The last Shipping Forecast from BBC radio on Long Wave went out at 0048 on Saturday June 27 2026, bringing to an end a 101 year tradition that has been a lifeline to mariners since 1925, writes Dan Houston.
Unlike FM, DAB, Wi-Fi or VHF broadcasts the Shipping Forecast on Long Wave was a free service that you could tune into on 198kHz when you were hundreds of miles offshore. And you could be using a simple battery-operated radio that cost just a few pounds.
The Shipping Forecast covers all the sea areas around Britain and Ireland – from Iceland across to Norway, the North Sea, Channel, Western approaches and as far south as Cape Trafalgar.
The forecast carries a mix of information – beginning with any gale warnings over the whole area, before the General Synopsis – of the pressure systems’ positions, values (in millibars) and expected movement over the following 24 hours. It then delivers the 24hr outlooks for each of the 31 sea areas giving: Wind: Direction and speed (in Beaufort Scale). Weather: Expected precipitation (rain, showers or fog), Visibility and Sea State.
Should we be concerned by this move? The loss of Long Wave radically reduces the reach of the forecast which has been a staple of many mariners’ lives from the days or their great grandfathers. The important thing to remember is that the weather can change. Relying on a forecast on your phone, like Windy, is great if you are going out for the day. But once you are out of sight of land your phone will be out of signal range and you won’t be able to keep up with the changes in the weather. Of course other systems are available… and we’ll get to them.
There have been motions to the keep the Long Wave and as late as April 2026 23 members of parliament supported an Early Day Motion questioning its closure, backed by a 7,000 signature petition. It is difficult to find statistics on how many people were listening to the Shipping Forecast or relying on it. But the wider loss of Long Wave is already being felt in areas of Britain which do not receive FM or DAB broadcasts. Those living in remote valleys from Devon to Scotland have often relied on LW which can rattle its way into those places. It will also be affecting those living in countries like France. The 150 watt output of the main BBC LW transmitter has ensured the signal could be heard loud and clear in places like Santander and southern Norway – two places I can cite from personal experience.
The BBC has been running quite a lot of output on both the Medium Wave and Long Wave (MW/LW). It had to do this because FM, or VHF, is basically a line-of-sight medium, restricted by the curvature of the earth. An important distinction between MW and LW (Medium and Long Wave) versus FM (Frequency modulated) is that the former are amplitude modulated (AM) radio waves which propagate across the surface of a territory, with a range of hundreds of miles – depending on the strength and efficiency of the signal frequency. So remote glens and sea lochs of Scotland are a good example where LW signals will reach the most obscure locations. Long Wave, with frequencies in Europe between 148.5 and 283.5kHz and wavelengths over 1,000m (R4’s is 198kHz and 1514m respectively), remains a very efficient carrier of information in terms of both cost and reach.
The Long Wave also travels better over water, and an area of sandstone or well drained land will impede the signal more than if the ground is of clay say.
All this means that if you were anchored in an out of the way bay in many parts of these islands as well as our European and Scandinavian neighbours the Shipping Forecast on LW was often the best and definitely the cheapest way you could get a detailed idea of the coming weather.
Alternatives.
Of course one of the reasons the BBC could remove its support for Long Wave is because fewer and fewer people use it. The old Shipping Forecast was superseded by online offerings from the early 1990s, and sailors lost the habit of tuning in to the radio. From at-a-glance synoptic charts giving you the graphic weather information through barometric lines and well-defined frontal systems to the incredibly interactive sites like PredictWind or Windy, the old business of listening to the R4 announcer and taking down details in some form of shorthand, became irrelevant unless you were over the horizon or anchored in a remote bay.
Navtex sets use the Long Wave for this very reason and the forecasts are free and fairly frequent, though sets-and-aerials themselves begin at around £300. The system was developed and tested in the 1970s and typically has a small screen of information for you to scroll through.
Starlink is probably the next best solution, though more suitable for liveaboards and long cruises with its monthly subscription packages. These are getting more affordable and in January 2026 Starlink for cruisers wanting high speed internet at sea, doubled the data consumption for its Roam Unlimited users from 50Gb to 100Gb per month on the £50/$50USD plan – with its Mini dish (consuming 20–40 watts (1.5–3.5amps/hr at 12V) during normal operation, typically retailing for under £250.
Cruising in the arctic some years ago we used a mini sat phone, mostly for weather and these remain a good option for use offshore though the cost is still around £300, though monthly hire can be as low as £15. There are per-minute charges and weather forecasts can be £1 a pop say.
AIS is also set to develop with more features – including real time weather at sea, see our story:
you have invested in a satellite system, which can be expensive if you are just cruising two weeks a year say.
Some history:
1861: Admiral Robert Fitzroy, captain of HMS Beagle when Charles Darwin was aboard, is often called the father of the Shipping Forecast. As head of the Meteorological Office he introduced the first British storm warning service for shipping in 1861, making use of the electric telegraph. He saw the Met office’s job as being primarily to save lives at sea. In 2002 the sea area of Finisterre was changed to Fitzroy in his memory.
1911: The Met Office began issuing marine weather forecasts including gale and storm warnings via radio transmission in Morse code for sea areas around Great Britain.
1925: The newly founded BBC took over the Shipping Forecast as a voice service, on Long Wave
1939: The forecast was suspended at the outbreak of the Second World War. Coded versions via civil defence networks were broadcast to ships and military personnel.
1945: BBC resumes the Shipping Forecast on the Home Service on July 29.
1956: 22 April the Shipping Forecast moves to the Light Programme on 200kHz (1500m)
1963: ‘Sailing By’ by Ronald Binge was chosen by the BBC as the musical interlude to be played every night before the Shipping Forecast.
1978: In November BBC Radio 4 took over the 1500m (200 kHz) long-wave frequency from BBC Radio 2 (which had been the Light Programme). The frequency was subsequently shifted, a smidgeon to the left, to 198 kHz in 1988 as part of international agreements to harmonize the spectrum.
2024: 31 March the four broadcasts a day on LW become two, with three at weekends.
2026: June 27: Last broadcast of the shipping forecast as R4 on Long Wave closes down.
