[aprssig] APRS WX question...

[Richard Sharp, KQ4KX]

Byonics does have a version of the WXTrak that sends positioned weather
packets.  The chip version that he sent me is v1.2b2 - it works like a
champ.  He's also added the Davis support however I only use Peet Bros.
equipment so I can't comment on its functionality.

I'm in the process of switching over several weather stations from the Peet
Bros. hex "packet data" format with the KPC3+ LT buffers to interfacing a
WXTrak with the TNC.  In this configuration the TNC will do the digipeating
and the WXTrak will send the positioned APRS standard formatted weather data
that can be read on the Kenwoods.  Byon has created another version that I'm
testing now (v1.2b4) that recognizes the PTT-IN like the TinyTrak does.  My
concept is the TNC's PTT will connect to the WXTrak's PTT-IN pin and the
WXTrak's PTT-OUT will control the radio's PTT.  This way the WXTrak will not
transmit if the TNC is transmitting (digipeating).  Right now on the bench
it works great - I haven't put it on the air at an actual digi site yet but
I don't anticipate any issues.

For what its worth...when I setup the Peet hex "packet data" with the TNC I
set the position LT & weather LT to transmit at the same time.  This way
they go out one after another "sort of" creating a positioned weather
packet.

Regards,

Richard

-----Original Message-----
From: aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org [mailto:aprssig-bounces at lists.tapr.org]
On Behalf Of Daron J. Wilson

I believe the Byonics can parse the Davis stream, we first used the device
on our weather stations with a KPC3+ and a Peet Bros system because we
wanted to generate 'Kenwood readable' weather.  Dumping the Peet Bros
station into the KPC3+ will yield a form of the weather data, but it isn't
compliant with the spec and it isn't readable on the kenwoods.  We started
with the WxTracker using it to get the weather data out in a Kenwood
compatible format, but there were some issues with that as well.  Weather
went out in one packet and position in another, which isn't so great.