ME and the METOBRIDGE

[Beaudog]

I posted this over in WXforum.net but thought I would post here also.

Well I got a little bored and wondered about bridges and the like. So, got a TL MR3020 off of Amazon for 30 bucks.

I was amazed when I got how really small it is 3x3in approximately.

I downloaded the firmware from metobridge http://www.meteohub.de/files/meteobridg ... 0-v1.2.bin and started the upgrade. It was too easy and took about 3 minutes.

Gone one TL 3020 welcome one meteobridge. It took me a few minutes to find the meteobridge IP , mainly because of my nonstandard network. But, once I got into the bridge I followed the instructions found here http://www.meteobridge.com/wiki/index.p ... ng_Started and was on my way.

First step was network setup. I elected to give it a static IP so I would not have to go hunting for it again.

The next step was to tell it what station I had. It got kinda flakey here because I did not want to connect directly to my Vanatge Pro and have all of my up loads to go all crazy. So, I made a few guesses and signed it up as a WLIP going thru Virtual VP. Took a few tries to get the IP and port number correct but surprise surprise it started downloading live data from VVP.

I elected to test it by uploading to PWS and CWOP using my callsign again so as to not screwup my real data going to WU and my CWOP account.

It was easy and simple except the meteobridge did not like the way I tried to enter coordinates so took about 3 or 4 tries before I got to accept the coordinates.

The thing will up load to every weather site I heard of and a few I never heard of:
• Weather Underground
• Weather Underground Weather Cam
• AWEKAS
• WeatherBug Backyard
• WeatherForYou (also known as PWSweather)
• UK MetOffice WOW
• Windfinder
• Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP)
• Open Weather Map
• Previmeteo

I really like the way the thing gives green check marks when your up loads and passwords go thru.

Next my first real glitch. I entered new pass words in place of the default ones. Bong I could not log back on. I don’t know if fumble fingered the passwords or what but nothing worked and so I had to reset the silly thing and do it all over agin. It took it what I thought was a long time, 5 minutes or longer to reset. I think it may have downloaded new firmware in the process.

I let it run for a while and started checking the data uploads and (ratsfritz) it is doing just what I was afraid it would do and not reporting barometer correctly.
It was reporting sea level exactly 0.10 inches low but altimeter to CWOP was just really low. I used the built in barometer corrector and bumped up the sea level to match the correct pressure but the CWOP altimeter is still way low. Look at the chart.

So I don’t know where the problem is. I have not yet tried to connect directly to the console because I don’t want the bridge to change any of my console settings (not sure if it will do that but some other programs do).

So that’s where I am at right now. The thing seems to do exactly what is supposed to do except for CWOP. So for somebody looking for an easy way to send data to all the weather sites without having a computer running it may be a viable alternative.

I got to play with it some more

[admin]

the altimeter issue is strange, as i did quite some work on it in the past.
what station are you using, a davis vantage or vue?

[Beaudog]

Station is a vantage pro 2.

There has always been a problem with the Vantage stations reporting incorrect altimeter if they were at higher altitude. I am at 5032 ft.

VP Live is the only program that I have found really reports it correctly or at least the way CWOP seems to want it.

I am getting the data thru Virtual VP and not directly from the console so that may be causing it I will have to try a direct connect and see what happens.I can not do that right now I do not have a hub.

[admin]

As Meteobridge does read LPS packets in addition to LOOP packets when fw version of Vantage is 1.90 or newer, using it without the VVP might make a difference as i don't know if VVP can handle that.