Bonjour Matelot - Tuning The Marine Bands

It was The Trawler Band on the radios of my youth.

So were the great romantic radio names like Daventry and Hilversum but as we leave the medium-wave, radio takes a professional stance. British Telecom operate a network of Coastal Radio Stations to provide broadcast information to ships and radiotelephone services.

In Europe, try for: Navigation warnings at 0603GMT and 0633GMT with a Weather Bulletin at 0703GMT. 0903GMT for Gale Warnings. Navigation warnings at 1003GMT and 1033GMT. Also at 1803GMT, 1833GMT, 1903GMT, 2103GMT, 2203GMT and 2233GMT on 1883kHz or try 1856kHz.

More weather and navigation information can be found at 0733GMT, 0903GMT, 9033GMT, 1333GMT, 1433GMT, 1733GMT, 1833GMT, 1933GMT, 2103GMT, 2133GMT and 2233GMT on 1834kHz. A general weather forecast for shipping is also carried by Radio Four LW, a station we have never forgiven for scrapping "Sailing By" before the midnight bulletin. So great was the outcry they had to restore it, bless them.

Keep an ear on 2182kHz: Coast Station Distress, Urgency and Calling. The listening mode is AM compatible USB. To get the best out of whichever mode is in use, use USB. AOR users will note that ships audio comes in a range of colours and sizes. It is them, not you. Listen here for weather updates, navigational warnings and the traffic list, a run-down of ships with calls waiting. Once a call has been made to the coast station, the operator will assign a clear frequency. In the golden days of yore, in a time before fishing quotas, the frequency would be announced in kilohertz. Now they use a simple letter code.

I must go down to the sea again

To the lonely seas and the sky

They've changed all the numbers for letters

Will somebody tell us why?

Ellis after Milligan after Masefield