Topic: 6555 Question

[Scalphunter]

My grid square is EM28tw/

 And what the rest of it  should be 8 characters instead of 6.  The last 2 would be numbers.  Takes a bit more then just looking something up in an manual. Maybe if you had ever had to use it you would have known that.

John

[dalecoy]

The location of my amateur radio station, weather station, and lightning system is (within 100 ft. or so):

Latitude: 38.9378 / 38° 56' 16" N Longitude: -94.3473 / 94° 20' 50" W

And what the rest of it  should be 8 characters instead of 6.  The last 2 would be numbers.  Takes a bit more then just looking something up in an manual. Maybe if you had ever had to use it you would have known that.

Yes, of course.  But (correct me if I'm wrong) that just specifies a "square" approximately 1.2 KM on a side.

What do you use the Maidenhead grid system for?

Or, of more relevance to this topic - why should Davis use that system?  What would be the advantage(s)?  How would it help Davis sell more weather systems? 

[Scalphunter]

BP64nk26jv is where I am located at. No where else has that  cords. I don't have to tell you  if it is east,west,north,or south. No minus numbers or plus numbers. Arty maps use the last 4 digits and like I said earlier Canadian VFR  charts also use it . I still have   them here  for when I use to fly thru Canada. It just to me an lot better way to do lat/long for people who have problems just reading an road map.  You know those who argue with an sign post and still take the wrong way  home. Now I just take my uneducated  self out of here  and go find some one of mylevel of high school drop out to talk to.

By the way  that cords will set you in an 100 foot square in the middle of my property where the cabin is.

[Scalphunter]

You are on an cul de sac at EM28tw85Ib 

[Mattk]

As long as that style of coordinate pleases the "amateur" all good, the professionals will stick with lat & Long thanks.

[torkelmj]

Professionals will use whatever position format suitable for the task at hand. UTM, MGRS, Maidenhead, lat/lon in degrees, minutes, decimal minutes, seconds, decimal seconds, whatever.

Reading the console manual doesn't hurt. There's a lot of really good information in that sweet little paper leaflet.

[Mattk]

The manual  yes very good point, when all else fails read the manual.

So in all of this, one has a 6555, obviously comes with WeatherLink, then the obvious way to configure the console would be via weatherLink, wouldn't it? Where's the confusion? 

[miraculon]

BP64nk26jv is where I am located at. No where else has that  cords. I don't have to tell you  if it is east,west,north,or south. No minus numbers or plus numbers. Arty maps use the last 4 digits and like I said earlier Canadian VFR  charts also use it . I still have   them here  for when I use to fly thru Canada. It just to me an lot better way to do lat/long for people who have problems just reading an road map.  You know those who argue with an sign post and still take the wrong way  home. Now I just take my uneducated  self out of here  and go find some one of mylevel of high school drop out to talk to.

By the way  that cords will set you in an 100 foot square in the middle of my property where the cabin is.

Scalphunter,

Where do you find the grid square to that high of resolution? I know mine with the 6 digit (EN85ck), but I have never seen this extended version before your posting.

Greg H.

[dalecoy]

You are on an cul de sac at EM28tw85Ib

Thanks.  And I have the same question as miraculon.  How/where do you find Maidenhead grids to that resolution?

[dalecoy]

Scalphunter,

Where do you find the grid square to that high of resolution? I know mine with the 6 digit (EN85ck), but I have never seen this extended version before your posting.

Greg H.

Well, Scalphunter hasn't answered (yet).  Anybody else know the answer to that?

[dalecoy]

Scalphunter,

Where do you find the grid square to that high of resolution? I know mine with the 6 digit (EN85ck), but I have never seen this extended version before your posting.

Greg H.

Well, Scalphunter hasn't answered (yet).  Anybody else know the answer to that?

Answering my own question:

Here's a calculator that goes from Latitude/Longitude to a wide variety of other location methods, including 12-digit Maidenhead:

http://www.earthpoint.us/Convert.aspx

...but I'm still wondering ... Scalphunter insisted:

Need to use the maidenhead grid system like what is used in ham Radio.

Just what would be the advantage for Davis to use the Maidenhead system for the console entry of location?  [And how on earth would we enter case-sensitive letters into the console?

