Novra S200 Arrives

I received my new Novra S200 and installed it today.  It is working fine with the current NOAAPort signal.  I will see how it performs with the new NOAAPort signal in March.

NOAAPort Signal Changes March 2011

In March 2011, the NOAAPort signal will change from DVB-S to DVB-S2.  That means if you are using the Novra S75 receiver, you will need a new receiver.  The Novra S200 will work with both DVB-S and DVB-S2.

This change will increase the data rate from 10.24Mbps to about 30Mbps.  There will be a 30 day window between March 5, 2011 and April 3, 2011 when both signals will be present.  After April 3, 2010, the DBV-S signal will be discontinued.

You can read more from this data management notice.

If you use NOAAPort, you need to plan on purchasing a new receiver.  Novra is offering a discount to existing S75 owners.

NWS Map Colors and Priorities

You will find a list of the colors used on the NWS web warning maps here:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/wwamap-prd/wwacolortab.php?x=1

and

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/wwamap-prd/faq.php

The priorities for the colors can be found here:

http://www.weather.gov/om/guide/Section6.pdf

NOAAPort Update

Here is the latest information announced in ADMNCF.

ADMNCF

Subject: AWIPS SBN Status Update

On Sunday December 5th at approximately 2100Z, the AWIPS NCF moved all AWIPS NWS sites to a temporary frequency due to SBN interference problems that were found on the original AWIPS SBN frequency.

During the past 24 hours, the NCF has worked with the satellite provider, GLOBECOM, to ensure all interference problems experienced throughout the weekend have been corrected. Today between 1930Z and 2000Z, GLOBECOMM will perform intrusive testing on the original AWIPS SBN signal.

All AWIPS offices are still currently using the temporary AWIPS SBN frequency and will not be impacted by the intrusive testing that is taking place. External NOAAPORT users that are currently using the original AWIPS SBN frequency may experience brief data outages while testing is taking place.

Tomorrow, December 8th between 1400Z and 1500Z, the NCF will re-point all NWS offices back to the original AWIPS SBN frequency. The switch back to the original AWIPS SBN frequqncy will be done remotely by the NCF and sites should not see any downtime as a result of the switch back to the original frequency. Once all sites have been re-pointed back to the original AWIPS SBN frequency, another admin message will be sent.

On December 8th at 1600Z, the temporary AWIPS SBN frequency that was established will be terminated. Any external NOAAPORT users pointed to the temporary AWIPS SBN frequency will need to switch back to the original AWIPS frequency before 1600Z on December 8th.

Thank you for your continued patience while these issues are being resolved.

All NOAAPort users should switch back to 1193.5 before December 8th 1600Z.

NOAAPort Receive Problems

There have been significant receive problems with the NOAAPort signal today.  After lunch my Novra receiver was not able to lock onto the signal at 1193.5 mhz.  Around 8:00 someone announced that the frequency may have changed.  Our friend Dave, KG4YZY, found out that the new frequency was 1138.5.  After updating the Novra with the new frequency, it is now locked and receiving data.

I don't know if this is a permanent change or only temporary until the original problem is resolved.

First Polygon Siren Activation occurred today in Autauga County

The first polygon siren activation, using WxSiren Controller, occurred today in Autauga County.  Here is a copy of the automatic siren activation message.

NOXX02 KWXM 301515

SIRWXM

WEATHER MESSAGE SIREN CONTROLLER
ACTIVATION MESSAGE
915 AM CST TUE NOV 30 2010

SIREN ACTIVATION TYPE: AUTOMATIC
ACTIVATION CLASS : Tornado
PRODUCT : Tornado Warning

SIRENS:
401
407
408
410

$$

I will be posting a news release later today.

Windows not visible after screen resolution changes

Several users have run into situations where some of the Weather Message windows are not visible after changing the screen resolution.  I have added code to the programs to check and see if the program's window is on one of the connected monitors.  If the window is off screen, it will be moved back on the screen.

Right now this code works immediately with child windows.  If the program's primary window is missing, the user will have to stop and restart the program.  When it restarts, it will be visible.

In the past, users were required to edit the registry or an ini to get a missing window back.  This will save the user and me alot of time.

Weather Message 3.8 Beta 1

I am in the process of uploading Weather Message 3.8 Beta 1.  This release of Weather Message will using the Microsoft.Net Framework 4.0 if it is installed on the computer.  I recommend that all users install Microsoft.Net Framework version 4.  You can install the 4.0 framework from this link. 

Note:  If you install the version 4 framework, make sure you install the full version 4 framework.  Microsoft made a version 4 client profile that does not contain all of the version 4 assemblies.

All of the programs are compiled against Microsoft.Net framework Version 3.5.  Most likely they will be compiled against the version 4 framework before 3.8 is released.  The current beta will allow us to evaluate the programs using the version 4 framework.  Initial tests did not reveal any problems.  The version 4 framework contains a number of enhancements that may improve program speed and/or operation.

Several of the programs in this release of Weather Message will not work on Windows 2000.  I do not recommend installing Version 3.8 on a Windows 2000 computer.

NWS Products and Services Reference Guidebook

The NWS Products and Services Reference Guidebook can be found at this address http://www.weather.gov/om/guide/ This guidebook contains some good general information about the NWS products and services.

WxMap - Speed Increases

After researching an issue in WxMap, I ran some performance tests to see if using a county's database identifier was faster than finding the county by center point.  The current operation, in general, is faster than database access.  If the county appears in the database first, the database method is somewhat faster.

I did some research on my mapping component vendor's website and discovered that using 'rtree' indexing would make the spacial operations faster.  I thought I had already enabled that option.  Upon checking I did find that I enabled that option on each layer.

When I read through several posts, I discovered that rtree indexing should be enabled after adding the layer to the viewer.  I gave that a try and was blown away.  The speed increase is remarkable.  It is well over 100% faster than the old operation.  Users will definately notice the difference if they are alarming the entire United States.

This operation does create an additional file in the Map directory for each map layer.  You will notice a new file for each layer with the extension 'rtree'.  The files are not really large and are created the first time the map program is loaded.

WxMap now supports a dynamic map legend

WxMap now supports a dynamic map legend.  The map can continue to be static or two versions of dynamic.  Dynamic 1 only displays products that are checked with the show in legend option.  Dynamic 2 displays all active products.  Here are examples of the legend.

These two map legends are dynamic.  The second map legend displays 'No Active Products'.

WxLoader and the PRO-Lite TruColor II

WxLoader can now upload text to the PRO-LITE TruColor II scrolling led sign. Here is a link for information on this sign - http://www.pro-lite.com/indoor-singleline-plm20.htm

Using WxLoader, the sign can read "A Tornado Warning as been issued for the following counties in Alabama, Tallapoosa, expiring at 9:00." (It flashes the word Tornado in red.)

This is a picture of the Pro-Lite PL-M2014RV6.

Weather Message 3.7 Released

Weather Message V3.7 has been released. You can download the update at http://www.wxmesg.com/downloadsnet.htm. For information on what has changed in this release, please read the release notes.
There are over 80 changes in this release. Here are some highlights.

• Updated support for Facebook and Twitter.
• User defined products.
• Updated map zones (You will need to download the map update).
• WxMap can now embed an image in a saved map image.
• WxLoader supports the Pro-Lite LED sign.
• See the release notes for a complete list of changes.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, bug reports and assistance with the software. Work will begin on version 3.8 right away. Watch the beta page for updates.

Suggestions for 3.8

• WxMap add a dynamic legend

WxDataSave, WxLocal and the Retransmission applications have been respectively released along with Weather Message 3.7. If you are using any of these applications, they must be upgraded at the same time you upgrade Weather Message.

Note: I have a large number of pending requests. I will begin to address these over the coming months.

Note: I am working on a new Weather Message website. I hope to place the new website on-line by the end of this month. This change will ultimately allow users to login and obtain their registration codes. It is based on a popular content management system and will allow me to quickly update the website.

