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What to listen to · Aviation

RAF VOLMET on 11253 kHz: the daytime frequency

The second frequency of the Royal Air Force weather broadcast, the one that carries furthest in daylight. Same airfields, same colour states, different hours. Which of the two to choose, and why, is explained here.

Frequency11253 kHz
ModeUSB

What you hear

The same looped airfield weather as on 5450 kHz: an automated voice, a couple of dozen British military airfields and overseas bases, each report ending in a colour state from blue to red. The service, the airfields and the meaning of the colours are described in the main article.

Who transmits and why

The Royal Air Force keeps the broadcast on two frequencies at once so that a crew always has one that fits the time of day and the distance from England. 11253 kHz is listed as continuous, like 5450 kHz, and the content is identical.

When and where to listen

Between mid-morning and late afternoon the 11 MHz signal travels much further than 5450 kHz, which daylight absorbs within a few hundred kilometres of the transmitter. From central and eastern Europe, Scandinavia or the Mediterranean, 11253 kHz is the frequency to try from about 08:00 to 17:00 UTC, in summer a couple of hours longer. After dark the band closes, the signal thins out and 5450 kHz takes over. Upper sideband in both cases.

In ShackDeck

Station catalogue → Aviation → RAF VOLMET 11253. The program picks a public receiver that covers 11253 kHz, tunes it in USB and plays it, with no receiver or account of your own. If it is quiet, the hour is probably wrong rather than the station: open the 5450 kHz row instead.

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