Australian Bureau of Meteorology: HF Radio Marine Weather Broadcast Survey

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High Frequency (HF) Radio

Marine Weather Broadcasts Survey

5 December 2005 - 31 March 2006

Introduction
Background
Summary of results
Q1. What HF frequencies do you use to receive Australian weather information?
Q2. What type of watercraft do you normally operate in?
Q3. Apart from the HF radio service, what other ways are available to you to obtain your marine weather forecast and warnings whilst on the water?
Q4. Which of these do you use most frequently to receive your weather?
Q5. For VMC/VMW HF voice broadcasts, please rate the broadcast quality.
Q6. How do you think the VMC/VMW HF voice broadcast service could be improved?
Q7. For the VMC/VMW HF radiofax broadcasts please rate the broadcast quality
Q8. How do you think the VMC/VMW HF radiofax broadcast service could be improved?
Q9. Are there any other charts you would like to see in the HF schedule?
Q10. Approximately what percentage (%) of your sea time is
within 30 nautical miles of the coast
beyond 30 nautical miles of the coast
Q11. For the time you spend within 30 nm of the Australian coast, please specify the State/Territory you operate in.
Q12. For the time you spend beyond 30 nm of the Australian coast, please specify the areas you operate in.
Q13. From time to time the Bureau conducts marine weather surveys. Would you be interested in participating in future Bureau of Meteorology marine surveys?
Attachment A: Survey Questionnaire

Introduction

The Bureau of Meteorology conducted a marine user survey about its High Frequency (HF) voice and facsimile broadcast service originating from Wiluna (callsign VMW) in Western Australia and Charleville (callsign VMC) in Queensland. The purpose of the survey was to determine the usefulness of this marine broadcast service and to provide suggestions on ways to enhance the service prior to making any longer term commitment to HF broadcasting beyond 2007.

The information presented here comes from the results of this marine user survey conducted by the Bureau from December 2005 to 31 March 2006. Click here to see the survey questions.

Background

The Bureau broadcasts its marine weather HF radio services for the high seas and Australian coastal areas through an independent service provider using transmitters at VMC Charleville (QLD) and VMW Wiluna (WA). At the time of this survey, the current contract was due for renewal in mid 2007. As part of the renewal process, a review of the HF services was undertaken and involved extensive consultation with the marine community. As part of the review, this survey was commissioned targeting as many HF users as reasonably possible.

The contract has now been renewed and the HF radio broadcast service will continue until at least 2010. To find out more information about the extension of this service, click here.

Summary of results

The following lists the results of each question in the survey questionnaire:

Q1. What HF frequencies do you use to receive Australian weather information?

This question was placed at the beginning of the survey to assist in filtering and targeting users of the HF service.

Respondents	number	%
Total	725	100
With at least one correct frequency	554	76
With no frequencies correct	171	24

Note: In instances where no value was entered or an incorrect value was entered for this question, and the remainder of the survey was completed, the following rule was applied: "If Q1 is blank or the incorrect frequency was entered, the response would be accepted if either Q5 (voice) or Q7 (radiofax) received a rating".

Q2. What type of watercraft do you normally operate in?

Multiple responses may be given.

Type of watercraft	%
Yachting	71
Commercial	12
Professional fishing	5
Other	12

Figure 1. Type of watercraft

Q3. Apart from the HF radio service, what other ways are available to you to obtain your marine weather forecast and warnings whilst on the water?

Multiple responses may be given.

Other methods for weather forecasts	%
VHF radio	36
AM/FM radio	20
Mobile telephone	13
Internet/ email	10
No other method	6
Inmarsat satellite C (GMDSS compliant)	4
Satellite phone	3
CB radio	2
Other	6

Figure 2. Other methods available to receive weather forecasts whilst at sea

Q4. Which of these do you use most frequently to receive your weather?

32 (4%) of the respondents did not answer this question.

Most frequent method to receive weather	%
HF radio	70
VHF radio	15
Inmarsat satellite C (GMDSS compliant)	4
Internet/email	2
AM/FM radio	1
CB radio	1
Mobile telephone	1
Satellite phone	0
Other	3

Figure 3. Most frequent method used to receive weather

Q5. For VMC/VMW HF voice broadcasts, please rate the broadcast quality.

683 out of the 725 respondents (94%) used and rated this part of the HF service. The table below shows the ratings on a 4-point scale.

Rating of voice broadcasts	%
Very good	37
Good	56
Poor	6
Very poor	1

Rated "Good" or higher = 93%
Rated "Poor" or lower = 7%

Q6. How do you think the VMC/VMW HF voice broadcast service could be improved?

