[OZAPRS] Message Traffic and WX Alerts in Xastir

Geoff geoff at gatwards.org
Thu Nov 27 08:50:57 EST 2008


I don't believe so....

Here's a sample of zone messages from the US WXSVR....

ABQWSW>APRS::NWS_ADVIS:262230z,WINTER_WEATHER,NMZ2-4 {QC5AB
AJKNPW>APRS::NWS_ADVIS:270800z,WIND,AKZ26 {QKiBB
BMXRFW>APRS::NWS_WARN :262230z,RED_FLAG_WARN,ALZ45-46-48>50 {QLKAB
CARFFA>APRS::NWS_WATCH:262300z,FLOOD,MEZ10-11-15>17-29>32 {QFsAA

The messages transmitted by the server are all in the format of
<STATE><Z/C><Zonelist>

A sample of our messages from WXSVR-AU shows the identical format

SYDSWW>APRS::NWS_ADVIS:270000z,WIND,NSZ531 {QHHAA
SEHSWW>APRS::NWS_ADVIS:270000z,WIND,TAZ504>505 {QHkAA

I think Xastir is re-formatting the zone payload for display purposes -
separate the state from the Z/C and numerical portion.  (It will be doing
this for the warnings that work as well)

I'm trying to research that mystery field in the alert log a bit more, but I
have a funny feeling that the first character relates to the COLOUR of the
alert area - on the working example you gave before it was YN and a YELLOW
area was drawn...  On the two 'broken' examples this field was ?N and ?Y.
I'm thinking perhaps there is no colour defined for ADVIS messages in your
setup?

Xastir uses the following colours:
ADVIS = Cyan     (Yellow in UIView)
WATCH = Yellow   (Orange in UIView)
WARN  = Red      (Red in UIView)
CANCL = Orange   (Clears shape in UIView)
TEST  = Blue     (Not supported in UIView)
OTHER = Green    (Purple in UIView)

Still looking but it may be a clue ??

Geoff



-----Original Message-----
From: ozaprs-bounces at aprs.net.au [mailto:ozaprs-bounces at aprs.net.au] On
Behalf Of David
Sent: Thursday, 27 November 2008 8:14 AM
To: Australian APRS Users
Subject: Re: [OZAPRS] Message Traffic and WX Alerts in Xastir

Hi Geoff and Ray....heres my latest piece of info FYI

wx_alert log
# 1227732315 Thu Nov 27 06:45:15 EST 2008
NECSWW>APRS::NWS_ADVIS :270000Z,WIND,TAZ506  {QHkAA

this is the same as you sent me in the e-mail

WX ALERT LIST
NECSWW QHkAA NWS_ADVIS 26 at 1746Z       ------------>  27 at 0000Z    ?Y 
TA_Z506 WIND

i presume this is how Xastir is dealing with the data that is coming in 
as per the wx_alert.log

Geoff you mentioned that UI-View would use TAZ506 and the expiry time 
and date....
looks like Xastir may be using TA_Z506 would the "_" make any difference ??

