Anyone have contact info for Rich Parry?

Jacmac · **Joined:** Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:29 pm **Posts:** 47

http://w9if.net/iweb/torreywx/index.html

I would like to get the info for decoding the raw packets that are published at findu.com:
http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/rawwx.cgi? ... &length=24

I did a little research, but simply having a key would make it a lot easier. There are some problems with the way the 5 minute and 15 minute averages are calculated on his page, and I thought I would try to develop a page using the data from findu. I wish we had a weather station like this on the top of Little Black - wouldn't that be a nice excuse to get access to the service road? We need to check the radio or the weather station has a glitch we need to check out; meanwhile I'll take the sled ride down to the LZ while someone else drives back down.

Brian

Bob Kuczewski · **Posted:** Thu Sep 15, 2011 8:31 am

Hi Brian,

Are you talking about the stuff that looks like this:

Quote:

20100502221257,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,W6QAR-1:$ULTW00E100A2028D0000----000000000000----005900D2000000C5
20100502221458,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,W6QAR-1:$ULTW00DA00AD02830000----000000000000----005900D7000000B7
20100502221658,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,KD6DCN-5:$ULTW00DA00AD02830000----000000000000----005900D7000000B7
20100502222058,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,W6QAR-1:$ULTW00D800A6028D0000----000000000000----005900DC000000BF
20100502222257,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,KD6DCN-5:$ULTW00D800A6028D0000----000000000000----005900DC000000BF
20100502222457,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,W6QAR-1:$ULTW00D300A702950000----000000000000----005900E1000000BC
20100502222657,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,KD6DCN-5:$ULTW00D300A702950000----000000000000----005900E1000000BC
20100502222857,W9IF-4>BEACON,W9IF-7,WIDE2-2,qAR,KD6DCN-5:Torrey Pines WX station, San Diego BEACON
20100502222858,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,KD6DCN-5:$ULTW00D300A702950000----000000000000----005900E1000000BC
20100502223057,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,KD6DCN-5:$ULTW00C900AF028F0000----000000000000----005900E6000000B6
20100502223257,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,KD6DCN-5:$ULTW00C900AF028F0000----000000000000----005900E6000000B6
20100502223457,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,KD6DCN-5:$ULTW00C600A902980000----000000000000----005900EB000000A5
20100502223857,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,KD6DCN-5:$ULTW00C600A902980000----000000000000----005900EB000000A5
20100502224458,W9IF-4>APRS,qAR,KD6DCN-5:!3253.40N/11715.00W_PHG2230/Torrey Pines WX station, San Diego LT1
20100502224459,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,W6QAR-1:$ULTW00D400A7029F0000----000000000000----005900F5000000A6
20100502224657,W9IF-4>APRS,W9IF-7,qAR,KD6DCN-5:$ULTW00D400A7029F0000----000000000000----005900F5000000A6

I looked into that format a while back, and I might have some information on decoding it. I'll have to see how far I got.

I don't have any contact information for Rich, but if you get in touch with him, please invite him to join the Torrey Hawks!! :thumbup:

Bob Kuczewski · **Posted:** Thu Sep 15, 2011 8:47 am

I found a document titled APRS101.pdf that I've attached below.

I don't recall where I found it, but it was helpful in decoding at least some of the fields.

Jacmac · **Joined:** Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:29 pm **Posts:** 47

That's funny Bob, I already had that document. Well we think alike I guess. Anyway, the trouble is decyphering the payload. I can tell that the scale for things like wind direction and temperature are not the actual numbers. So there is some sort of encoding for 0-359 degrees = 0-255 (I think anyway). Temperature might be -100 to +155? I'm not sure. Many things aren't used apparently like pressure and maybe the rain guage.

The trouble is I don't know where the scale starts and stops. For all I know 0 wind direction as transmitted is actaully 270 degrees. I'm also not sure which number positions belong to which readings.

Bob Kuczewski · **Posted:** Fri Sep 16, 2011 10:29 am

This isn't a great solution, but you could try to correlate the graphs (which I believe are correct in units) with the captured data. Here's the link to the graphs:

http://w9if.net/cgi-bin/torreywx/wxhr.pl?dur=72

That would get you in the ballpark. It might help you determine if 0-359 is approximately 0-255.

I may also have some historical data and plots (possibly) if needed.

By the way, I just checked the graph this morning and it seems to have "flat-lined" recently. Is it down?

Jacmac · **Joined:** Fri Oct 08, 2010 4:29 pm **Posts:** 47

Well the "flatline" is why I want to develop a page base off of the data. Basically, the system is powered by solar, it sometimes doesn't have enough power for the radio signal to make it to the Qualcomm building, so we get data gaps. The problem with his web page is that he isn't checking the times, he only looks at the last x number of packets and calls that the last 5 or 15 minutes. It is very often totally inaccurate since the last x packets could have been spread over many hours when there is a data gap.

Bob Kuczewski · **Posted:** Fri Sep 16, 2011 7:18 pm

Well that sounds like a good reason to develop an alternative. :thumbup:

If the current data conversion is being done correctly, then even without time stamps we should be able to figure out the scaling of the raw data values from the extremes within a reasonable time frame.

Free · **Joined:** Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:47 pm **Posts:** 1084

never mind..

Anyone have contact info for Rich Parry?

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