What is Dial-A-Buoy?
NDBC, a part of the National Weather Service (NWS), created
Dial-A-Buoy to give mariners an easy way to obtain the reports via a
cell phone. Dial-A-Buoy provides wind and wave measurements taken
within the last hour at the NDBC buoy and Coastal-Marine Automated
Network (C-MAN) stations. The stations operated by the National Data
Buoy Center are located in the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and
the Great Lakes. Since Dial-A-Buoy was initially established, the
feature has been expanded to include stations owned and operated by
other organizations including the United Kingdom Met Office and
Environment Canada.
Large numbers of boaters use the observations, in combination
with forecasts, to make decisions on whether it is safe to
venture out. Some even claim that the reports have saved lives.
Surfers use the reports to see if wave conditions are, or will
soon be, promising. Many of these boaters and surfers live well
inland, and knowing the conditions has saved them many wasted
trips to the coast.
An increasingly popular way to obtain the observations has been
through the Internet. In fact, NDBC's web site has received
more than a million hits a month. "Dial-A-Buoy is a logical
extension to the Internet," states NDBC's David Gilhousen. "It
will allow the mariner a way to get the conditions while
offshore, at the marina, or away from the Internet."
Buoy reports include wind direction, speed, gust, significant
wave height, swell and wind-wave heights and periods, air
temperature, water temperature, and sea level pressure. Some
buoys report wave directions. All C-MAN stations report the
winds, air temperature, and pressure; some also report wave
information, water temperature, visibility, and dew point.
How do I use Dial-A-Buoy?
To access Dial-A-Buoy, dial (228) 688-1948 using any touch tone
or cell phone. Assuming you know the identifier of the station
whose report you need, enter 1. Then, enter the five-digit (or
character) station identifier, followed by the # sign, in
response to the prompt. The system will ask you to confirm that
your entry was correct by pressing 1. After a few seconds, you
will hear the latest buoy or C-MAN observation read via computer-
generated voice. Characters are entered simply by pressing the
key containing the character. For Q, press "7", and for Z,
press "9". Please be patient and wait for the system to
finish prompting you; Dial-A-Buoy will not understand your entry
if you are too fast.
Dial-A-Buoy also can read the latest NWS marine forecast for most
station locations. If this option is available, the system will
prompt you to press the # key after the observation is read.
Wait to hear the tone at the end of the prompt before pressing
the # key.
When you are finished with Dial-A-Buoy, simply hang-up!
There are several ways to find the station locations and
identifiers. For Internet users, maps showing buoy locations are
given at http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/ .
Telephone users can enter a latitude and longitude and receive the closest
station locations and identifiers.
How Does Dial-A-Buoy Work?
The Dial-A-Buoy system does not actually dial into a buoy or C-MAN
station. The phone calls are answered by a computer at the
Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, where NDBC is located. The
computer runs currently available software to control the dialog and read
the forecasts and observations from NDBC's web site.
What are some problems with Dial-A-Buoy?
I entered a station identifier, but heard a response "Sorry, I
did not recognize that selection." You entered the station
identifier too soon. Wait until the system finishes asking you
for the identifier.
How do I enter characters for a Station Identifier?
Characters are entered simply by pressing the key containing the
character. For Q, press "7", and for Z, presses "9". For
example, to enter CHLV2, press the keys 24582 followed by the #
sign.
I entered a valid station identifier, but heard a response saying
that the topic was unavailable after about 6 second delay.
Occasionally, the Internet gets very busy here at Stennis Space
Center. The Web-On-Call software, which runs Dial-A-Buoy, has
been programmed to give this response if it cannot obtain our web
page to read in about 5 seconds. So, unfortunately, the answer
is: Try again later.
I pressed the pound sign to get a marine forecast but heard the
response, "Sorry I did not recognize that selection." You
entered the pound sign too early. Wait until you hear a tone to
press the pound sign.
How do I quit Dial-A-Buoy? Simply hang-up.
How do I hear the observations for another station? When you
are finished hearing the observations or forecasts, the system
will begin a long prompt saying, "To listen to this topic again,
press 1......" If you press 6 at this point, Dial-A-Buoy will
take you back to the beginning of the dialog.
