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From: <DMon707_at_aol.com>
subject: [Paddlewise] B.C. coastal weather forecasts
Date: Mon, 9 May 2005 09:43:23 EDT
I'm going to be paddling down the outside from Bella Bella to Port Hardy in 
June. It's has been years since I paddled in Canada, but I recall Canada has 
VHF weather channels similar to the U.S.

Will a VHF radio get me weather forecasts on this part of the coast? I also 
have a "mini-world" short wave radio that's useful in Baja (by extrapolation 
from the weather forecasts in San Diego), but if I know I can rely on VHF 
forecasts, I won't bother taking it.

I know the Bella Bella/ Calvert Island area is pretty remote. Paddling in 
Prince William Sound some years back, I couldn't receive any forecast by VHF, but 
had a cheap weather radio that worked fine.

Thanks,

douglas in sf
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From: <kayakwriter_at_netscape.net>
subject: RE: [Paddlewise] B.C. coastal weather forecasts
Date: Mon, 09 May 2005 11:47:44 -0400
I've paddled in the Bella Bella area a couple of times, and also kayaked from Port Hardy over to the Cape Caution area. You can receive weather forecasts fine (the weather channels, unlike the VHF channels, seem to be the same in Canada as the US - I don't need to flick my VHF from Canadian mode to US mode to hear US forecasts when I'm in the Gulf Islands) If you're inshore or on shore, as kayakers often are, you may hit a local radio shadow and need to walk out on a headland or paddle out to sea a few hundred feet. 

Philip  

DMon707_at_aol.com wrote:

>I'm going to be paddling down the outside from Bella Bella to Port Hardy in 
>June. It's has been years since I paddled in Canada, but I recall Canada has 
>VHF weather channels similar to the U.S.
>
>Will a VHF radio get me weather forecasts on this part of the coast? I also 
>have a "mini-world" short wave radio that's useful in Baja (by extrapolation 
>from the weather forecasts in San Diego), but if I know I can rely on VHF 
>forecasts, I won't bother taking it.
>
>I know the Bella Bella/ Calvert Island area is pretty remote. Paddling in 
>Prince William Sound some years back, I couldn't receive any forecast by VHF, but 
>had a cheap weather radio that worked fine.
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From: Michael Daly <mikedaly_at_magma.ca>
subject: RE: [Paddlewise] B.C. coastal weather forecasts
Date: Mon, 09 May 2005 16:46:09 -0400
On 9 May 2005 at 11:47, kayakwriter_at_netscape.net wrote:

> You can receive
> weather forecasts fine (the weather channels, unlike the VHF channels,
> seem to be the same in Canada as the US - I don't need to flick my VHF
> from Canadian mode to US mode to hear US forecasts when I'm in the
> Gulf Islands)

The weather channel assignments are shown at the bottom of the 
following page:

http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-
sys/cgiwrap/guille/wiki.pl?Marine_Frequencies

Environment Canada broadcasts regular forecasts on WX1-WX4 typically
in such a way that they don't overlap in area (i.e. they are local to
a city or county) and the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) uses the 
indicated
channels for marine forecasts.  The two use slightly different units
of measure (e.g. barometric pressure in mb for marine and kPa 
otherwise)
and marine use radio protocols (e.g. numbers read out one digit at a 
time).

Mike
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