"Martin Rowley" wrote in message
...

"Darrell H" wrote in message
om...
I have read that the SYNOPs we get have been run continously via
GTS
since 1982.
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center archives of monthly-derived
synoptic
data go back to September 1982, which lends some credence to
this
claim.

... thinking about my original reply, I think you are right and
I'm
wrong about the *operational* implementation of the code. I'm
happy with
the 1969 trials, but I was observing / coding into SYRED (SYnop
REDuced)
code, an abbreviated form of the older code, until at least 1979!
(Formerly called, in the UK at least, AERO).

Yes, the first SYNOP message (FM11) must have been introduced
on 1st Jan 1960 ... that's when the DWR changed, anyway. In the UK
it started with temperatures reported in degF, though this changed
to
degC on 1st Jan 1961. Curious that. I wonder whether the change
was planned to happen at the same time as the introduction of of
the SYNOP but got delayed for some political reason.

The change to SYNOP (FM12) did indeed happen on 1st Jan
1982. I was surprised how quickly we all got used to it.

By the way, what's the latest on the planned change from
alphanumeric
to highspeed binary transmission?

Philip Eden