HF Marine Radio Services (Voice and Fax)

Radio Services

The Bureau of Meteorology broadcasts its marine weather HF radio services for high seas and Australian coastal areas from transmitters at Charleville in Queensland and Wiluna in Western Australia. Identifiers are VMC (for services from Charleville) and VMW (for services from Wiluna).

VMC (Australia Weather East) broadcasts for the following areas:
Coastal Waters between Cape Don in the Northern Territory and Eucla in Western Australia, including all Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia zones.
High Seas for the Northern, North Eastern and South Eastern high seas areas.

VMW (Australia Weather West) broadcasts for the following areas:
Coastal Waters between the South Australia - Victoria border and Torres Strait in Queensland including all South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory zones.
High Seas for the Northern, Western and South Eastern high seas areas.

Radio frequencies and technical information

• It is important to test which frequencies suit your particular listening requirements for time of day, month and season.
  See: Ionospheric Prediction Services (IPS)
• Technical characteristics of Voice & Fax transmission

Voice frequencies

VMC frequencies (kHz):			Voice schedule Voice broadcast provide bulletins of warnings (using a program repeated every hour) and forecast (using a program repeated every four hours). The full schedule is available at Voice schedule Voice schedule
Times are the local time (EST) at the transmitter.
Daytime (7am-6pm)	4426 and 16546
Night-time (6pm-7am)	2201 and 6507
Anytime	8176* and 12365
VMW frequencies (kHz):
Times are the local time (WST) at the transmitter.
Daytime (7am-6pm)	4149 and 16528
Night-time (6pm-7am)	2056 and 6230
Anytime	8113 and 12362

*NOTE: On 8176 kHz, the Bureau has agreed to allow State maritime authorities to transmit navigation warnings for a few minutes each hour. These transmissions by state authorities will commence at three minutes to the hour and must complete within 2-3 minutes, before the next 'weather' message is due to transmit (on the hour).

Fax frequencies

VMC Fax frequencies (kHz):			Fax schedule Fax broadcasts run on a 24 hour cycle. www.bom.gov.au/marine or by faxing 1902 93 5046 (call costs $1.38 per minute including GST, higher from mobile phones). Fax schedule Fax Schedule
Times are the local time (EST) at the transmitter.
Daytime (5am-7pm)	20469
Night-time (7pm-5am)	2628
Anytime	5100, 11030 and 13920
VMW Fax frequencies (kHz):
Times are the local time (WST) at the transmitter.
Daytime (5am-7pm)	18060
Night-time (7pm-5am)	5755
Anytime	7535, 10555 and 15615