Please include solar radiation in CWOP data
Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 2:12 pm
It appears that meteohub (v4.9e) does not include the solar radiation data in the data packet which it sends to the CWOP weather network?
A huge number of stations are now sending solar radiation data to CWOP and CWOP is also now using it.
The CWOP units for solar radiation are Watts per square meter.
Please enhance meteohub to include the solar radiation data in the data packet which it sends to the CWOP weather network.
Also helpful may be the following recent additional specifications comments:
APRS WEATHER SPECIFICATION COMMENTS 24 Mar 2011
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WB4APR
24 Mar 2011 added Radiation Sensors - see aprs.org/aprs12/weather-new.txt
18 Aug 2010 updated Water height and symbols for water gages
11 Apr 2006 added water gages - see aprs.org/aprs12/weather-new.txt
This file attempts to clarify many details about APRS weather formats. Curt
Mills was very helpful in identifying some of these original APRS SPEC 1.01
omissions.
On Tue, 17 Jul 2001, Curt Mills, WE7U wrote:
>Page 64 of the APRS spec talks about weather report format:
>
> "s = sustained one-minute wind speed in mph. <in positionless format only>
> p = rainfall (in hundredths of an inch) in the last 24 hours.
> P = rainfall (in hundredths of an inch) since midnight
> ...
> Other parameters that are available on some weather station units include:
> L = luminosity (in watts per square meter) 999 and below.
> l (lower-case "L") = luminosity (in watts per square meter) 1000 and above.
> s = snowfall (in inches) in the last 24 hours.
> # = raw rain counter"
> Fxxxx for water height in feet (usually tenths) ie: "20.1"
> fxxxx for water height in meters (usually tenths) ie: "20.1"
>
> 1) Why are there two 's' fields defined, wind speed _and_ snow?
> Is one a typo and should have been a capital 'S'? Probably snow?
In the RECOMMENDED complete WX format, the WIND SPEED does not have a
"s" format identifier since it is in a FIXED position. Thus if you see
"s", then it is snow.
Only WinAPRS uses the verbose positionless Weather format which does
have this ambiguity. Thus, it cannot be used to send Snow values.
But the WinAPRS "positionless" weather format is not recommended for
further implementation anyway.
> 2) Rainfall in last 24 hours. I assume this is intended to be a
> rolling count going backwards from the current time 24 hours,
> and not the amount of rain that was seen yesterday. "last 24 hours"
> implies a rolling count to me. I'm fairly sure on this one, just
> checking.
Yes. I think only the original APRSdos and Xastir do this properly.
Newer programs took the simpler approach of starting the count each
day at midnight... But this is why we further defined three different
rain identifiers. "p" is as above, "P" is since midnight, "r" is
last hour.
> 3) The "Other parameters" _letters_ are defined,
> but the number of bytes for each field are not.
The are all three bytes unless otherwise specified.
> 'l' is in the spec also under the "Other parameters" heading,
> supposed to be luminosity greater than 1000. Not knowing the
> range for luminosity, do I assume that a 1000 gets added to a
> three digit value to give the final result for the 'l' field?
No. if the byte is capital "L" then it is a luminosity from 0 to
999. If the luminosity is above 1000, then the lower case letter
"l" is used. Thus l123 is a luminosity value of 1123.
Kinda cute isnt it..
> Snow 's' has ?? bytes? Format? (s1.25, s100.99)
Three bytes. S001 is one inch. S1.5 is 1.5 inches. S010 is 10
inches. Notice that fractions of an inch above 9 inches are not
possible in 3 digits.
> What is the "raw rain counter"? Is that the "total rain"
> counter that some weather stations provide, or the raw counts
> from the rain bucket over some time period? How many bytes
> for that field and in what format? 1/100 inch? Inches?
> Counts?
It is the three least significant bytes of the counter no matter what
units. The assumption here is that it is just a raw bucket count and
the users of that station have to understand the specifics of that
counter. Mostly it lets users see if the value has CHANGED from the
last reading. This is not recommended. These days it is better for
all raw WX stations to have a pic processor to put the data into the
original "COMPLETE" format.
> So, are the \W and /W icons to be used for stations sending Complete
> Weather Reports on APRS? If so, the spec text is wrong.
No, they are just alternate symbols for a weather station. They were
intended for use at National Weather Service sites to distinguish
real "calilbrated" weather reports from "amateur" home stations.
> I just tweaked Xastir to only allow \_ and /_ for weather stations.
> If the NWS icons are intended for use at NWS _as_ weather stations,
> then I need to tweak the code some more, and the spec needs to be
> corrected as well.
Yes, I have always accepted /W and \W interchangeably with /_ and \_.
thanks for finding the bug in the spec...
> How do you differentiate "No X" from "No sensor for X".
> Is your windspeed 0 because it really is, or because you
> don't have a sensor?
The spec allows "..." or " " for the fields. It also allows
any field to be absent, as long as it's not one of the few required
fields at the beginning. I prefer dots as in "r..." so that the
columns line up nicely even if a station has no rain gage. The
number of '.' or ' ' characters matches the field width.
> Note that the spec does not fully specify the fields for the
> additional weather fields possible (details from Bob in an earlier
> message to the aprsspec list)...
Yes, they are variable.
