HFU HF Underground
General Category => General Radio Discussion => Topic started by: ChrisSmolinski on May 06, 2025, 1154 UTC
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Decommission of VOLMET Service provided by Gander International Flight Service Station – Gander, NL
https://www.navcanada.ca/en/flight-planning/service-notices/2025-06-12-gander.aspx
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Oh no... TWEB, LORAN-C, NDBs, and now VOLMET.
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Hey All,
Sorry to hear this.
Is New York next ?
I have been listening to VOLMET for over 50 years. It was always really cool as a "propagation check" and to know how things are going weather wise, to an extent.
But if I were an international pilot , getting weather info for a particular airport out of such a long list could be a problem in the cockpit. They either want to rest or are busy doing other things . 20 minutes under the phones ( not sure how much noise or propagation is a problem airborne out over the ocean ) -VS- getting same info instantly is kind of a no brainer .
As a Dxer I will miss them , but I imagine 95 +% of pilots have moved past using VOLMET broadcasts years ago. I surprised it lased as long as it did.
de NQC
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I suspect more will be going off the air, for the same reasons. HF is simply old tech for a lot of the aeronautical and maritime services today.
Some of the military ones might stay on the air, though. Redundancy, and all that.
I am not sure I ever heard Gander -- I probably did a long time ago. I do hear Trenton VOLMET from time to time on 15034.