Multiple responses may be given. 175 out of 683 users (26%) did not answer this question.

How voice broadcast could be improved	%
1 No Improvements necessary / It is excellent	37
2 More regular broadcast - hourly/2 hourly	16
3 Slow down delivery rate/improve inflection of the voice	12
4 Sectors broken down into more appropriate area reports	9
5 Frequencies - advice on which ones to use/use of more common frequencies	7
6 Operators available for calls	4
7 Increase in power output/speed	3
8 Provide time schedule	2
9 More information/include extra information in gaps between segments	2
10 Increase in frequency of navigation reports - high seas/wave height/tide...	2
11 Tropical cyclone outlook/storm activity	1
12 Include Cape Don to Daly River segment on Charleville transmitter/don't break overlap zone	1
13 Shorter broadcasts	1
14 Add forecasts for South Pacific region	1
15 Wind observation - speed/direction	1
16 Other Responses	5
17 Don't know	3

Figure 4. How HF voice broadcast could be improved

Q7. For the VMC/VMW HF radiofax broadcasts please rate the broadcast quality

444 out of the 725 respondents (62%) used and rated this part of the HF service. The table below shows the ratings on a 4-point scale.

Rating of radiofax broadcasts	%
Very good	23
Good	63
Poor	11
Very poor	3

Rated "Good" or higher = 86%
Rated "Poor" or lower = 14%

Q8. How do you think the VMC/VMW HF radiofax broadcast service could be improved?

Multiple responses may be given. 133 out of 444 users (30%) did not answer this question.

How radiofax broadcasts could be improved %

1 No improvements necessary/It is excellent 27

2 Increase frequency of broadcast times 12

3 Improve quality/sometimes illegible 9

4 Better quality transmission/stronger signal/noise reduction 8

5 More information - weather patterns/cloud cover/direction of highs and lows… 7

6 Four day synoptic chart - transmit at night 6

7 Increase in power output/speed 5

8 Provision for printed text/faxes 4

9 Provide time schedule 3

10 Add forecasts for the South Pacific region 3

11 Coastal weather forecast/high seas/ocean currents 3

12 Other Responses 6

13 Don't know 8

Figure 5. How HF radiofax broadcast could be improved

Q9. Are there any other charts you would like to see in the HF schedule?

Multiple responses may be given. 198 out of 444 users (45%) did not answer this question

Other radiofax charts wanted	%
1 None/It is fine	40
2 Four day synopsis chart	13
3 Coastal weather forecast/high sea/water temperature	7
4 Include maps for the South Pacific region	5
5 Wind speed/direction	5
6 Satellite pictures/images	3
7 Regular MSLP analysis/charts	3
8 Tropical cyclone outlook	3
9 Increase frequency/repeat during the day	2
10 Cloud cover	1
11 Other Responses	12
12 Don't know	5

Figure 6. Other charts wanted for radiofax broadcast

Operating Areas

Questions 10, 11 and 12 were mainly concerned with identifying the areas where the respondents undertook their marine activities.

Q10. Approximately what percentage (%) of your sea time is

within 30 nautical miles of the coast
beyond 30 nautical miles of the coast

This question revolves around that fact that VHF coverage generally extends to 30 nm or better. The intention was to gauge where respondents operate within or outside this VHF range or both.

3 out of 725 (<1%) did not answer this question.

Within/beyond 30 nautical miles	number	%
Both Within/Beyond	645	89
Within only	74	10
Beyond only	3	0

Q11. For the time you spend within 30 nm of the Australian coast, please specify the State/Territory you operate in.

As an adjunct to Question 10 (a), the purpose of this question was to determine in which State/Territory the respondents operated in whilst within 30 nm of the coast. Multiple responses may be given.

State/Territory operated in	%
Queensland	29
New South Wales	20
Victoria	16
Tasmania	11
Western Australia	10
Northern Territory	9
South Australia	4
100% beyond 30nm	0

Q12. For the time you spend beyond 30 nm of the Australian coast, please specify the areas you operate in.

As an adjunct to Question 10 (b), the purpose of this question was to determine which Ocean areas respondents operated in whilst beyond 30 nm of the coast. Multiple responses may be given.

Ocean area operated in	%
Northeastern Australian waters	33
Southeastern Australian waters	29
Northwest and Northern Australian waters	14
South and Southwest Australian waters	9
100% within 30nm	7
Other	7

Q13. From time to time the Bureau conducts marine weather surveys. Would you be interested in participating in future Bureau of Meteorology marine surveys?

Willing for further surveys	number	%
Yes	573	79
No	152	21

Question 14 relates to the names and other details to those respondents who answered "yes" in Question 13.

Click here to see the survey questions.

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