Navtex OnlineNAVTEX in the Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores
Each of the Atlantic archipelagos has its own NAVTEX station: Las Palmas for the Canary Islands, Porto Santo for Madeira, and São Miguel for the Azores.
Each has an English service on 518 kHz and a national one on 490 kHz, in Spanish or Portuguese. Las Palmas is designed to reach about 450 nautical miles, the Portuguese stations about 300.
Stations and broadcast times (UTC)
| Station | Letter | Frequency | Language | Range | Broadcast times (UTC) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Las Palmas | I | 518 kHz | English | 450 nm | 01:20, 05:20, 09:20, 13:20, 17:20, 21:20 |
| Las Palmas | A | 490 kHz | Spanish | 450 nm | 00:00, 04:00, 08:00, 12:00, 16:00, 20:00 |
| Porto Santo | P | 518 kHz | English | 300 nm | 02:30, 06:30, 10:30, 14:30, 18:30, 22:30 |
| Porto Santo | M | 490 kHz | Portuguese | 300 nm | 02:00, 06:00, 10:00, 14:00, 18:00, 22:00 |
| São Miguel | F | 518 kHz | English | 300 nm | 00:50, 04:50, 08:50, 12:50, 16:50, 20:50 |
| São Miguel | J | 490 kHz | Portuguese | 300 nm | 01:30, 05:30, 09:30, 13:30, 17:30, 21:30 |
Each slot is a 10-minute window, repeated every 4 hours. Urgent messages can go out at any time. Range is the designed range in nautical miles.
Which station for which waters
- Canary Islands: Las Palmas.
- Madeira and Porto Santo: Porto Santo.
- Azores: São Miguel.
On passage between the Canaries and Madeira you stay within the designed range of Las Palmas or Porto Santo. Towards the mainland, Penalva (Portugal) and Casablanca (Morocco) take over.
Latest messages from these stations
- Navigational warning from São Miguel FA64 · 2 Nov 20:59 UTC
- Navigational warning from Las Palmas IA48 · 2 Nov 01:25 UTC
- Navigational warning from Las Palmas IA61 · 2 Nov 01:23 UTC
- Weather forecast from Las Palmas IE38 · 1 Nov 21:20 UTC
- Navigational warning from Porto Santo PA22 · 1 Nov 18:30 UTC
- Navigational warning from Las Palmas IA91 · 1 Nov 05:21 UTC
- Navigational warning from Las Palmas IA24 · 1 Nov 05:20 UTC
- Navigational warning from Las Palmas IA50 · 1 Nov 05:20 UTC
- Navigational warning from Porto Santo PA21 · 31 Oct 22:33 UTC
- Navigational warning from Porto Santo PA04 · 31 Oct 18:32 UTC
Few or no messages from Las Palmas A, Porto Santo P, Porto Santo M, São Miguel F and São Miguel J have reached us in the last week, so their pages may be empty.
What the messages contain
- Navigational warnings (subject
A): military exercises and firing practice, unlit or missing buoys and lights, wrecks, underwater work, cable laying, search areas. - Meteorological warnings (
B): gale and storm warnings. - Weather forecasts (
E). - Search and rescue (
D): distress relays and requests to keep a lookout.
Every message starts with ZCZC, the station letter, the subject letter and a serial number, and ends with NNNN. How to read a NAVTEX message
Reading the messages online
Navtex Online shows the messages received from these stations, each with the original text and a readable version with the abbreviations written out. They come from receivers that publish what they hear and from official lists of warnings; see data sources.
Official sources for this region:
Not for navigation. Reception on land can be incomplete or garbled, and a message can be missing. This site does not replace a NAVTEX receiver on board or the official broadcasts.
Questions
What frequency is NAVTEX in Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores?
518 kHz: Las Palmas I, Porto Santo P and São Miguel F (English). 490 kHz: Las Palmas A, Porto Santo M and São Miguel J (Spanish; Portuguese). Most receivers can listen to 518 kHz and 490 kHz at the same time.
When are the weather forecasts sent?
Weather forecasts (subject E) go out at least twice a day, in each station's own time slots in the table above. The latest forecasts received are on each station's page.
Can I read these messages without a receiver?
Ashore, yes: the messages received from these stations are on this page and on each station's page, for planning. At sea, carry a NAVTEX receiver: internet access is not reliable offshore, and an online copy can be late or incomplete.
More: NAVAREA II (East Atlantic) · Other regions · What is NAVTEX · Station map