WeatherFax ...

[rgleason]

Good idea, can you write the code. I have an update to the inet retrieval files, but want to do a final check as noaa servers were changing.

[hasse_A]

Originally Posted by rgleason

Good idea, can you write the code.

Not impossible at all.

There is a project "Ham Radio Control Libraries" that should be
useful here : https://sourceforge.net/projects/hamlib/
Need to do some studying though.

Then most radios would be covered and you need not worry about the protocol.

/Hans

[hasse_A]

Hi!

Can anyone give me the vxFormBuilder file for the weatherfax_pi menus ?
Or, do anyone know where I can get hold of them ?

/Hans

[hasse_A]

Ok, I now saw it's in the source tree. Thanks.

/Hans

[rgleason]

I believe it is wxformbuilder (stands for wx widgets) not the weatherfax!
I think it is here. Using this is a very real learning experience, I've found. I've never completely mastered it and I am still learning. Wish I could understand it better!

https://github.com/wxFormBuilder/wxFormBuilder

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/wxformbuilder

[hasse_A]

Thanks rgleason!

I remade the menus for the gxradar plugin so I think I can do this to.
I think the only thing needed in the graphics is to add a spec. of what COM port to use
Maybe also to get hold of the frequency.

I have loaded the .fbp into vxFormbulider. So far so good.

/Hans

[Paul Elliott]

I haven't yet read this entire thread (will do so ASAP), but I did just try the WFAX plugin and made some comments on another thread:

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

About the WFAX plugin for OpenCPN, I've had a chance to play with it, and while it works, the user interface and features don't really line up with my expectations. Here are some of the issues I have with it:

• I can't get it to auto-sync a received WFAX
• It saves multiple received WFAX images as one big image file
• It only decodes WFAX, and not any other digital weather products
• Saving audio capture files seems difficult (not that this is something we would normally do)

The program does have nice features for displaying the WFAX image as a chart overlay. I could use this plugin if I had to, but other programs have the features I prefer. Since I haven't spent much time with the program, I may be missing some details.

For testing, I used my Icom IC-7200 (which has a USB "virtual sound card" interface), and off-the-air WFAX broadcasts.

I wonder if I am doing something wrong? Also, I agree that radio control would be very nice, and I would be interested in helping in this.

[Paul Elliott]

Update - I tried again, and the auto-sync worked. I don't know what changed...

[seandepagnier]

• I can't get it to auto-sync a received WFAX
• It saves multiple received WFAX images as one big image file
• It only decodes WFAX, and not any other digital weather products
• Saving audio capture files seems difficult (not that this is something we would normally do)

The autosync is my own invention so probably not the best algorithm. Hamfax didn't seem to have a decent one either. I tested and it works for me... but maybe a noisy signal fools it?

If the syncing works, it can separate the faxes into different images. At least that's how its supposed to work. I haven't had much feedback on this.

In theory you should be able to schedule the faxes you want to receieve, and it will automatically retrieve them putting each in a separate file and overlaying them correctly on the chart.

At the moment it requires manual tuning, at least if you have different frequencies, and don't leave the radio on all the time. and it can notify you this. This is because I don't have a radio which can be programmed over serial or any other interface when I wrote the plugin.


I did manage to get an upconverter for my rtlsdr dongle. This means I can pick up "in theory" weather fax transmissions using it but haven't succeeded. I think I need a different antenna. In any case, this is at least programmable.



As far as only decoding wfax... well do you have source code for how to decode other stuff? Maybe you need to instead invoke another program to get the image, then the plugin can open it and overlay it. The plugin could be made to invoke an external process or?



As for saving raw audio files? It is supposed to support streaming capture over sound card input. Is this broken in windows? Are you forced to save a wav file and open that?

[rgleason]

I started rework of the entire Weatherfax InternetRetrieval files last summer and have just reviewed and tried to correct as many of the issues found as possible. There are new weatherfax URL's for several Met sides, and we need new weatherfax URL's for several Met sites. Several faxes need improvements to the CoordinateSet.xml record and these are noted in my summary.

These files basically replace in their entirety, the previous files, unless you have made new entries and saved new coordinates for your favorite areas.

If you have customized your files for your area using new sources, please send us your files with a note about the areas or URL's you would like included using this CF Thread for WeatherFAX.

If you have additional corrections or improvements please send us your files or the specific coordinate xml records!

Please change the attached file by removing the ".pdf" and unzipping it. Then follow the instructions for updating your files.

Thank you.
Rick

[rgleason]

Locally I've
git status
git add [the two new xml files]
git commit -m "xmlupdate 2-18-2017"
git push -v upstream
Then in my github rgleason/weatherfax_pi repository, I selected Pull Request and made this pull request.
https://github.com/seandepagnier/weatherfax_pi/pull/43

[hasse_A]

Rick.

While looking through the source files I noticed that there are duplicate

#include "Trach.h" in CAF.cpp.

Maybe you want to fix this.

/Hans

[rgleason]

Ok, l'll make another commit & PR

[rgleason]

We find Caf.cpp under C:\Users..\GitHub\o-plugin\s-weatherfax_pi\src\libaudiofile

I commented out the second #include for Track.h

and when I compile it works. Just some warnings.

Build succeeded.
"C:\Users\Frederick\Documents\GitHub\o-plugin\s-weatherfax_pi\build\ALL_BUILD.v
cxproj" (default target) (1) ->
"C:\Users\Frederick\Documents\GitHub\o-plugin\s-weatherfax_pi\build\weatherfax_
pi.vcxproj" (default target) (3) ->
(ClCompile target) ->
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\inttypes.h(126
): warning C4005: 'PRId64' : macro redefinition [C:\Users\Frederick\Documents\G
itHub\o-plugin\s-weatherfax_pi\build\weatherfax_pi.vcxproj]
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\VC\include\inttypes.h(132
): warning C4005: 'PRIi64' : macro redefinition [C:\Users\Frederick\Documents\G
itHub\o-plugin\s-weatherfax_pi\build\weatherfax_pi.vcxproj]

2 Warning(s)
0 Error(s)

But this is from the libaudio folder which is a library we just use, so I don't think it would do much good to change it, but do not know the protocol.

[seandepagnier]

rick,

I see your PR, but what about commenting out Track.h??

the audiofile library is needed to open wav files. Perhaps we could support compilation without this, but then the plugin could not open wav files (ok for many uses still)