Also, two new software type identifiers have been assigned:
"O" for Otracker, "K" for Kenwood, "B" for Byonics, "Y" for Yeasu.
de WB4APR, Bob
A huge number of stations are now sending solar radiation data to CWOP and CWOP is also now using it.
The CWOP units for solar radiation are Watts per square meter.
Please enhance meteohub to include the solar radiation data in the data packet which it sends to the CWOP weather network.
Also helpful may be the following recent additional specifications comments:
APRS WEATHER SPECIFICATION COMMENTS 24 Mar 2011
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WB4APR
24 Mar 2011 added Radiation Sensors - see aprs.org/aprs12/weather-new.txt
18 Aug 2010 updated Water height and symbols for water gages
11 Apr 2006 added water gages - see aprs.org/aprs12/weather-new.txt
This file attempts to clarify many details about APRS weather formats. Curt
Mills was very helpful in identifying some of these original APRS SPEC 1.01
omissions.
On Tue, 17 Jul 2001, Curt Mills, WE7U wrote:
>Page 64 of the APRS spec talks about weather report format:
>
> "s = sustained one-minute wind speed in mph. <in positionless format only>
> p = rainfall (in hundredths of an inch) in the last 24 hours.
> P = rainfall (in hundredths of an inch) since midnight
> ...
> Other parameters that are available on some weather station units include:
> L = luminosity (in watts per square meter) 999 and below.
> l (lower-case "L") = luminosity (in watts per square meter) 1000 and above.
> s = snowfall (in inches) in the last 24 hours.
> # = raw rain counter"
> Fxxxx for water height in feet (usually tenths) ie: "20.1"
> fxxxx for water height in meters (usually tenths) ie: "20.1"
>
> 1) Why are there two 's' fields defined, wind speed _and_ snow?
> Is one a typo and should have been a capital 'S'? Probably snow?
In the RECOMMENDED complete WX format, the WIND SPEED does not have a
"s" format identifier since it is in a FIXED position. Thus if you see
"s", then it is snow.
Only WinAPRS uses the verbose positionless Weather format which does
have this ambiguity. Thus, it cannot be used to send Snow values.
But the WinAPRS "positionless" weather format is not recommended for
further implementation anyway.
> 2) Rainfall in last 24 hours. I assume this is intended to be a
> rolling count going backwards from the current time 24 hours,
> and not the amount of rain that was seen yesterday. "last 24 hours"
> implies a rolling count to me. I'm fairly sure on this one, just
> checking.
Yes. I think only the original APRSdos and Xastir do this properly.
Newer programs took the simpler approach of starting the count each
day at midnight... But this is why we further defined three different
rain identifiers. "p" is as above, "P" is since midnight, "r" is
last hour.
> 3) The "Other parameters" _letters_ are defined,
> but the number of bytes for each field are not.
The are all three bytes unless otherwise specified.
> 'l' is in the spec also under the "Other parameters" heading,
> supposed to be luminosity greater than 1000. Not knowing the
> range for luminosity, do I assume that a 1000 gets added to a
> three digit value to give the final result for the 'l' field?
No. if the byte is capital "L" then it is a luminosity from 0 to
999. If the luminosity is above 1000, then the lower case letter
"l" is used. Thus l123 is a luminosity value of 1123.
Kinda cute isnt it..
> Snow 's' has ?? bytes? Format? (s1.25, s100.99)
Three bytes. S001 is one inch. S1.5 is 1.5 inches. S010 is 10
inches. Notice that fractions of an inch above 9 inches are not
possible in 3 digits.
> What is the "raw rain counter"? Is that the "total rain"
> counter that some weather stations provide, or the raw counts
> from the rain bucket over some time period? How many bytes
> for that field and in what format? 1/100 inch? Inches?
> Counts?
It is the three least significant bytes of the counter no matter what
units. The assumption here is that it is just a raw bucket count and
the users of that station have to understand the specifics of that
counter. Mostly it lets users see if the value has CHANGED from the
last reading. This is not recommended. These days it is better for
all raw WX stations to have a pic processor to put the data into the
original "COMPLETE" format.
> So, are the \W and /W icons to be used for stations sending Complete
> Weather Reports on APRS? If so, the spec text is wrong.
No, they are just alternate symbols for a weather station. They were
intended for use at National Weather Service sites to distinguish
real "calilbrated" weather reports from "amateur" home stations.
> I just tweaked Xastir to only allow \_ and /_ for weather stations.
> If the NWS icons are intended for use at NWS _as_ weather stations,
> then I need to tweak the code some more, and the spec needs to be
> corrected as well.
Yes, I have always accepted /W and \W interchangeably with /_ and \_.
thanks for finding the bug in the spec...
> How do you differentiate "No X" from "No sensor for X".
> Is your windspeed 0 because it really is, or because you
> don't have a sensor?
The spec allows "..." or " " for the fields. It also allows
any field to be absent, as long as it's not one of the few required
fields at the beginning. I prefer dots as in "r..." so that the
columns line up nicely even if a station has no rain gage. The
number of '.' or ' ' characters matches the field width.
> Note that the spec does not fully specify the fields for the
> additional weather fields possible (details from Bob in an earlier
> message to the aprsspec list)...
Yes, they are variable.
Also, two new software type identifiers have been assigned:
"O" for Otracker, "K" for Kenwood, "B" for Byonics, "Y" for Yeasu.
de WB4APR, Bob