2011 Satellite Direct Readout Conference

The 2011 Satellite Direct Readout Conference will be held April 4-8, 2011 in Miama Florida.  For more information visit http://directreadout.noaa.gov/miami11/

The conference will provide information on:

● International Cooperation:

• Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)
• WMO, EUMETSAT, NOAA/NESDIS
• Satellite Providers and Users from the Americas
• Frequency Management

● Current and Future Polar Direct Readout Services:

• APT, LRPT
• HRPT, AHRPT
• LRD, HRD
• Argos DCS

● Polar Systems:

• POES
• MetOp
• EOS
• NPP
• JPSS
• Polar Field Terminals

● Current and Future Geostationary Direct Readout Services:

• GVAR, GRB
• GOES DCS
• LRIT, HRIT
• EMWIN

● Current and Future Geostationary Systems:

• GOES-13, 14, 15, and R/S
• MSG
• MTSAT, etc.
• Geostationary Field Terminals

WxLoader - Interfaced to the Pro-Lite Scrolling Led Sign

After 5 months, I have gotten back around to testing my new Pro-Lite II scrolling led sign.  After I learned how to program the unit, I change WxLoader to support sending text to the Led Sign.  It works great.  I am still working with the colors so that I can make watch and warnings look different.

This is a picture of the Pro-Lite PL-M2014RV6.

WxMap - Adding a logo to the saved map image

The next release of WxMap will allow you to insert a user defined logo in the saved map image.  This allows you to personalize the image that you use on websites.  The Map Save tab allows you to specify the location on the map.  The logo must be saved in the same directory as WxMap.exe or WxMapNet.exe, generally c:\Program Files\WxMesgNet, with the name WxMapLogo.png.

If you create the logo with tranparency the map will show through the logo.  I created a test logo that will go out with the next beta.  Here is what it looks like this:

I used Paint.Net to create the image and make the background semi-transparent.

EMWIN Success Stories

I am collecting user testimonials on how EMWIN has been used to "save the day". If you use EMWIN to protect citizens, save life, and property, I would like to hear your story.

With your permission, I will list your testimonial on www.emwin.net for others to read. We need to let others know the value of EMWIN.

You can email your testimonials to me or post them here on the Weather Message Yahoo Group. If you do not want your name or agency included with your testimonial, please let me know. I will respect your wishes.

Weather Message Support for Windows 2000 will end soon

Weather Message will no longer support Windows 2000 after version 3.7 is released.  Microsoft has dropped support for Windows 2000 in the Microsoft .Net Framework version 4.0.  I am planning on moving the software to the .Net Framework 4.0 version with the 3.8 beta. 

Here are the system requirements for Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0.

Supported Operating Systems:  

• Windows XP SP3
• Windows Server 2003 SP2  
• Windows Vista SP1 or later
• Windows Server 2008 (not supported on Server Core Role)
• Windows 7
• Windows Server 2008 R2 (not supported on Server Core Role)

Supported Architectures:

• x86
• x64
• ia64 (some features are not supported on ia64 for example, WPF)

Hardware Requirements:

• Recommended Minimum: Pentium 1 GHz or higher with 512 MB RAM or more
• Minimum disk space:  x86 – 850 MB, x64 – 2 GB

Twitter and Facebook Support in Weather Message

Weather Message Beta 7 includes the new Twitter authentication changes.  This release also introduces Facebook support.  The F1 help's supplement section contains example setups for Twitter and Facebook.

Note:  After discussing the facebook implementation with one user, I discovered that you can only post to your personal page.  If you manage multiple facebook "pages", the current implementation will not post to those pages.  I have been testing changes that will allow you to post to any page that you administer.  Those will be available in the next beta release.

Update:  Beta 8 now includes support for multiple facebook pages.

Twitter Changes

Twitter is changing their authentication mechanism from "Basic Authentication" to "OAuth".  Twitter provides this description: "OAuth is an authentication protocol that allows users to approve application to act on their behalf without sharing their password."

Twitter will be disabling Basic Authentication at the end of this month.  For Weather Message to continue sending tweets, I will need to make some involved changes.

I have moved this item up on my priority list and will try to add this capability to Weather Message.

WxLocal - Speaking the local weather conditions

WxLocal is receiving the ability to speak the local weather conditions.  The program can also write out the speech to a wave file.  It sounds good with the Windows 7 text to speech processor. 

I sure would be nice if WxLocal would send that wave file to Weather Message so it could upload it to a website and/or send it on to the clients to play.

The ability to play wave files in the Message Client would be nice addition.

Sending Multiple Emails

Weather Message's email routines send email sequentially using a background worker thread.  When an alarm matches a received product, a task is created for each email group associated with the alarm.  These tasks are added to the email queue for processing.

The email processor will generally work through the queue in short order.  If the email group has a large number of email addresses, it does take some time to send each email address to the smtp server.  While all of that is taking place the other email tasks are waiting.

I have completed the code to create a pool of threads.  This pool could be used to spawn multiple threads that will take a task from the email queue and start sending it to the smtp server.  The question for now is whether this will make the overall sending faster.   If the smtp server is throttled per connection, having multiple connections could make sending emails faster. 

I ran into a situation with a SNPP server that was slow per connection.  In this case, using multiple threads could have made that faster.

Now that the code is complete, I will be running some tests to see how this will work.  If the smtp server allows for multiple connects from one user, we might be able to deliver emails faster.  For users that only have a few groups, this would not have any affect.  For users that have bunches of email groups that are activated often, this may make delivery faster.

Note:  If the limiting factor is the internet pipe speed, there is nothing that we can do to make it faster.

I will report further as testing starts later this week.

Siren Controller - Activation Notice

The Weather Message Siren Controller now has the ability to send email notification of siren activations.  Previously, you would email the actual activation product.  Now the program can generate activation notificates whether automatic or manual.  The Siren Controller sends activation notices to Weather Message Server for processing like normal NWS products.

Here is a example manual activation to cancel the sirens:

NOXX02 KWXM 052011

SIRWXM

WEATHER MESSAGE SIREN CONTROLLER
ACTIVATION MESSAGE
311 PM CDT MON JUL 5 2010

SIREN ACTIVATION TYPE: MANUAL
ACTIVATION CLASS : Cancel

GROUPS:
1
2
 
SIRENS:
801
803
$$

This gives the agency feedback on the sirens and groups that were selected for activation.

National Weather Service Survey

The National Weather Service is asking users to complete a survey. In this survey you will have the option to selecting EMWIN or NOAAPort as your data source. I recommend that you take the opportunity to give the NWS feedback on your ingest method and their services and products.

The NWS is undertaking research on how satisfied you are with our products and services and would appreciate your feedback. The purpose of this research is to help the NWS improve its services. The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete and need not be finished all at once. We also encourage you to take a moment and complete one or more of the optional sections focused on Marine, Aviation, and Hazardous Weather.

The Survey is at the following link: https://svy.cfigroup.com/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.dll?idx=3XRBCG

Backlog of files to be processed

A couple of users have reported a large backlog of files to be processed in their received files directory.  Under normal circumstances, this should not occur.  The processing of files depends on the number of alarms, number of connected clients, speed of the files being received, load on the computer and the speed of the computer itself. 

I have not seen this problem myself, however, I knew that the ingesting routine in Weather Message Server was ready for a make over.  I spend some time over a couple of days to rewrite the queue processing and ingest routines.  These changes will help with the backlog of files.

I moved the file processing to an independent thread. I moved the ingest directory read operation to another independent thread.  The ingest processing routine will now read all files in the directory at one time and queue them for the processing routine. The processing routine will then process them back-to-back without any internal delay.  The previous routine had some delay between each file.

I downloaded and processed the 3 hour EMWIN ftp archive.  This archive contains over 2400 files.  The server processed them in about 2 seconds.  The performance was definately improved.

I have to admit that I have a new 64bit Windows 7 computer with an i7 processor.  That cpu contains 4 cores with hyper-threading.  The i7 appears in the performance monitor as 8 cpu's.

A word of caution is always in order when creating additional threads.  Some think that the more treads you create the faster the processing.  That may not be the case for a single core computer.  Each thread has to share time on that one cpu.  You start to see the benefits of multiple threads when you have mulitple cores.

The changes will definately improve the program's processing speed, regardless of the number of cpu's.

User Defined Product File

The next beta release of Weather Message will add a user defined Product file.  In the current release, users that want to change the descriptions of products manually change Product.dat.  If they have user defined products, they update this file with their specific information.

The Weather Message Program Update installer asks the user if they want to install a revised Product.dat.  If this question is answered Yes, the installer overwrites the user's Product.dat.  In most cases that is not a problem.  For those users that are manually maintaining their Product.dat, it is a big problem.  The user can always restore the Product.dat file from the backup folder.  They however will not get the updated product file.

In the next beta, users that want to modify the product.dat file should update ProductUser.dat instead.  All additions and changes will be added or overwrite those in Product.dat.  This will allow users to easily add and change products without losing the ability to receive an updated Product.dat file.

This capability will allow me to easily define user specific products for the siren controller application.  I will not have to worry that the next update will wipe out my settings.

Thanks for the suggestion Todd.

Senate, House, Noaa, FCC Contacts

Regarding FCC ET Docket No. 10-123:  If you do not know your senator or representative's contact information, you can use the following links.

Representative
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml

Senator
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Noaa Administrator

Dr. Jane Lubchenco

Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

1401 Constitution Avenue, NW
Room 5128
Washington, DC 20230
jane.lubchenco@noaa.gov

National Weather Service Administrator

Dr. Jack Hayes

Assistant Administrator for Weather Services and Director, National Weather Service
National Weather Service
1325 East West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910
jack.hayes@noaa.gov

Department of Commerce Secretary
 
Secretary Gary Locke

United States Department of Commerce
1401 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20230


FCC Filing

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/

EMWIN Satellite Transmission Threatened

On June 4, 2010 the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology "Requests Information on use of 1675 – 1710 MHz Band", ET Docket No. 10-123.  They are requesting information on the current users of this frequency spectrum.  The EMWIN Satellite data stream uses 1690.725 Mhz and 1692.7 Mhz. 

This release seeks to reallocate this frequency spectrum for "broad band" internet.  This action would completely destroy EMWIN and LRIT services. Users have until June 28, 2010 to comment on this request.  See FCC Release for more information.

I plan on posting a reply and writing to NOAA and my congressmen.  Now is the time for action - all EMWIN users, both satellite and internet based, should object to any reallocation.

I will be updating the blog on this as I learn more.

Support for WinFax Pro retired in 3.7 release

Support for WinFax Pro will be removed from Weather Message version 3.7.  WinFax Pro is no longer being sold by Symantec.  According to wikipedia, "Symantec discontinued sales and support of WinFax PRO on June 30, 2006."

Users that need support for WinFax Pro can continue to use version 3.6.

AT&T Natural Voices on 64 bit Windows 7

It took some time to figure out how to get the AT&T Natural Voices to work on Windows 7 64 bit.  Apparently the control panel applet for selecting the default voice only works with 64 bit voices (Anna). 

In order to change the 32 voices, you have to run:
             %windir%\SysWOW64\speech\SpeechUX\sapi.cpl

This is the 32 bit control panel applet.  I need to keep reminding myself to look at the 32 bit control panels when I cannot get something to work.

Dell T1500

I am in the process of changing out my old Dell 8400 3.4ghz Windows XP system with a new Dell T1500 i7 2.8 ghz Windows 7 64bit system.  I already have spent about 6 hours reloading all of the software.  I am still not finished.

There are some software applications that I have not been able to get to run on Windows 7 64 bit.  For the most part everything else seems to work. 

I will say that this is a nice computer.

Get control over the Message Box position

Alot of the Weather Message programs display message boxes to tell the user that they entered something wrong or to ask a Yes or No question.  The built-in message box appears centered in the screen.  You cannot center it over the calling form without a bunch of win32 calls.

I took several hours this morning to write a new message box class.  This message box works like the old one and has two new features.  It can be centered over the calling form and it now has the ability to automatically close after a programmed number of seconds.

I will be working to change the existing message box calls to this new class.  Users will not have to chase after the message box when this change is completed.

EMWIN Software Demodulator

Several users have reported problems with installing the NWS EMWIN Software Demodulator on Windows 7 computers.  Those problems are related with User Account Control (UAC).  In most cases turning off UAC allowed the software to install properly. 

I had a user attempt to install the EMWIN Software Demodulator on a Windows 7 64 bit system.  The NWS installer kept reporting that Data1.cab was corrupted.  Right now I don't know why it reported that file as corrupted.

In order to get around this problem, I created a new installer for the EMWIN Software Demodulator.  The new installer corrects a number of problems associated with Windows 7 (and I suspect Vista).  The new installer does not require the user to unzip the installer to a directory, then run setup.exe.  It also defaults the demodulator to the EMWIN-N signal (19200 speed).

For Windows 7 users, with UAC enabled, the EMWIN Control panel would not start or stop the Data Source or Demodulator services.  This happend because the control panel applet was not running with elevated privileges.  The new installer creates the menu option with the options necessary to launch the control panel with elevated privileges.  (WxEmwin should start it properly.)

I went ahead and included the Weather Message Software Demodulator extentions.  These extensions allow the EMWIN Software Demodulator to send status message to WxEmwin so that it can display operational information about the EMWIN Software Demodulator.

The NWS EMWIN Software Demodulator is provided free by the National Weather Service.  The repackaged installer is available on the Weather Message website.

Weather Message 3.6 Released

Weather Message V3.6 has been released. You can download the update at http://www.wxmesg.com/downloadsnet.htm. For information on what has changed in this release, please read the release notes.

There are over 80 changes in this release. Here are some highlights.

• Email subsystem now supports secure connections.
• VTEC settings will now automatically populate based on the alarmed product.
• The Message and Map clients can now automatically locate Weather Message Server on the network.
• Support for posting to Twitter and Facebook.
• Cell phone product email address lookup.
• See the release notes for a complete list of changes.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, bug reports and assistance with the software. Work will begin on version 3.7 right away.  Watch the beta page for updates.

Suggestions for 3.7

• Release Weather Message Web Based User Manager
• Add support for scrolling LED signs.

WxDataSave, WxLocal and the Retransmission applications have been respectively released along with Weather Message 3.6. If you are using any of these applications, they must be upgraded at the same time you upgrade Weather Message.

Note: I have a number of pending requests. I will begin to address these over the coming months.

GOES 12 - drifting to 60 degrees - now transmitting

The GOES 12 satellite is now drifting to 60 degrees. The drift is about .5 degrees per day. As of yesterday, the satellite is back transmitting 9600 baud EMWIN data.

For those of you that do not have a 19,200 receive system and cannot see the west coast satellite, you should be able to reposition to receive the GOES 12 data stream. The satellite will continue drifting until it arrives at 60 degrees around May 21.

I have not tried to receive the signal yet, but will over the weekend. My dish, due to mounting location, cannot be positioned to the west coast satellite.

New Feature ??? Scrolling LED Signs

One of my customers has a scrolling LED sign.  While talking to the customer, I mentioned that I was interested in seeing Weather Message control an LED sign.  One thing led to another and I ordered me one today for testing.

This is a picture of the Pro-Lite PL-M2014RV6.

This may be a good job for WxLoader.  I will know more when my unit arrives from California sometime next week.

Microsoft Releases the .Net Framework Version 4

Microsoft has released the .Net Framework Version 4.  The framework was released with the Visual Studio 2010 development environment.  I will be upgrading my development environment at some point in the very new future. 

I recommend that users go ahead and download the new framework at their convenience.  This will save you time when I release a software version that requires the version 4 framework.  You may also get some enhancements from the new framework.  You can download the latest version from this link Framework 4.

Testing the new EMWIN Internet Feed

My EMWIN byte blaster server is participating in a test of the new EMWIN Internet Feed.  It has been serving the new data stream for 18 hours now.  Everything looks good with no problems encountered.

Each connected client should consume about 19kb of bandwidth.  Some clients (ingest programs) can received compressed packets which reduces the bandwidth requirements.  Right now with 40 clients connected, the average bandwidth used is around 510kb.  That averages out to 13kb per connected client.

I have been submitting routine reports to the EMWIN Team.  I hope they find the test successful and begin moving all servers to the new EMWIN feed.

GOES-12 (East) has transitioned to GOES-13 (East)

At 15:35 UTC, the GOES-12 EMWIN feed transitioned to GOES-13.  GOES-13 is now transmitting EMWIN data at 19200 baud using QPSK modulation.

This was a big undertaking that has been planned for many years.  Thanks goes to all the people involved.  A special thanks to the EMWIN Team at NWS HQ who have been kind enough to answer my numerious inquiries.

Converting Werner Labs 3 foot dish to 6 foot

Tom Moore sent me some pictures showing his conversion of a Werner Labs 3 foot dish to his 6 foot dish.  He said it increased the signal strength and reduced his error rate.

Here is a picture of the original Werner dish.

Tom removed the antenna and moved it to the 6 foot dish.  Here is a picture of it installed on the big dish.

Here is a close up of the antenna mount.

Using Weather Message to update your Facebook status

Weather Message 3.6 Beta C allows users to update their Facebook status.  To send status updates to Facebook, you will need do do the following.  (Make sure you have version 3.6 Beta C installed)

1. Go to Facebook and click on Mobile at the bottom of the page.
2. Look for Upload via Email.  You need your upload email address.  (I had to click on an option at the top of the page that opened a window with the email address.  My next visit to the mobile page showed the email address on the main page.)
3. Setup a Facebook email group.
4. Set the Style for this group to Short.
5. Set the Subject Style to Full.
6. In the Subject Override line enter $Message$ (this causes the message to appear in the subject line)
7. Enter your Facebook upload email address in the email address box.
8. Save the Facebook group.
9. Associate this group with the alarms that you want sent to Facebook.

GOES East Transition still scheduled for April 26

The NWS issued a Public Information Statement today reminding EMWIN users of the pending GOES East satellite transition.  Here is an excerpt from the PNS.

THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE DATA AND INFORMATION SERVICE RECENTLY SET THE DATE FOR GOES 13 SATELLITE TO REPLACE GOES 12 /EAST/ SATELLITE AS ON OR ABOUT APRIL 26 2010. DUE TO CHANGES IN THE SATELLITE CONFIGURATION THAT PROVIDE THE EMERGENCY MANAGERS WEATHER INFORMATION NETWORK /EMWIN/ BROADCAST... EMWIN USERS MUST TAKE ACTION TO ENSURE CONTINUED RECEPTION OF THIS DATA SERVICE.

ON OR BEFORE APRIL 26 2010 USERS WITH LEGACY EMWIN SYSTEMS WILL NEED TO REPOINT TO GOES WEST OR UPGRADE TO AN EMWIN-N CAPABLE SYSTEM. LEGACY USERS SHOULD TRY REPOINTING TO GOES WEST AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO DETERMINE IF THEY WILL BE ABLE TO ACQUIRE THE SIGNAL FROM THEIR LOCATION.

Website - T1 upgrade

The Weather Message website got a speed increase yesterday.  The Internet connection went from 1.5mb to 6mb.  This should make downloads much faster.  It now has 4 bonded T1's.

Weather Message Version 3.6 Beta A(10) posted

Weather Message Version 3.6 Beta A(10) has been posted to the website.  This beta contains a few changes to address some reported issues and add a couple of new features.  We are nearing the end of the 3.6 beta process.  I hope that version 3.6 can be released in a couple of weeks.

With each beta, the Weather Message beta testers load the betas and report their results.  I install each one on my production computer for a full evaluation.  If you are testing this beta, let me know if you encounter any issues.

Lightning - Probably time to upgrade to Windows 7

My network took a lightning strike this morning at 5:35.  I was already up and moving around when I heard that "pop" coming from the computer/radio room.

I lost two wireless routers, an on board lan card in the development computer.  I don't have any phone service.  The ham repeater will talk but not listen.  I am sure there are other devices down, but will not know until I start restoring some of the things.

Good news is the internet satellite did not die, EMWIN receiver is good, and NOAAPort is working great.  Some people build great equipment and charge a little extra for lightning protection in their equipment.    I don't think the parts in the LinkSys with stood the test...

I am now considering a new development computer.   Lightning -- yes time to consider upgrading.

Autauga County Monthly Test

I traveled to Autauga County yesterday to participate their monthly siren test using WxSiren Controller.  Everything worked as planned.

Weather Message 3.6 Beta 9

I have posted Weather Message 3.6 Beta 9 to the Weather Message website.  If you are a beta tester give this version a try.  I am thinking that this will be the last beta before the 3.6 public release.

WxByte/WxIngest/WxEmwin will not decode - Regional and Language Options

A user was having a difficult time trying to get WxEmwin to decode data.  It had worked, but stopped decoding the EMWIN stream.  The program was reporting 100% bad packets with header errors.

I got the user to run WxEmwin with the LOG option and reviewed the results.  The program was failing to decode the date in the EMWIN packet header.  The date looked ok to me.  I got the user to check their Regional and Language Options and discovered they were set to English(Australia).  The user was in the southern hemisphere.  That setting changes the internal date routines to expect the date in DD/MM/YYYY order.  The EMWIN header is in MM/DD/YYYY order.

I got the user to change their Regional and Language Options to English(United States) and WxEmwin started decoding data.  Previously, it worked for sometime at the beginning of the month, but failed after the 12th day. 

This issue affects all version 3.x releases of Weather Message.   It may also affect the version 2 programs - I did not test them for this problem.

I have made changes for the next release that will address this problem.  I reviewed all of the programs that validate dates.  If they are expecting the date in MM/DD/YYYY order, they will now use the culture settings for the United States to make those validations.

Thanks to Colin for his help in identifying this problem.

Integer Overflow Checks

I disabled integer overflow checks in Weather Message 3.6 Beta 8.  I don't recall seeing an integer overflow in the programs.  This change will reduce the cpu consumption for all programs to some degree.

With integer overflow checks enabled, the internal routines would check to see if an integer overflow occurred for each math operation on an integer.  That is simply not necessary in Weather Message.  There are lots of loops that use integers in Weather Message.  Checking for an overflow in those well behaved loops is not necessary.

EMWIN - Dual Ingesting (Serial and Internet) - Duplicate Graphic Files

I have several users that dual ingest.  They have the EMWIN serial ingest and internet ingest enabled at the same time.  One of those users noticed that they were getting duplicate graphic products.  After some research I discovered that the duplicate binary file routine was using local time instead of UTC.  That issue is now corrected.

The latest beta contains the fix for this problem.  Users that do not dual ingest may notice a decrease in the number of graphic files.  The EMWIN stream does output some duplicate graphics.

Introducing Grant Dark - Weather Message Sales

I want to introduce my associate Grant Dark.  Grant is the primary contact for sales and support for WxSiren Controller and emPager Pro.  He will also be helping Weather Message users.

I have worked with Grant for over 7 years.  He has a degree from Auburn University in agronomy.  How he became an acomplished computer technician, trainer and marketing person is another story.  He is married and lives on Lake Martin. 

Please join me in welcoming Grant to Weather Message Software.  If you are interested in WxSiren Controller or emPager Pro, email Grant directly at grant at wxmesg.com (replace the at with @).

WxSiren Controller Installed at Autauga County EMA

WxSiren Controller was installed Thursday February 18 at Autauga County EMA.  WxSiren will now be responsible for activating polygons based on polygons.  We performed tests to insure that the program operated properly.  We will run it through another round of tests in March.

Here is a link to the first Montgomery Advertiser article announcing the new system.  http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010100217040

Alarm Tab changes for Wind Speed

As part of the changes for setting wind speed and hail size, I made a couple of changes to make the Alarm tab cleaner and more informative.  The program will now use colors to indicate if a product as certain features.  Light-gray indicates that the feature is not available, a white background indicates it is available, while a light-green background indicates that the feature has been enabled.

Severe Thunderstorm - Wind Speed and Hail Size

The next beta release of Weather Message will support decoding the Wind Speed and Hail Size line in Severe Thunderstorm and Severe Weather Statements.  Forecast offices in the Central Region will start testing the "WIND...HAIL" line in SVR and SVS messages on March 1, 2010.

Only SVR and SVS products issued by Central Region forecast offices will contain the "WIND...HAIL" line.  If your forecast office is in the Central Region, you can use this option.  For other forecast offices, using this option will cause your alarm to not work.

Wind Speed will range from 60 miles-per-hour to 100 miles per hour.  Hail Size will range from .75 inches to 4.00 inches.  The alarm option will check for a match or greater speed.  (We could add variables for short messages if needed.)

This is a great addition.  I hope it will be implemented by all NWS forecast offices in 2011.

Note:  For everyone else, if you need this capability, you can use a regular expression to match wind speed embedded in the text.

WxEmwin - Pauses between packets - Revisited

Well sometimes you have to backup, punt and admit that you were wrong.  The explanation for pauses between some EMWIN Internet packets was a good definition.  It does happen as I explained in the previous post. 

The user that asked the question later sent me an example that I could not explain.  In his case, he was using WxEmwin to ingest an intermittent data stream create on a private network using WxRetran.  He setup WxRetran so that the stream was not sending data constantly like a regular EMWIN stream.  There was no fill file to make the stream constant.

After some research I found a problem in the buffering routines in WxEmwin.  When WxEmwin received a version 2 (compressed) packet, it kept that packet in the buffer until the next packet arrived or enough packets arrived to exceed the buffer processing point.  Once I saw it happen, I knew exactly what was causing the problem.

This issue would not really be noticed by regular EMWIN users.  When I added the option to disable/enable the version 2 (compressed) packet option to the program, the user changed the setting and noticed that the program no longer held packets in the buffer.  He just had to convince me that there was a problem.

So --- there was a good post about pauses between packets -- which lead to a real problem that was resolved in the last beta.

Tigertronics - ESP-96

A couple of my users have been communicating with Tigertronics about the upcoming EMWIN transition. They have been asking Tigertronics if they plan to provide a new receiver that is compatible with the EMWIN-N signal.

Based on the last information that I received, Tigertronics is evaluating whether to develop a new receiver. At this time, they do not have a receiver in development. In no case will one be available by April.

Users on the West coast will be able to use their existing receivers until the West coast satellite is decommissioned at the end of 2011. The East coast users that can receive the West coast satellite can continue to use their current receive system until the end of 2011.

If you have receive equipment that is not compatible with the EMWIN-N signal, you may want to consider repositioning your dish to see if you can receive the West coast signal.

April 26, 2010 --- GOES East will transition to EMWIN-N

From the EMWIN Transition page:  http://www.weather.gov/emwin/transition.htm

There are currently two GOES-N series satellites, GOES 13 and 14 in orbit and awaiting full time operations. Once they are placed into service the EMWIN-N broadcast will replace the current legacy broadcast. In order to receive and demodulate the EMWIN-N broadcast all users with legacy EMWIN systems will need to obtain EMWIN-N capable systems.

Although subject to change, the current plans are for:

• GOES 13 to replace GOES 12 (East) on or around April 26, 2010
• GOES 14 to replace GOES 11 (West) in December 2011

After GOES 13 becomes operational, GOES 12 will be moved to 60 degrees west to help support the Caribbean and South America. We are attempting to have the EMWIN-I 9.6 kbps signal remain on the GOES 12 satellite in order to ease the transition for users.

The transition could occur earlier due to premature failure of one or both of the current GOES satellites. All users should consider migrating to EMWIN-N capable systems. Please see the vendor page on the EMWIN website. Anyone with an EMWIN-N system can try out the broadcast by using GOES 14 satellite, which is providing a test broadcast.

Why the transition to EMWIN-N:

Changes in the next series of GOES satellites, the GOES-N thru P constellation, have necessitated development of EMWIN-N. Sometime before 2011 the current GOES satellites will be removed from operation and will be replaced by the new series. This will allow for the use of improved technologies, but all current EMWIN users will need to migrate due to frequency, power and modulation changes.

Coming Improvements Include:

• Data rate is doubled to 19.2 Kbps - More data!
• Forward error correction - Greater reliability
• Increased use of compression - More data!
• Enhanced data stream - Including regional Nexrad images
• Dedicated transponder
• No eclipse seasons

WxEmwin - Internet Ingest - Pauses between some packets

One of my users asked an interesting question today about WxEmwin's Internet ingest engine.  The user asked why there were pauses between some of the packets.  The user noted that data was being received ok, but it looked like there was some delay for some packets.

At 9600 baud, the current EMWIN data rate, one packet should be received about every second.  If the ingest engine is receiving a version 2 packet, the time between the packets could be longer.  A compressed packet increases the time between packets.

There are also other forces at work.  The TCP/IP subsystem in Windows uses the Nagle algorithm to improve the efficiency of the network by reducing the number of packets sent.  See Wikipedia's definition.

Windows may combine shorter packets into one larger packet before it is transmitted.  This act increases the efficiency of the network, but does cause small delays in packets.  The maximum transmission unit (MTU) for ethernet is 1500 bytes.  See Wikipedia.  This number could be less depending on the configuration of the network. 

A version 1 EMWIN packet contains 1106 bytes.  This number is less than a MTU of 1500 bytes.  Because of this windows could add additional bytes from the next EMWIN packet to reach the MTU support by the local network.  If the MTU is smaller it is possible that it could take multiple TCP/IP packets to transmit one version 1 EMWIN packet.

For version 2 EMWIN packets, this phenomena is more pronounced.  Version 2 packets are variable length.  This means that windows could possibly combine one or more packets into one larger packet before it is transmitted.

Regardless of whether packets are combined, WxEmwin's Internet ingest code will process the received packets properly.  You may simply notice some pauses in the status window.

Note:  The next release of WxBBSrvr will disable the Nagle algorithm so that I can evaluate the effect on the received data.

GOES 13 scheduled to replace GOES 12 on April 14, 2010

From NESDIS: GOES 13 is scheduled to replace GOES 12 on April 14, 2010.  See this link for more information:
 http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/SATS/SPBULL/MSG0261654.01.txt

This change will have a big impact on EMWIN users.  GOES 13 will transition the EMWIN data stream from 9600 baud to 19200 baud.  This will affect anyone receiving data from the GOES East satellite. 

When the transition occurs, if you do not have equipment capable of receiving the new EMWIN-N signal, you will be required to reposition your dish to the GOES West satellite.

You can watch for update messages on the Satellite Information website:  http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/SATS/

EMWIN Port 2211

At the request of Antonio Querubin, IANA (Internet Assigned Number Authority), assigned port 2211 for the EMWIN (Emergency Managers Information Network) data stream in March of 2008.  The ByteBlaster network presently uses port 1000/tcp for distributing EMWIN data and ByteBlaster server lists. 

I am glad to see a recognized port adopted (Thanks Antonio).  I guess I just let this information get by me.  I will be running some experiments to see what problems users would encounter switching from port 1000 to 2211.  I am sure some users have opened their firewall ports for outbound connections to port 1000.

There is presently one ByteBlaster server running on port 2211.  I may change my server for testing.  Having a couple of servers on port 2211 will make the transistion easier to adopt.

Multicast Address

I knew that EMWIN was assigned the multicast address 224.0.1.143.  I never had access to a multicast network, so I did not do anything with this information.  I am considering adding support for transmitting and receiving data by multicast.

Server Discovery

I was working with a customer that wanted to install the Weather Message Clients on their computers.  One of the setup steps was to enter the tcp/ip address and port of the server.  This resulted in a discussion about tcp/ip and how to determine the servers address.  For technical users this is not an issue.  For those that want to operate software, but not understand how it works internally, this can be a road block.

I am working on some changes that will allow the client applications to automatically discover a weather message server that is on the local network.  This will make installing the clients easier for the end user.

These changes are in the idea stage, but should be relatively easy to implement.

Update:  I have completed the changes for this feature.  It works well on the local network.

SSL Email Changes - Message Date Problem

 After one user downloaded Beta 3, he noticed that his emails were being flagged as spam.  Apparently the SSL Email component had a problem properly formating the email message date field.  It was putting a colon in the time field when there should have not been one.

I received an update from my TCP/IP vendor that corrects the problem.  I will be releasing a new beta this Sunday to address the problem.  If you are having the problem, just drop me an email and I'll send you the installer.

Optimization Weekend

I spent the weekend running a code analyzer on the Weather Message code base.  It recommended several changes that may help improve the speed of the programs.

I also started changing several of the internal lists to dictionary collections.  The dictionary collection can locate items much faster.  This would be something like getting the description of a product.  The old method was to iterate over the items.  The dictionary method is much faster in most cases. 

Before changing anything, I wrote programs to compare different approaches.  This has taken the better of three full days.  However, I am pleased with the results.

I want to do something with the county names list.  I am still running tests to see which approach is best.

Weather Message 3.6 Beta 3 Posted

I am in the process of posting Weather Message 3.6 Beta 3.  This release contains updated TCP/IP components to support the new SSL/TLS features for email.  These changes have been tested for a couple of weeks without any reported issues.

This release also contains a few additional features.  See the release notes on the beta site.

Note:  Due to the update to the TCP/IP components, you will have to upgrade WxLocal, WxDataSave and WxRetran if you use them on your computer.

Weather Message Website Download Problem

Some users are reporting an issue with downloading large installers from the Weather Message website.  Some of the downloads are coming down corrupted.  I have been having problems myself. 

After spending all day today on the problem, I think the problem may be Internet or router related.  I have called a couple of people that have Charter Internet and their downloads are working. 

If you run into a problem, let me know.  I can email you the installer.

Weather Message 3.6 will have all "exe" and "dll" files digitally signed

Starting with Weather Message 3.6 Beta 3, all "exe" and "dll" files will be digitally signed.  Microsoft calls this authenticode signing.  Microsoft highly recommends that all "exe" and "dll" files be signed for Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7.

This will bring the Weather Message programs into compliance with their recommendation.  I started signing the installers with the 3.5 release.  That did prevent alot of those "unknown publisher" messages.  This is an extra expense, but does bring a level of professionalism to the installation experience and program operation.

No Internet Slow Loading Revisited - Signed Executables

After many hours of research, I went ahead and updated the Weather Message installers so that they automatically disable the revolked certificate check in the Microsoft .Net framework.  What seemed so simple turned into a full day's worth of work.  The 32-bit and 64-bit directories have to be updated as appropriate.

Here is what Microsoft has to say about the change.

The common language runtime (CLR) tries to verify the Authenticode signature at load time to create Publisher evidence for the assembly. However, by default, most applications do not need Publisher evidence. Standard CAS policy does not rely on the PublisherMembershipCondition. You should avoid the unnecessary startup cost associated with verifying the publisher signature unless your application executes on a computer with custom CAS policy, or is intending to satisfy demands for PublisherIdentityPermission in a partial-trust environment. (Demands for identity permissions always succeed in a full-trust environment.)

For services they go one step further with this note.

We recommend that services use the element to improve startup performance. Using this element can also help avoid delays that can cause a time-out and the cancellation of the service startup.

After reading this information published by Microsoft, you would think they would disable this by default.  See this KB article for more information KB936707.

No Internet access can cause slow program loads

I have been doing alot of reading over the holidays about digitally signing programs for Vista and Windows 7.  I discovered that some Microsoft .Net programs might load slowly on computers that are not connected to the Internet.

This occurs with programs that are digitally signed.  (Microsoft recommends that all programs be digitally signed.)  The .Net Framework attempts to verify the digital signature.  One of the operations it performs is to see if the digital certificate has been revolked.  If the computer cannot access the Internet, a 30 second to 1 minute delay may be encountered.

The Weather Message programs prior to version 3.5 have not been digitally signed.  They however use components that are digitally signed.  Starting with version 3.6 some of the individual programs will be digitally signed.

If you have a computer that does not have Internet access, I recommend that you disable the check for revolked certificates.  This can be done by starting Internet Explorer.  Cllick Tools, then Internet Options.  Click on the Advanced Tab and scroll down to Security.  Uncheck the "Check for publisher's certificate revocation" option.  After saving this change reboot the computer.

Note:  No one has reported this problem.  I just ran across the information today and wanted to post it here as a reminder.

TCP Components Upgrade Completed

I have completed the TCP/IP components upgrade in Weather Message and emPagerPro.  During the upgrade I added support for SSL connections and NTLM authentication in the email subsystem. 

I am still testing the changes, but everything appears to be working properly.  There were quite a number of changes, but it was completed in record time.  It took about 12 hours to make the changes.  I had thought it would take longer.  The changes between IPWorks version 6 and version 8 were not as drastic as I had thought.

I need to update the documentation with the changes. 

TCP/IP Components Upgrade

I am in the process of upgrading the TCP/IP Components used in Weather Message.  This upgrade will give me the ability to implement secure (SSL,TLS) connections with email servers.  This will make it easy to use secure email servers like Google.

I am hoping that this upgrade will be relatively easy to implement in the software.  I will be working on it during the Christmas holiday.  This represents a $1500.00 investment in new software and technology.

This will make the email sub-system fully compatibile with all email servers.

Visual Studio 2008 - Changing the application manifest template

After discovering that Windows 7 wants a special guid in the application manifest, I wanted to change VS 2008's default manifest so that it included this GUID by default.

Here is the procedure.

Navigate to
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\VisualBasic\1033

Copy AppManifestInternal.zip to another directory. 
Extract the two files in AppManifestInternal.zip to a working directory. 
Change app.manifest as desired.

The following is the manifest that I am using.  It does not format properly here in the blog.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<asmv1:assembly manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" xmlns:asmv1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" xmlns:asmv2="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<assemblyIdentity version="1.0.0.0" name="MyApplication.app"/>
<trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">
<security>
<requestedPrivileges xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
<!-- UAC Manifest Options
If you want to change the Windows User Account Control level replace the 
requestedExecutionLevel node with one of the following.
<requestedExecutionLevel  level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false" />
<requestedExecutionLevel  level="requireAdministrator" uiAccess="false" />
<requestedExecutionLevel  level="highestAvailable" uiAccess="false" />
If you want to utilize File and Registry Virtualization for backward 
compatibility then delete the requestedExecutionLevel node.
-->
<requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" uiAccess="false" />
</requestedPrivileges>
</security>
</trustInfo>
<compatibility xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:compatibility.v1">
<application>
<!--Windows 7-->
<supportedOS Id="{35138b9a-5d96-4fbd-8e2d-a2440225f93a}"/>
<!--Windows Vista-->
<supportedOS Id="{e2011457-1546-43c5-a5fe-008deee3d3f0}"/>
</application>
</compatibility>
</asmv1:assembly>

After you complete the changes, zip up the changed file (app.manifest) back into AppManifestInternal.zip.  Copy AppManifestInternal.zip back to the original directory.

Now navigate to
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplatesCache\VisualBasic\1033\AppManifestInternal.zip

In this folder you will find the two files again.  This is in the cache directory.  Copy the app.manifest that you changed to this directory.

This completes the changes.  Now when you add an application manifest to a program using the View UAC Settings button, it will contain the changes for Windows 7.

Windows 7 - Program names that include "setup"

I took some time over the weekend to test the Weather Message installer on a Windows 7 computer that had UAC enabled.  I had already tested everything on a Windows 7 computer, but it did not have UAC enabled.

I discovered something interesting.  If a program name contains the word "setup", the Windows 7 program compatibility assistant thinks the program is an installer.  Weather Message contains the program WxMesgSetup.exe.  It thought it was an installer! 

As per Microsoft, I had already included an application manifest.  This manifest made Vista happy.  With that manifest, Vista did not think WxMesgSetup was an installer.  The program compatibility assistant was changed in Windows 7.  It still thought it was an installer, because it did not write an uninstall registry key.

To my dismay, when I clicked Save in Weather Message Setup, I was greeted with a window that said "This program might not have been installed correctly."  I had a prompt to reinstall the program or indicate that it was installed correctly.  Well the program was installed correctly.

After some research time, I discovered that Windows 7 wants a special GUID placed in the manifest of each program to indicate that the program is fully compatible with Windows 7.

I updated all of the programs with this special GUID.  Now Windows 7 no longer thinks WxMesgSetup.exe is an installer.

VTEC Action Description

After a couple of requests to change a VTEC action's description, I have moved those descriptions to an external file.  Version 3.6 will allow you to change those descriptions by editing the VTAction.dat file in C:\Program Files\WxMesgNet directory.

Google Voice - formerly Grand Central

Sometime ago I signed up for Grand Central.  That service is now known as Google Voice.  It is quite an interesting application.  When you sign up, you get assigned a telephone number for the city of your choice.  You then associate all of your telephones, cell and land based, with your account.  When someone calls your Google Voice number, their service will ring all of your phones trying to locate you.

It has one feature that I really like - voice mail with transcription.  When someone leaves you a voice mail, Google will transcribe that voice mail into text and email you the message.  You can go on-line and hear the message or just read the text.  (They say that I can use their voice mail instead of my cell phone voice mail.  I have not tried this yet, but it would be great.)

It has a number of nice features.  If I want to call my friend in New Mexico, I go to the website, enter his number and tell it my phone number.  It will call me first and then my friend.  No long distance!

They also have a gadget that you can post on a website or blog that will allow others to call you at no charge.  I have played with that feature with a couple of my Weather Message customers.  I give them a link, they enter their telephone number, Google calls them and then rings my home phone, office phone, business cell and personal cell.  If I don't answer Google routes it to voice mail, then sends me a short message on my cell phone.

Now that is what I call number portability.  I have one number that follows me everywhere.  No more hiding.  You just have to get that number.

I am considering using this capability for telephone support for users.

Oh - I forgot to mention that it is free....

Blog Change - Share It Gadget

I added a new gadget to the right side of the page so that users can share this blog on Twitter or Facebook.

Weather Message Version 3.6 Installer backs up user files

I have made changes in the Version 3.6 Update Installer so that it will backup all of the *.dat files to C:\Program Files\WxMesgNet\Backup, before overwriting these files. 

The Update Installer currently tells the user that it wants to install updated product files.  This is a little misleading.  There are a number of updated files.  For the 3.5 release, this included new FIPS County information and revised Zone County information.

Users will now receive a little more detail letting them know that several files will be updated.  It will not include a list of files.  It will tell users that if they install the revised files, their original files will be backed up in the directory listed above. 

This will allow users to go ahead and install the revised files.  After the install is completed, they could go back and restore the files that they have modified.

These files would not normally be modified by users, but in some situations, I have recommended users change these files to accomplish their requirements.

Weather Message posting to Twitter

Several users have asked about using Weather Message to post to Twitter. The HTTP Post method in Weather Message Paging should work. I tested this today and discovered that the service provider setup window would not allow me to enter a user name on the screen. (Apparently no one has used this capability.)

I corrected the problem in the setup program. I also made additional changes in WxPost.dll so that it would send the user name and password using basic authentication.

I ran some tests this evening and was able to post several short message to my twitter account. I will be releasing this in the first 3.6 beta. I will try to add the setup in the documentation. The service provider screen has to be setup properly for it to work.

Weather Message 3.5 Released

Weather Message 3.5 was released on November 26, 2009. There are a number of changes and enhancements. See the release notes for all of the details.

Installer File Versions

I did not realize that the Weather Message installers did not contain any version information. While researching code signing, I discovered that right clicking on the installer did not show the version tab.



Starting with version 3.5, right clicking on the installer will display the version number and other helpful information. Notice that the Digital Signatures tab now appears. This indicates that it has been digitally signed.

Security Warning - The publisher could not be verified.

As you may know, installing any of the Weather Message products from the Internet results in the following message:

This message appears because the Weather Message installers are not digitally signed. Microsoft calls this technology Authenticode or code signing. Until recently the cost to get a digital certificate was really expensive. In some cases it could cost $499 per year. That is way too expensive for a digital signature.

I discovered a new company that is trying to lower the cost of digital certificates. StartCom/StartSSL began offering free certificates several years ago. They however were not recognized by Microsoft and therefore their root certificates were not installed in Internet Explorer.

Starting with Windows 7, StartCom/StartSSL is now a recognized certificate authority. Their root certificates are now installed by default in Windows 7. They are also available for other operating systems by getting a root certificate update from Microsoft. (These are generally available through windows update.)

You can still get free digital certificates from them, but the ones needed to sign code cost $40.00 for two years. That is a bargin! Because of the price change, I have obtained certificates from http://www.startssl.com/.

Beginning with version 3.5, all of my installers will be properly signed. You will see the following message when running the installer:

It does show my name as the publisher, instead of Weather Message Software. I would have preferred Weather Message Software, however, for $40.00 that is fine.

This should make Windows Vista, Window 7 and Windows 2008 alot happier about installing my software.

I will note that StartCom offers free certificates for S/MIME (email) applications. You can also get free secure certificates for websites. I have not tried one on my webserver, but I will be doing that soon just to see how it works.

emPager Pro Client

Here is a picture of the emPager Pro Client screen. This application can be run on multiple computers for quick paging.

This application is now being used by the Tallapoosa County, Alabama, 911 dispatch centers.

My slight detour - emPager Pro

One of my customers had a pressing need for some paging software. After looking at the available software on the market, I decided to write a package. emPager Pro was born.

emPager Pro is a simple client/server paging application. It supports TAP, SNPP, SMTP, WCTP, and HTTP (get,post) protocols. You enter service providers, then individual users associated with those providers. Once the individuals are entered, you can easily form groups that contain the individuals.

The interface is very simple. You select one or more groups or individuals, type in a message and click send. There are some quick buttons that allow the users to select "canned" messages. More features will be coming as I develop this application.

Look for this application to be available publicly in the near future.

Labeling Layers

While working on the new WxSiren Controller, I discovered an easy way to enable labels for the optional map layers. In this application, we are loading a roads layer using one of the optional map layers.

The user wanted to see the road names. Right now Weather Message does not have the options on the layers configuration screen to display the labels or configure their colors. I was able to make a small change that now allows the program to load layer settings from an "ini" file associated with the shape file.

I will post the specifics and update the WxMap help file when the next beta is released.

Text to Speech using AT&T Natural Voices

I finally broke down and purchased the AT&T Natural Voices Mike and Crystal. The download was about 550mb each. One voice takes about 640mb of hard drive storage. I will have to say that these voices are almost like listening to a real person.

If you use the Text to Speech option in Weather Message, those voices, priced at $35.00 are a great deal. I wish I had purchased them sooner.

You will find an off-site purchase link at:

http://www.wxmesg.com/thirdparty.htm

Siren Controller - Live Test Successful

The live test of the Weather Message Siren Controller was completed today in Lee County Alabama. The software sent the DTMF commands to rotate a selected siren and it rotated. This test was unique in that it used the computer's sound card to generate the DTMF and the serial port to key the radio.

Tom Moore, WX4TM, Lee County EMWIN Coordinator called me this morning to deliver the good news. Frank McLemore, N4TKT, with Communication Electronic Services adjusted the sound levels on the computer interface. Once the deviation was set properly the individual siren controllers responded.

The software can generate DTMF, two-tone, and group call tones using the sound card. This added feature gives users a mix of different signaling capability. All of the signaling methods can be used to activate different devices all at the same time.

The software continues to support external encoders to meet the requirements of different users. They tested the Motron TC1/MX with success. The Motron TC1/MX is an external DTMF encoder.

Map Blinking

I constantly get requests to add the ability to blink counties on the map. I ran some experiments today and had success in blinking a color. The only problem was that it blinked that color no matter where it appeared.

It took 17 milliseconds on my 3.4 ghz pentium 4. While it is computing the image, nothing else can happen. That does not seem to bad, but for users with slower machines it could be a problem.

Siren Controller

The first off-line test of the Weather Message Siren Controller was completed today in Lee County Alabama. The Weather Message Siren Controller has the ability to activate sirens based on polygon warnings. It can activate individual sirens or groups of sirens based on their geographical relationship to the polygon.

The first test was a success. The software selected the correct sirens to activate based on the received polygon. It also selected and sent the correct activation codes that control the sound that the sirens produce.

The sirens in Lee County can be activated using DTMF codes. An interface was developed to communicate with the Motron Electronics TC1/MX, http://www.motron.com/ , DTMF controller. The DTMF controller interfaces to a VHF or UHF radio for communication with the sirens. The software can also interface with the Zetron Model 15P, http://www.zetron.com/, multi-format encoder.

I will be going to Lee County later this week to participate in the first on-line (on-the-air) test. Tom Moore, Lee County EMA's EMWIN Coordinator, encouraged me to develop this application.

This first version will be enhanced with additional capability. I will be adding a number of additional features that will make the siren controller a first class application.

Satellite Dish Pointing

I have been asked a number of times about satellite dish pointing. This website has all of the satellites listed and uses google maps to produce accurate pointing information for your location.

http://www.dishpointer.com/

Status

I am past due in making a post to the blog. The month of June went right by without a post. That was almost the case for July.

This summer has been really busy. Due to lightning damage at my amateur radio (ham radio) repeater site, I have spent alot of time repairing equipment. I am still waiting for equipment (5 weeks now) that has been sent back to the manufacturer for repair.

On a personal note, my grandmother's health has not been good this summer. She is 90 years young. I have had to spend some time at the hospital. She is home now, but she continues to be very fragile.

For the past 4 weeks, I have been in a funeral home every week to visit with my employees that have lost parents or grandparents. I have another one next week. This alone has made the summer a tough one.

On a lighter note, I spent some time today adding some new subject variables. You can now insert the product identifier, issued time in UTC and expiration time in UTC into the email or fax subject line.

I have a bunch of emails printed to review. I will be working those down over the next week. You users have good ideas and I will be working on those as time permits.

Weather Message version 3.5 will be released in the next 2 to 6 weeks. I want to run it a little longer before the public release.

WxScheduler - Variables not replacing

If you encounter a problem with WxScheduler Version 3.0 through 3.4 not replacing the variables, make sure that you use the same text casing that appears in the F1 help. The previous and current versions will not replace the variable if the text casing is not an exact match.

I have made changes in the next beta to address this problem. You should be able to use any text casing.

SSMPT - stunnel - Peer suddenly disconnected

I have a user that tried to use stunnel version 4.27 with the email provider smtp.mtco.com. stunnel would report "Peer suddenly disconnected". When I installed version 4.20 on their computer, stunnel would work properly with their email provider.

Apparently something changed that caused stunnel to not work properly with this email provider. Version 4.27 works ok with gmail, but fails with the users provider. A quick scan of the stunnel change log did not reveal the problem.

If you have a problem, you might want to download an older version of stunnel.

Email TLS (ssl) Support

Over the past couple of years, I have had a few users ask about using SSL (TLS) for emails. Since the cost of providing that capability is around $750.00, I have not included it in Weather Message.

I did write a document that described how to setup Weather Message to use Stunnel to provide the SSL capability. Stunnel is a freeware application that creates a secure tunnel for sending emails to a SSL server. This approach does work with Gmail, however, users have to follow the directions carefully.

I got 4 emails last week from users that need the SSL capability. I am investigating this capability again. Microsoft does have a built-in capability to send emails to a server that uses TLS. The only draw back is that the Microsoft method does not provide any debugging information. It either works or fails.

I am looking into adding support for this built-in smtp client. The challenge now is switching between the existing code (no ssl) and the new code. I prefer the existing solution for non-ssl emails because it provides good debugging information.

Web Server Access / Blocking Foreign Countries

For the past week I have been monitoring a number of attempts to break into the server that hosts the Weather Message website. The hackers tripped the account lock out mechanism in windows several times.

I have been adding a range of ip addresses to the router's firewall in order to completely block their access to the server. So far all of the ip addresses have originated in China.

If any one has trouble accessing the webserver, please let me know. I am trying not to block any US ip addresses.

emwin.net

I have been watching the emwin domain names for a long time. emwin.net finally expired and I was able to purchase it yesterday at normal web registration rates. Right now http://www.emwin.net will point to the Weather Message website.

I may construct an EMWIN information site that features Weather Message software. That will take some time. Right now there are changes to be made in Weather Message. I'll be coming back to this in the near future.

Weather Message Beta Status

I am still holding the next beta for a few final changes. I have the new Emwin ingest program ready. I am working on changes for the web legend for WxMap. I hope to drop something on the web this week.

MSN Messenger/Yahoo ???

Some time ago I downloaded a component that would allow Weather Message Server to send text products to your MSN contacts. I never did anything with the component. I just thought it was interesting.

I understand that the NWS office in Birmingham is now using "chat" to inform their media representatives about pending weather conditions. That has renewed my interest in sending information by MSN messenger.

If you have an interest, drop me an email.

WxEmwin - Status

I believe WxEmwin (the new Emwin ingest program) is ready for prime time. I and two other users have been running it now for several weeks. The other two users have been using the new software demodulator provided by the NWS. So far things have been stable.

The install program has been updated so I should be ready to release it along with a bunch of other changes/fixes this weekend.

Our Snow for 2009

This weekend was interesting to say the least. On Saturday we had thunderstorms and tornados. On Sunday we had snow. Here is a picture of the snow from my kitchen window.

I did get some work done on the software over the weekend. I think I am about ready to release a beta this week.

EMWIN 2 - NWS Software Demodulator

I have been distracted for the past week. I borrowed one of the new Werner EMWIN 2 satellite receive systems. This system uses a software based receiver to decode the 19.2 EMWIN data stream.

After working with the demodulator, I discovered that it did not give the end user any status information. After hours of research I discovered that the demodulator dll did have the ability, but it would be up to the software developer to enable such capability.

I spent this week writing a c++ windows service wrapper around the dll. This new program replaces the default software demodulator service. It now outputs status information on UDP port 18000. This status information can now be displayed an logged in WxEmwin.

I have two users testing the new WxEmwin program, along with the software demodulator. After getting their results, I will post a beta on the website.

WxMap - Upload Dynamic Map Legend

I am making changes to WxMap to support creating a dynamic map legend. This map legend would be uploaded to a website at the same time as the map image.


I have asked some users that have inquired about this feature to send me comments.