[aprssig] Weather Bulletins for Central/South Central PA

[Stephen H. Smith]

DL3 wrote:
> See my answers below...
>
>
> On 12/15/07, Stephen H. Smith <wa8lmf2 at aol.com> wrote:
>   
>> DL3 wrote:
>>     
>>>
>>>       
>> Just realized a couple of questions that need answering....
>>
>> 1)    You have downloaded and installed the NWS shapefiles haven't
>> you?    Without the shapefiles, you MAY see a few alerts sent as APRS
>> area objects by individual hams,  but the vast majority of warnings and
>> watches, originated by the NWS, won't show without the shape files
>> installed and UI-NWS running.
>>     
>
> Yes, I have the latest version of the shapefiles, from the NWS.
>
>   
>> 2)    You must have the current versions of the shapefiles.  The county
>> outlines don't change very often, but the NWS warning zones change
>> frequently ( one or two times a year ).  If you have an outdated version
>> of the shapefiles the wrong places (or none at all) will light up in
>> UI-NWS.
>>
>> Links for downloading and info for using the shapefiles are here on my
>> website:
>>
>>      <http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/get_nws_shapefiles.htm>
>>     
>
> In fact, that was the page I used (yours) to find and download the shapefiles.
>
>
> I went back and made sure that my zones and counties were checked off
> in the UI NWS configuration screen, so that's all correct.
>   

After hours of experimentation, I discovered that the checkboxes in 
UI-NWS don't affect the appearance of shape files on the map at all!    
They only affect the audible alarm (the whoop-whoop-whoop siren effect) 
announcing the arrival of warnings and watches for various areas.   The 
map on my website at:

     <http://wa8lmf.dyndns.org:14439>

is lighting up shapes all over the country without a single zone being 
entered in the "Setup, Area Alarms" dialog in UI-NWS.      Originally, I 
though I had to have ALL the zones checked in UI-NWS (a time-consuming 
pain in the neck to do for the whole U.S.) but all I got for my troubles 
was continuous sirens nearly non-stop 24/7!     I  have since placed the 
local zonesx (withing about 100 miles of me) in the audible alarm list, 
but the rest of the country continues to light up silently on the map.

> Since we are having an ice storm now, and there are lots of NWS
> messages out there, I went through and looked at all of them in UIVIEW
> (not UI NWS). There is one listed from "CTPWSW" (State College NWS),
> but, however it does *not* show up on the list in UI NWS!!  So, the
> messages are making it to my Packet station, but UI NWS is not even
> pulling them out.
>
>   

1)   As several other posters have mentioned, are you connected to an 
APRS Internet server, or are you trying to receive these off-the-air via 
RF?   You must have an Internet connection.   Even if some 
well-meaning-but-uninformed user tries to gate this stuff from the 
Internet to RF, the on-air 1200-baud transmission rate doesn't remotely 
have the bandwidth for a full area feed, let alone the full NWS stream

2)  Assuming you ARE using an Internet connection, what port number are 
you using on the APRS server login?   If you are using the user-defined 
filter port 14580 ,  you need to to add the expression  t/n  to the 
"Extra long-on text" filter command in UI-View's "APRS Server Setup" 
dialog.   Note that after you make the edit, you have to disconnect from 
an APRS server and then re-connect for the new filter to have any effect.

Details on the user-defined filter port are on my website here:

     <http://wa8lmf.net/aprs/JAVaprsFilters.htm>



--

Stephen H. Smith    wa8lmf (at) aol.com
EchoLink Node:      14400    [Think bottom of the 2M band]
Home Page:          http://wa8lmf.com  --OR--   http://wa8lmf.net

World Digipeater Maps
  http://wa8lmf.net/APRSmaps

UI-View APRS Webserver
  http://wa8lmf.dyndns.org:14439

"APRS 101"  Explanation of APRS Path Selection & Digipeating
  http://wa8lmf.net/DigiPaths

Updated "Rev H" APRS            http://wa8lmf.net/aprs
Symbols Set for UI-View,
UIpoint and APRSplus: