Herb Hilgenberg
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Herb Hilgenberg is a Canadian sailing enthusiast who, beginning in 1987, provided a daily ship-routing/weather forecasting service for vessels at sea. Hilgenberg provided his service free of charge via marine HF/SSB on a frequency of 12359.0 kHz starting at 2000 UTC.
Hilgenberg personally experienced bad weather at sea while sailing with his family. In response to the lack of information about weather on the ocean Hilgenberg started to contact boats on the ocean and update them with weather forecasts and routing suggestions. He provided his service to approximately 50 vessels a day, 7 days a week, operating from his home in Burlington, Ontario, Canada.
Hilgenberg has assisted the Coast Guard during multiple search and rescue cases and is credited with saving several lives. Herb Hilgenberg was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. At age 76 in 2013, after 25 years of operation, he closed his forecasting service.
Area of coverage
Herb primarily provided forecasts for the North Atlantic between the Eastern Seaboard and Europe, including the Caribbean Sea, the Bahamas Islands and the Gulf of Mexico. Limited coverage was also available for the South Atlantic and the Eastern Pacific subject to HF propagation. His forecasts were not available via E-mail, fax or telephone except in case of an emergency, as his service was intended for extended offshore passages.
Contacting Herb and his HF frequency
Herb operated fixed HF marine land station VAX498 on HF/SSB frequency12359.0. Vessels were advised to check in between 1930 and 2000 UTC.