Navtex OnlineNAVTEX in the Baltic Sea
The Baltic is covered by NAVTEX stations in Estonia, Sweden and Germany: Tallinn, Bjuröklubb, Gislövshammar, Grimeton and Pinneberg near Hamburg. All broadcast in English on 518 kHz; Pinneberg also has a German service on 490 kHz.
Finland has no NAVTEX station of its own: Finnish waters are covered by Tallinn and Bjuröklubb.
Stations and broadcast times (UTC)
| Station | Letter | Frequency | Language | Range | Broadcast times (UTC) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tallinn | F | 518 kHz | English | 250 nm | 00:50, 04:50, 08:50, 12:50, 16:50, 20:50 |
| Bjuröklubb | H | 518 kHz | English | 01:10, 05:10, 09:10, 13:10, 17:10, 21:10 | |
| Gislövshammar | J | 518 kHz | English | 270 nm | 01:30, 05:30, 09:30, 13:30, 17:30, 21:30 |
| Grimeton | I | 518 kHz | English | 300 nm | 01:20, 05:20, 09:20, 13:20, 17:20, 21:20 |
| Pinneberg | S | 518 kHz | English | 270 nm | 03:00, 07:00, 11:00, 15:00, 19:00, 23:00 |
| Pinneberg | L | 490 kHz | German | 270 nm | 01:50, 05:50, 09:50, 13:50, 17:50, 21:50 |
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
- Gulf of Bothnia: Bjuröklubb.
- Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga and the north-eastern Baltic: Tallinn.
- Central and southern Baltic, Gotland, Bornholm and the coasts of the Baltic states: Gislövshammar on Sweden's south coast (listed as Stockholm Radio), and Tallinn further north.
- Kattegat, the Sound and the Skagerrak: Grimeton.
- Western Baltic, the Kiel Bight and the Danish straits: Pinneberg.
Latest messages from these stations
- Meteorological warning from Grimeton IB08 · 11 Nov 13:13 UTC
- Meteorological warning from Tallinn FB33 · 11 Nov 12:50 UTC
- Weather forecast from Pinneberg SE05 · 11 Nov 11:04 UTC
- Search and rescue / piracy / tsunami warning from Pinneberg SD00 · 11 Nov 10:27 UTC
- Search and rescue / piracy / tsunami warning from Pinneberg SD00 · 11 Nov 10:26 UTC
- Navigational warning from Pinneberg SA43 · 11 Nov 09:14 UTC
- Navigational warning from Pinneberg LA73 · 11 Nov 08:59 UTC
- Weather forecast from Pinneberg LE38 · 11 Nov 05:52 UTC
- Weather forecast from Grimeton IE77 · 11 Nov 05:18 UTC
- Navigational warning from Tallinn FA18 · 11 Nov 04:53 UTC
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:
- Transpordiamet navigational warnings
- Sjöfartsverket NAVTEX warnings in force
- BSH nautical warnings, North Sea
- DWD North and Baltic Sea bulletin
- BSH nautical warnings, Baltic
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 the Baltic Sea?
518 kHz: Tallinn F, Bjuröklubb H, Gislövshammar J, Grimeton I and Pinneberg S (English). 490 kHz: Pinneberg L (German). 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 I (North-east Atlantic) · Other regions · What is NAVTEX · Station map