Author Topic: ftp to NOAA tgftp site not working (Read 7698 times)

venturaweather · « **on:** March 29, 2015, 12:41:54 PM »

Starting on March 25 requesting a forecast text file from NOAA's tgftp server via VWS's ftp download process stopped working. Putting the exact same url in any browser retrieves the forecast perfectly, leading me to believe it's a VWS problem. I've rebooted my machine, restarted VWS, even updated to the latest non-beta version (15.0) and all I get is "Error retrieving download file" in the status bar, and in the log file it shows:

03/29/15, 9:39:18,No error.,Internet Read File Error
03/29/15, 9:39:18,No error.,Internet Read File

Curious if others are seeing this and if there is a solution or workaround. Perhaps an alternate site for the data?

Thanks,

Mike

Impala88 · « **Reply #1 on:** March 29, 2015, 10:07:49 PM »

I am having the exact same problem (kind of glad it's not just me this time!

). VWS won't download them but I can access the link in my browser. I also cannot download the NOAA Metars using VWS.

I sent an E-mail to Ambient Weather Support and Ed had the same problem. He said that nothing has changed in the software so he doesn't have an explanation.

ericwl · « **Reply #2 on:** March 31, 2015, 07:31:19 PM »

Me 2!

My legacy NEXRAD3 proggy FTPs radar data from that server & has just stopped working (1st time in 10 years).

I've emailed 'nws.isg@noaa.gov' twice with no response.

We need a contact at NWS who can speak to us about what has changed...

Impala88 · « **Reply #3 on:** April 03, 2015, 09:13:17 AM »

It's been over a week and VWS will still not retrieve the FTP downloads or Metar data from NWS/NOAA. It's obvious that something has changed with NWS/NOAA as I cannot imagine a server being down for this long. Either that or it must be the way that VWS performs the download because if you put the same link in a browser you can retrieve it with no problem. It could be something silly like an extra "s" (i.e., "ftp" as opposed to "ftps" or something like that) that needs to be included in the link.

If any other VWS users are experiencing this issue please contact support@ambientweather.com and report it. Ed should know who to contact about this. If he gets only one or two E-mails regarding this, chances are he will think it's an isolated issue and not research it.

If anyone else has any ideas on what to do, please let us know.

SteveFitz1 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 03, 2015, 10:00:36 AM »

I just took at look at my METAR settings in VWS and noticed the last update was March 25. I also noticed I was obtaining the readings from HamWeather. I "flipped the switch" to NOAA, clicked on Update Now and my METAR readings are now current.

Steve

ValentineWeather · « **Reply #5 on:** April 03, 2015, 10:01:51 AM »

FYI, not sure this has anything to do with it but March 31st, NWS did make changes. It knocked forecast and other scripts many use for web page design out of service, all is back up now but changes had to be made. Doesn't ED have his own help forum?

Impala88 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 03, 2015, 10:09:46 AM »

Quote from: SteveFitz1 on April 03, 2015, 10:00:36 AM

I just took at look at my METAR settings in VWS and noticed the last update was March 25. I also noticed I was obtaining the readings from HamWeather. I "flipped the switch" to NOAA, clicked on Update Now and my METAR readings are now current.

Steve

I've been using HamWeather since the NOAA outage. I have been "flipping the switch" daily to see if the NOAA feed was working but have had no luck. Did you make any other changes anywhere to get the NOAA feeds to work?

Impala88 · « **Reply #7 on:** April 03, 2015, 10:14:06 AM »

Quote from: ValentineWeather on April 03, 2015, 10:01:51 AM

FYI, not sure this has anything to do with it but March 31st, NWS did make changes. It knocked forecast and other scripts many use for web page design out of service, all is back up now but changes had to be made. Doesn't ED have his own help forum?

Do you know what changes need to be made to get the forecasts? I still cannot access those nor the Metars from NOAA.

