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Improved NAVTEX Coverage on West Coast of Scotland - 26 December 2012

Around the west of Scotland Portpatrick reception can be difficult to impossible because of topography. On 518 kHz, Malin Head broadcasts Sea Area forecasts for Shannon, Rockall, Malin and Bailey (as well as Irish Coastal  and some High Seas Areas).

The MCA has been in negotiation with their Irish colleagues. The result is that, after a little more trialling,  Malin Head will use the 490 kHz, national NAVTEX frequency to broadcast UK Inshore Waters forecasts. Areas will be the same as Portpatrick, i.e. Land's End to Cape Wrath, the Minch, Lough Foyle to Carlingford Lough.

The B1 letter will be A so that broadcasts will be every four hours from 0000 UTC. There will probably be one slot for weather forecasts and two for weather actuals, as in the Portpatrick broadcasts.

Between them, Malin Head and Portpatrick are expected to give good reception over much of the area.

The three UK NAVTEX stations will continue to broadcast four Inshore forecasts each day. However, that means that actuals will only be broadcast at the other two slots. There is simply not enough time to do otherwise at present.