David VK4BDJ

Ray Wells wrote:
> Geoff,
>
> Thanks for the additional info. I spent hours yesterday disseminating 
> what I've got and gathering information on how it fits together. I was 
> also looking for an example of some US aprs weather bulletins - more 
> searching when I get home later today.
>
> I also wondered about those extra characters but since I'm wandering 
> around in the dark I didn't pay too much heed without knowing their 
> relevance.
>
>
>
> Geoff wrote:
>> I can't answer the Xastir specific queries, however how the 
>> shapefiles are
>> triggered is as follows:
>>
>> Each shape within each shapefile is assigned a field that is used to
>> 'trigger' the shape (Each shapefile has a unique .dbf format - we just
>> copied what the Yanks use)
>>
>> In the z_ausXXXX file for example, the .dbf contains STATE, ZONE and
>> STATE_ZONE.  These are defined within the .dbf as for example NS, 
>> 025, and
>> NS025 respectively.
>>
>> The APRS message that triggers this zone contains the state and zone(s)
>> required to be highlighted (Leading 0 is insignificant)
>>
>> The APRS message itself looks like:  UPWSTS>APRS::NWS-WARN 
>> :260830z,TSTORM,NSZ25 {Q5QAB
>>   
> In wading through the examples posted by David yesterday, and my own 
> log entries, I came to the conclusion that the particular dbf file to 
> use is triggered by the zone information.
>
> A bulletin containing NS_Z021 looks in z-aus...dbf, one using NS_Z541 
> uses mz_aus...dbf, and one using NS-C021 uses c_aus...dbf
>
> Logically, if a particular dbf is used the matching shp and dbfawk 
> files are used.
>
> If my thinking is flawed please tell me. I can't fit it all together 
> if I'm using bits from another puzzle :-)
>
>
>> Now I'm not sure how Xastir handles this, but in UI-View, all it 
>> cares about
>> is the NSZ25 part and the expiry time.  TSTORM is a "plaintext" 
>> identifier
>> that only shows up within the NWS plugin, and the shape is automatically
>> hidden when the expiry time passes.
>>
>> Objects on the map are just that - objects, triggered by an object 
>> beacon,
>> like this one:
>> UPWSTS>APRS:;UPW_STS  *260830z3023.94S\14310.20ETSevere Tstorm {Q5QAA
>>
>> The symbol used to represent the Thunderstorm is Symbol-set \ 
>> (Alternate)
>> symbol T.  We're using the same symbols as the US NWS messages, so they
>> should be available.
>>   
>
> Icons appear to be ok here.
>
> Ray vk2tv
>> Regards,
>> Geoff  VK2XJG
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ozaprs-bounces at aprs.net.au [mailto:ozaprs-bounces at aprs.net.au] On
>> Behalf Of David
>> Sent: Wednesday, 26 November 2008 3:30 PM
>> To: Australian APRS Users
>> Subject: Re: [OZAPRS] Message Traffic and WX Alerts in Xastir
>>
>> Hi Andrew......ive been getting areas with Yellow and Flood for some 
>> time now....also was getting Blue Alert at one stage.....
>> at the moment we have large areas with STS Severe Thunderstorm Storm 
>> warnings....
>> i note that in the /usr/local/share/symbols dir there is no .xbm for 
>> Thunderstorms...would this cause them not to be shown up as colored 
>> areas as they are in UI-View  (Red)...if this is so how would one go 
>> about making a .xbm for Thunderstorms.....have tried to change the 
>> file name of the Tonado one to see if it worked ...nix...
>> how  does the .shp file pick up which warning and what it is from
>>
>>
>>
>> 73 David VK4BDJ
>>
>>
>>
>> Andrew Errington wrote:
>>  
>>> I did a quick experiment.
>>>
>>> I have made my own .dbfawk files for the map data from here:
>>>
>>> http://mapcenter2.cgpsmapper.com/mapsetview.php?id=185
>>>
>>> (You can get maps of Oz too, but for any of these files you have to run
>>> cgpsmapper first to convert to shapefiles).
>>>
>>> I used QGIS to examine the list of fields, and entered that list as the
>>> dbfinfo line in the .dbfawk file.  Unfortunately I couldn't get 
>>> XASTIR to
>>> recognise my .dbfawk, so I moved the .dbfawk file to the maps directory
>>> (to the same directory as the shapefiles) and gave it the same name 
>>> as the
>>> shapefile.  It worked.
>>>
>>> Today's quick experiment was to move the files *back* to the /config
>>> directory and try and get them to work.  When I did that XASTIR 
>>> reported
>>> its "No DBFAWK signature for..." error, but then I selected Map|Index:
>>> Reindex all maps, and viola!  The .dbfawk files were found and used.
>>>
>>> The second thing I did was to edit the dbfinfo line and change all the
>>> field names to uppercase (I already had them as lowercase).  This 
>>> did not
>>> seem to make a difference, which implies that the dbfinfo line in 
>>> .dbfawk
>>> files is case-insensitive.  I would like to verify this with the source
>>> (or by asking someone who knows for sure).
>>>
>>> It might also be useful to point out that you can tweak the .dbfawk 
>>> files
>>> while XASTIR is running.  XASTIR reads them every time it re-draws the
>>> map, so your changes are visible without having to quit and restart
>>> XASTIR.
>>>
>>> Hope this is useful.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>>
>>> Andrew
>>> ZL3AME
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Ozaprs mailing list
>>> Ozaprs at aprs.net.au
>>> http://aprs.net.au/mailman/listinfo/ozaprs
>>>
>>>       
>>
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>
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