[ValentineWeather]

Anyone looking for decimal converter with map, as stated google earth will convert after going into tools/settings this link is faster. http://www.latlong.net/degrees-minutes-seconds-to-decimal-degrees

[Scalphunter]

And how on earth would we enter case-sensitive letters into the console?

The same way I do address or chart points on my Garmin GPS  up  arrow and  down  arrow.  I already said why I think  Maidhead  could be use. There is  no error for  wrong hemisphere or if your east or west of the prime Merdian.

As for share programs  I only share with people I care to share with  so IF I didn't  share here I must not wanted to share my info.

Last but least MR Coy if  anyone else on here had suggested this use of Maidhead it would never had gotten  the question  like I got from you .

There lot of people who  have problems with maps and entering   cords.  Every use an  old Loran A unit where you had to match the slave to the master then transpose to the chart . better be right. Loran c came along lot simpler and easier.  For some reason there are weather programs  that use Loran C reading.  who knows why.

And to  the fella  who say  hams are amateur,  I guess this professional Merchant Marine sailor  that also holds an Ham License I guess in your eye I am  an joke as that what I read in your line of thought.

John

[dalecoy]

Last but least MR Coy if  anyone else on here had suggested this use of Maidhead it would never had gotten  the question  like I got from you .

I apologize, since my curiosity was offensive.  And thanks for adding to my knowledge about Maidenhead grids.

[Mattk]

This "amateur" geodesist works in the real world to, so a real world "professional" question then, do Maidenhair grids come down to the sub cm or better still sub mm?

[DaleReid]

Being a bit tongue in cheek, but I'm at BP64nk26jv so go xyw29 and where am I?

Or if I'm at Bw9lkjdoslld am I ahead or behind you as far as hour angle of the sun is concerned? 

There is nothing instinctive about this method, but just a different method.  The major problem with lat long is there was never a firm insistence upon what plus and minus means, except for latitude.

There may be very good (albeit limited) use for this but the latitude longitude system works well for navigation, astronomy and so many things that will never be adaptable to letters and numbers with completely arbitrary meaning to wanting to know how to get around or locate where to point my antenna to hear Cassini's last transmissions that this only adds to confusion.  But I'm being contrary, as my mother would say, and just looking for a reason to include this, except for someone with a very narrow interest, or like Wx Channel, wanting to name thunderstorms or snow storms.

[torkelmj]

The major problem with lat long is there was never a firm insistence upon what plus and minus means, except for latitude.

Really?

ISO 6709 doesn't qualify as a firm insistence ?

[DaleReid]

Scalphunter:

Those old Loran units were something.  There was even a version for light planes just before Garmin pushed GPS out into the world of ordinary folks.

The concept is about the same as our Time of Arrival for lightning detection right now.  Sort of ingenious but the resolution was so much different.  When I was younger and more energy and a less accurate impression of my math talents I did an almost raw calculation of the arcs.  What a royal pain.

I think that the Loran system has been retired.  And really not needed as a backup any more I don't think.  On the other hand the VORs still can play a role if GPS takes a hit, but if someone is killing our GPS satellites, we probably won't be worrying about our VOR guiding us safely home.

Very cool stuff on how humans can come up with solutions with the tools they have.  I marvel at GPS and how old the concept and technology is, and yet nothing new seems on the horizon due to propagation being altered due to atmospheric and ionospheric states.

[DaleReid]

 torkelmj,
Well,  having just read through some papers from the Renewable Energy Lab on solar position calculations and having configured Weather Display many a times, there are two camps of how to use plus and minus.

However, I fully agree that IF everyone had that standard in place, and that deviation from that would have been met with severe criticism from leading scientists, we'd all know what it meant.

I was in your camp thinking there was an agreed upon definition, with time zones, etc. all following along, but indeed there are recent papers on astronomical calculations that spend a paragraph or two explaining which way they are using - and +.

Just strange.

[torkelmj]

Indeed there is an agreed upon definition.

Adaptions, transformations, and divergent conventions may be used behind the scenes for a number of relevant reasons, but the representation visible to Suzy User should follow the ISO standard to avoid any risk of misunderstandings. As such, my Davis VP2 console shows lat/lon just as expected.