I don't think Ed posts on any forum. There is a Wikispaces forum for the VWS revisions but the last post was from 1/2/2014 so I don' think it's active.

ValentineWeather · « **Reply #8 on:** April 03, 2015, 10:24:21 AM »

Quote from: Impala88 on April 03, 2015, 10:14:06 AM

Quote from: ValentineWeather on April 03, 2015, 10:01:51 AM
FYI, not sure this has anything to do with it but March 31st, NWS did make changes. It knocked forecast and other scripts many use for web page design out of service, all is back up now but changes had to be made. Doesn't ED have his own help forum?

Do you know what changes need to be made to get the forecasts? I still cannot access those nor the Metars from NOAA.

I don't think Ed posts on any forum. There is a Wikispaces forum for the VWS revisions but the last post was from 1/2/2014 so I don' think it's active.

http://www.wxforum.net/index.php?topic=25697.0
Ken, will be the best to contact. You are right about the VWS support forum. It links back here now.

Impala88 · « **Reply #9 on:** April 03, 2015, 10:42:28 AM »

Thank you for this! I have forwarded that to Ed at Ambient. I'll also experiment on my end to see what I can come up with.

ValentineWeather · « **Reply #10 on:** April 03, 2015, 10:50:17 AM »

Quote from: Impala88 on April 03, 2015, 10:42:28 AM

Thank you for this! I have forwarded that to Ed at Ambient. I'll also experiment on my end to see what I can come up with.

No problem I'm sure there are people here that can help if they could look at the request string code, should Ed not come through.

Impala88 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 03, 2015, 10:53:39 AM »

Well, this is wonderful. It does not appear that VWS is interested in rectifying this situation. This was the response to my latest E-mail:

>>Thanks. However, there are no plans to change the software to accommodate their change I am afraid, simply because my tools do not allow it.

Regards,

Ed<<

Back to the drawing board! Perhaps this is a sign to change to a different software, as this vendor does not seem interested in keeping theirs current.

Impala88 · « **Reply #12 on:** April 03, 2015, 10:59:15 AM »

Please be advised, this is NO DIG against Ed! I am sure he would like to fix this but he's probably being held back by the bean counters at Ambient. I used to work with an IT Technician at a company I used to work for. He knew what we needed but could never get funding from the powers that be.

ValentineWeather · « **Reply #13 on:** April 03, 2015, 11:10:13 AM »

Quote from: Impala88 on April 03, 2015, 10:53:39 AM

Well, this is wonderful. It does not appear that VWS is interested in rectifying this situation. This was the response to my latest E-mail:

>>Thanks. However, there are no plans to change the software to accommodate their change I am afraid, simply because my tools do not allow it.

Regards,

Ed<<

Back to the drawing board! Perhaps this is a sign to change to a different software, as this vendor does not seem interested in keeping theirs current.

That's unfortunate. Time to look at Cumulus donate-ware or WD pay. Cumulus is still supported but new X version is coming out and the old version will eventually be unsupported, I'm not sure the status of WD. I think he has started from scratch rebuilding the software after hard drive failure. Both these work with the many php codes and scripts available here. I really like cumulus its very stable, WD has more things that work with the scripts but still unsure of the status.

SteveFitz1 · « **Reply #14 on:** April 03, 2015, 11:24:41 AM »

Quote from: Impala88 on April 03, 2015, 10:09:46 AM

I've been using HamWeather since the NOAA outage. I have been "flipping the switch" daily to see if the NOAA feed was working but have had no luck. Did you make any other changes anywhere to get the NOAA feeds to work?

The only thing I did was "flip the switch" to point to NOAA, then clicked Update Now. That's it.

Steve

weatherc · « **Reply #15 on:** April 03, 2015, 11:29:26 AM »

Just a note,
NOAA FTP stopped supporting active FTP some weeks ago and now supports only passive transfers.

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/notification/tin14-55ncep_ftp.txt

jay_hoehn · « **Reply #16 on:** April 03, 2015, 04:30:12 PM »

Quote

Please be advised, this is NO DIG against Ed! I am sure he would like to fix this but he's probably being held back by the bean counters at Ambient. I used to work with an IT Technician at a company I used to work for. He knew what we needed but could never get funding from the powers that be.

Ed is the bean counter. It is his company.

Jay

Steve_WR9G · « **Reply #17 on:** April 09, 2015, 01:32:54 PM »

Same problem here. The only means currently to update the METARs is thru Hamweather setting. I know several other government web site addresses have also recently change. This should be a simple update on the software. 73, Steve WR9G.

Impala88 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 10, 2015, 09:14:36 AM »

Hamweather works for METARS, but the updates are consistently 35 minutes past the hour. (NOAA was usually at the top of the hour.) I'm not sure that it's an actual web site address change because the URLs for the forecasts and other data provided by NOAA/NWS are still accessible in a browser.

I have an old program called WetSock, which hasn't had a software update in a few years, that still gets all of the current conditions and forecasts from NOAA and has updated METAR information 5 minutes before every hour. I don't understand why that works and VWS doesn't.

I'm holding out hope that Ambient will come out with an update, but if only a few people are reporting the problem nothing will be done. If anyone else is having this issue, please E-mail support@ambientweather.com and let them know.

joe42353 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 09, 2015, 06:20:40 PM »

I am having the same problem. I had to switch to Ham Weather and no matter what I try I cannot get the hurricane products to download. I thought it was just me till I came across this post. I also will e mail Ambient support.

Impala88 · « **Reply #20 on:** May 09, 2015, 09:28:00 PM »

Let us know what they say. I am hoping more people have started contacting support about this issue.

joe42353 · « **Reply #21 on:** May 10, 2015, 11:23:24 AM »

I will let you know when I get an answer. I am testing a product called Smart FTP that allows you to schedule downloads at different intervals similar to what VWS does. So far it is working as expected. I download the files to the VWS folder and then I use VWS to upload the folder as I used to to do. Its a bit expensive at 99 bucks but I have 28 days to test it.

joe42353 · « **Reply #22 on:** May 11, 2015, 08:29:02 AM »

Ed got back to me and said that NOAA went to authenticated FTP. This was done when somebody had a script that was "abusing" the system and that is why they made the change. Ed said that VWS does not support this. I guess it is safe to say they are not going to fix it. On the bright side, I have been using Smart FTP in the 28 day trial and it appears to be working fine. I download with the Smart FTP to the VWS folder and then use the scheduling within VWS to upload the files like I used to. The program is small and uses very little in the way of resources. It was a bit confusing at first on the method to schedule the downloads but once you figure it out it is actually pretty easy. I am going to try it about another week and if all goes well I am going to purchase it. https://www.smartftp.com/ . If you decide to buy it, you need the 99.00 dollar version so you can do the scheduling.

Blizzard · « **Reply #23 on:** May 13, 2015, 04:06:48 PM »

Same problem here. As long as HAMweather works, I have no problem even if the frequency of the update isn't the same. However, if the same thing happens with them, where will we get our data? That smart FTP looks good, but how do we know what address to put (address of the metar)? Same thing if I want to see the data in the browser on NOAA, what address do I use?

I'm working on a projet to get data from other stations around mine and process them to put them on my website in a format of my choice. Does the NOAA still accept pesonal metar upload ? Is it transfered on HAMweather? Any idea on how I can do that?

Thanks

joe42353 · « **Reply #24 on:** May 13, 2015, 04:32:19 PM »

I am not sure about the METAR downloads but for the other data, you type in the address the same way as you would in VWS to browse the NOAA FTP. Its a bit complicated at first but I was able to figure out how to schedule the downloads with a tutorial that they had.

News:

Author Topic: ftp to NOAA tgftp site not working (Read 7698 times)