd leave a receiver idling on that frequency and if I could hear Gander I knew the path on 14MHz was probably open to North America.
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Old 3rd Dec 2017, 7:45 pm   #35
Jon_G4MDC
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

10.052MHz was same for 30m, Gander Radio and New York Radio alternating.
I suppose it is still going strong? It has been years since I checked that QRG.
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Old 5th Dec 2017, 1:02 pm   #36
dave walsh
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

I used to get Gander in the sixties along with a NY Station that gave me the American Top Ten on a Saturday-if I could get a clear "path". No small thing in those pre-Telstar days when a transatlantic telephone call was only for the very rich.

Dave
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Old 9th Dec 2017, 9:44 pm   #37
Alvin
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Default Re: 150 years of the Shipping Forecast

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Originally Posted by electronicskip View Post
Does anyone else have memories?
I was a Tech Op in BH Control Room & Continuities from December 1970 to June 1977 so many memories of of throwing the LW opt out switch which diverted the LW feed through the presenter's console enabling them to fade out of the programme and read the forecast whilst we played a filler tape on the rest of the network.......tedium for us but we were paid to listen for it!

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