Dial-A-Bouy

[forrest]

Don't know if anyone has posted this or not. If not it is a pretty interesting site.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/dial.shtml

 

[colobear]

Now that is slick. You just have to know the actual buoy ID.

Thanks for posting this.

 

[hardee]

Paul from JC Lately just recently gave me this info:

Dial-A-Buoy 1-888-701-8992
Hein Bank 46088
Smith Island 74791
Pt Townsend 78991
Pt Angeles 78291


Feel Free to add others to the list. This covers the central and eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca area for crossing conditions pretty well. Info is usually pretty current.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[forrest]

Here is a link to all the buoys in the system.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/

 

[journey on]

After reading how the dial-a-bouy works, apparently it just dials up a NOAA computer which then reads the bouy state and weather report over standard cell phone links.

Since both marine VHF radio links and cell phone link are line of sight I would imagine that if you can make a cell phone call you can also receive the weather report over the normal VHF weather channels. In fact, up in Vancouver Isle the weather channels were available when there were no cell phone coverage.

I would assume that it's an additional NOAA service, but it is somewhat redundant. Any comments?

Boris

 

[thataway]

One feature which is important when cruising is what conditions will be at the destination. Often the destination VHF Marine forcast may not be available where you start the voyage (except vis computer). Being able to hear the bouy conditions it would give a better idea of what you may encounter as you go.

Also my recollection is that in the Straits of Juan de Fuca, the general forcasts may not give as much detail as i would like, and this might give more detail.

 

[hardee]

Boris said:

I would assume that it's an additional NOAA service, but it is somewhat redundant. Any comments?

Dial a Buoy is more current than the VHF. VHF NOAA updates the same info but not as often.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon