Facebook Changes May 1, 2015

Facebook has made changes that will break Weather Message's ability to post status updates.  We have released Weather Message version 4.1 to address these changes.  It does require additional setup steps.  See the Facebook chapter, in the Supplement section, for the required setup steps.

Speed comparison Weather Wire and EMWIN

Several users have asked me about the speed differences between Weather Wire (NWWS) and EMWIN.  The following table shows a quick comparison.  It appears that Weather Wire is faster.  Both systems deliver products very quickly.  I will note that EMWIN carries graphics that are not available from Weather Wire.  Weather Wire only carries text products.

Product Identifier	NWWS Received Time	EMWIN Received Time	Difference in Seconds
HWOBMX	05:14:01.50	05:15:09.92	68
SVRMLB	11:43:09.68	11:43:51.18	42
SVRMFL	12:08:05.29	12:08:47.75	42

If receiving weather products is critical to your mission, I recommend using both ingest engines.  Weather Message will filter out duplicate products.

New NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS-2) in Production

The next generation NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS-2) is now in production.  The system features a C-Band and Internet feed.  You can find more information about the new NWWS at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwws/.  Click on the future configuration button.

For those of you using the WeatherWire Internet feed.  Weather Message will support the new Internet feed in the next software release.  You will need to go ahead and request your user name and password from the NWWS program manager Gregory Zwicker.  Send your request to Gregory.Zwicker@noaa.gov.

The legacy CSC service will end June 30, 2015. NWWS users must use NWWS-2 compatible hardware configurations and client software by that date to continue receiving NWWS alerts and warnings.

 

Comments Sought on EMWIN Usage

American Meteorological Society's Emergency Management Committee seeks feedback on proposed radio spectrum sharing; response date extended to Feb. 17, 2015
IAEM
Bob Goldhammer, CEM, IAEM-USA outreach liaison and co-chair of the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Emergency Management Committee, requests feedback from users of the Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) system who receive their data directly via satellite broadcast. The assured availability of EMWIN over the air reception may be diminished or constrained due to planned or proposed radio spectrum sharing. The radio spectrum just above EMWIN was sold by auction this month to the commercial broadband wireless community, and regulators are evaluating whether to offer the radio spectrum that includes EMWIN for a future commercial auction. Both actions could create significant interference for EMWIN users. If you use EMWIN, please provide your responses to the following three questions via email to RGGoldhamr@aol.com by Feb. 17, 2015, using the email subject line "EMWIN Usage Response." If you submitted comments and have received no response from Bob Goldhammer, please re-send your information.

1. Do you or your organization receive EMWIN broadcasts? If so, please provide your organization's name, city, county and state where EMWIN receiver(s) are located.
2. Please briefly cite one example of when/how EMWIN played a significant role in a past EM event, or tell us how you currently use EMWIN received via satellite.
3. If you use EMWIN, please indicate what population area is served by this data, including any retransmission or further near-real time use of this data (e.g., King Country, WA or Tri-County area of Sevier, Piute and Wayne, UT).

RAVE Alert Integration

We have completed the changes to integrate Weather Message with Rave Mobile Safety's Rave Alert.  This allows users of the RAVE service to have weather notifications sent to their users.

MapQuest OpenStreetMaps - Implemented in WxMap

I have completed the implementation of OpenStreetMaps in WxMap.  After getting the projections corrected, the map looks very good.

MapQuest OpenStreet Maps

I have been testing MapQuest's OpenStreet Maps in WxMap.  Here is a preview.  It appears blurry or distorted.

I am working to see if I can make these clearer.  These maps are free and are served over the internet.

EMWIN Dual Internet Ingest

The next version of Weather Message's EMWIN ingest engine will have the ability to dual ingest the Internet data stream.

This feature is designed for users that do not have a satellite dish and want to minimize the potential loss of weather products.  For users with critical applications, we always recommend dual ingesting from a satellite feed along with the EMWIN Internet feed.

Ingesting EMWIN data from two Internet feeds can minimize data loss.  It however will not help when your local Internet connection goes down. There are times when an EMWIN server may go down due to normal rebooting, rebooting for windows updates, loss of Internet connectivity to that server, disconnection due to Internet connection speed, packet loss, router reboots, or a number of other hard to explain reasons.

When a connection to an EMWIN server is lost, there is a short period of time of data loss.  This occurs as the software is attempting to connect to the next available EMWIN Server.

This feature is now being tested.  It will be sold as an additional ingest engine.  More information and pricing will be posted on our website when this feature is available for general use.

Alertus Integration

We have completed the changes to integrate Weather Message with Alertus .  This allows users of the Alertus service to have weather notifications sent to their users.

IRIS Integration

We have completed the changes to integrate Weather Message with IRIS.  This allows users of the IRIS service to have weather notifications sent to their users setup in the IRIS system.

RAVE Integration

We have completed the changes to integrate Weather Message with RAVE.  This allows users of the RAVE service to have weather notifications sent to their users setup in the RAVE system.

Emailing Log Files

Weather Message Version 4.1 will have the ability to email you a user defined list of log files.  This will help users that want to review their log files on a daily basis.  You can specify the email address that will receive the log files and the time that they should be sent.

An option is selectable by log file to check it for the work "Error".  If this option is enabled, the log file will only be sent when it find the word "Error".  This may be helpful to those users that post to Facebook and Twitter.  

Weather Message 4.0 Released

Weather Message V4.0 has been released. You can download the update at http://www.weathermessage.com/Downloads/WeatherMessage.aspx. For information on what has changed in this release, please read the release notes.

Note: Version 4.0 requires the Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0. Because of this requirement, version 4.0 will not run on Windows 2000 or older operating systems.

There are over 57 changes in this release. Here are some highlights.

• Several Email and Paging enhancements, including the addition of new short message variables.
• Updated County and Zone Files.
• Updated map layers - this is a separate download.
• FTP downloads from the NWS server using your assigned user name and password.
• Auditing of changes
• WxPort now supports the POLAR Sat channel.

WxDataSave, WxLocal and the Retransmission applications have been respectively released along with Weather Message 4.0. If you are using any of these applications, they must be upgraded at the same time you upgrade Weather Message.

Thanks for all of your suggestions, bug reports and assistance with the software. Work will begin on version 4.1 right away. Watch the beta page for updates.

Version 4 is a Major Upgrade

This is a major update and requires a new registration code.  Customers who purchased Weather Message on or after 8/1/2012 are entitled to a free upgrade to version 4.0.

Users who are running a 4.0 beta can continue to use the 4.0 beta.  The 4.0 beta releases used the 3.9 registration codes.  If you install the 4.0 public release, your system will be placed in evaluation mode.  You will have 30 days to purchase an upgrade from 3.x to 4.0.

Our policy is to provide free same version updates.  Customers who purchased Weather Message 3.0 in 2006 have received free updates for the past 7 years.

The cost of to upgrade Weather Message 3.x to 4.0 is $30.25.

External USB Sound Card for the Werner Labs Receiver

The Behringer UCA202 Audio Interface can be used with the Werner Labs Receiver.  This is an external USB Sound Card.  It eliminates the need to use the internal sound card for processing the receiver's data stream.

 

One of my customers is using this interface with a virtual machine.

New Weather Wire Feed Confirmed

The NOVRA S300N receiver settings, for Weather Wire, in the previous blog post have been confirmed.  I was able to receive data from the new Weather Wire feed tonight.

I made some modifications to WxPort (our NOAA Port ingest program) to receive the data stream.  The stream is in standard SBN format, so I did not have to develop a new ingest routine.

The following picture shows the stream being received and processed by Weather Message.

I plan to update the existing WxWW2000 ingest program to support this feed.

Novra Receiver Settings

I have been trying to receive the new WeatherWire stream using my Novra S300 receiver.  I thought it was as simple as adding PID 201 to the Novra receiver.  After further research I found that some of the other receiver settings would have to be modified.

The following summarizes the settings for Weather Wire and NOAA Port.

Setting	NOAA Port	Weather Wire
Frequency	1154	1154
Modulation	DVBS2	DVBS2
Coding	2/3 8 PSK	1/3 QPSK
Symbol Rate	15.120	15.120
ISI	13	2
PID	101 102 103 104 105	201

Based on this information, it does not appear that you can receive NOAAPort and WeatherWire from the same receiver at the same time.

New Weather Wire Service Coming this Fall

The National Weather Service issued a Service Change Notice that outlines the new Weather Wire Service.  It appears that Weather Wire will be on the same satellite as NOAAPort.  It will use the same receiver as NOAAPort and share the transponder.  The information that has been posted indicates that it will use PID 201.

Here is a picture of the Novra S300 receiver used for NOAAPort.

I am interested to see what data will be on the Weather Wire channel.  The NOAAPort stream already contains more data than the current Weather Wire feed.  The website indicates that they will be providing an internet feed based on XMPP.

It may be possible to modify the WxPort (NOAAPort) ingest engine to receive the data from the satellite.  I will know more after seeing the data stream.  The WW2000 (Weather Wire) ingest will have to be rewritten to receive the XMPP data stream.

Service Change Notice 13-52
National Weather Service Headquarters Washington DC
722 AM EDT Tue Aug 20 2013   

To:        Subscribers:
           -NOAA Weather Wire Service
           Other NWS Partners, Users and Employees 

From:      Craig Hodan
           Chief, NWS Dissemination Systems Branch  

Subject:   New NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS) During 2014   

NWS is continuing the upgrade of NWWS to disseminate weather products to the public. A new NWWS will be commissioned during 2014. The new NWWS will operate concurrently with the present NWWS system until the NWWS system contract ends March 2014, at the earliest. For the latest news and information about this change, please consult the Weather Wire website at: 

    http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwws/news.html  (Corrected Link)  

The new system will allow C-band satellite users to continue to use outdoor antennas they have in place, which will not require re-pointing but will require a new satellite receiver, new Low Noise Block Converter (LNB), and new or modified weather data processing/display software. Internet (Open Interface) users will need the new or modified processing/display software.   

The current NWWS system, operated under contract with Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), will continue to operate into 2014.  CSC may or may not continue Weather Wire satellite and open-interface services after government contract termination.   

Updates will be posted on the NWWS website as it become available. For more information please contact: 

   Gregory Zwicker, NWWS Program Manager
   Operations Division
   NWS Office of Operational Systems
   Silver Spring, MD 20910
   Gregory.Zwicker@noaa.gov   

National Service Change Notices are online at:
     http://www.weather.gov/os/notif.htm   

$$

Radar Layer in WxMap

I had some time tonight to test loading a radar layer in WxMap.  I knew that the GIS engine would support graphic layers, I just have not had time to test the capability.

Here is a snapshot of the test program.



 



This shows the KMXX radar image overlaying West Alabama.

GOES 12 Decommissioning to Occur August 16, 2013

GOES-12 is scheduled to be decommissioned on August 16, 2013.

GOES-12 was launched on July 23, 2001, and it has supported South America at 600W since May 2010. The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) announced the decommissioning on July 9, 2013.

The decommissioning will end the broadcast of the EMWIN-I legacy data stream.  This broadcast was put in place to assist users in the transition to EMWIN-N on the operational GOES East and West satellites and facilitate manufacturer testing. Any remaining legacy users should migrate to EMWIN-N capable systems and use GOES East or West.

GOES 12 EMWIN-I users can also continue to receive EMWIN with an Internet connection through the EMWIN ByteBlaster Network if unable to upgrade to newer equipment.

For the latest information on the GOES 12 decommissioning and for a list of vendors that currently provide EMWIN-N capable systems, please go to:

  http://www.nws.noaa.gov/EMWIN/transition.htm

  http://www.weather.gov/EMWIN/winven.htm

GOES 13 is Broadcasting EMWIN Data

GOES 13 is now broadcasting EMWIN data.  Here is the latest update.

GOES-13, at 75 degrees West, will return to GOES-East operations on Thursday, June 6, 2013, at approximately 1534 -1545 UTC (first image at 1545 UTC). Derived products from GOES-13 will begin immediately following the switchover.

All GOES direct readout services (DCS, LRIT, EMWIN, etc.) except SAR were switched over to GOES-13 today, June 4, 2013. Specifically, GOES DCS services were switched back to GOES-13 on June 4, 2013, at 1530 UTC.

GOES DCS has no issues and there has been no outage to the communications packages.