Author Topic: NOAA WEATHER RADIO  (Read 149408 times)

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Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« on: February 10, 2017, 11:29:22 AM »
With the demise of Wunderground Radio Streams...
NOAA Weather Radio.Org
A project of the PWS community and many gracious friends
History:  http://noaaweatherradio.org/about/
US National Hurricane Center Tropical Weather Outlook
Active during storm season June 1 - November 30.

03/27/2017: US Dept of Commerce, NOAA, NWS officially approves and authorizes
 the use of the
NOAA All Hazards Weather Radio trademark/logo  for Noaa Weather Radio ORG.

... and from NOAA.GOV email May 1, 2017...in part:
"It certainly fills a need left by Weather Underground. Thank you for your efforts to provide streaming weather information and weather awareness. 
We do appreciate your attention to NWR."

03/23/2017: Contact Form
Submit or update a stream, comment, complain, etc
03/22/2017:
LIVE MAP—U.S. Hazards with Streams.
Page is still developing. Using Selected Streams, See main page for All

Follow this thread as we continue to develop this project
Mike
« Last Edit: January 05, 2020, 01:27:31 PM by Cutty Sark Sailor »
 


Offline tim273

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2017, 12:13:20 PM »
So weather underground was using Icecast, and we would connect to it using something like Edcast or whatever.  So I'm guessing you don't have an Icecast server, so I would need to create my own Icecast server to do this then correct?

Offline ke7nwl

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2017, 12:26:43 PM »
Cutty Sark Sailor this looks great!

So weather underground was using Icecast, and we would connect to it using something like Edcast or whatever.  So I'm guessing you don't have an Icecast server, so I would need to create my own Icecast server to do this then correct?

You've got options. Cutty Sark Sailor is recommending Broadwave software instead of Icecast. I'm an Open Source Software enthusiast, so I'm using Icecast. (I'm streaming the Spokane station)

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2017, 01:11:04 PM »
Yes, there's no 'media' server... other than yours locally... the simple player just links directly to your stream.  All we need is the audio stream link.
... not that much different that what you'd do on your own site except this is a multiplayer... In effect, folks stream to WU,
and they stream back to them, if you're embedding their player... duh... but you already had the stream available, just sort of 'duplicating' bandwidth...
... there are many ways to generate the stream...
 


Offline chappelledpc

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2017, 02:57:03 AM »
Hello,

I've been successful in getting a stream up on a Raspberry Pi using Darkice and Icecast2. 
« Last Edit: February 11, 2017, 03:40:46 AM by chappelledpc »

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2017, 08:01:52 AM »
And that's a great quality stream, Doug!
 


Offline tmabell

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2017, 11:29:58 AM »
I have a pretty robust system but Broadwave will not run on it.  Nothing but trouble, freezes, lockup's, etc.  I'm willing to add my stream but I need software that works and thus far Windows Medial Encoder is all that does, and that isn't cross browser compatible.  I am open to suggestions!

Offline tim273

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2017, 02:25:42 PM »
Thanks everyone, I also have a Raspberry Pi that I've been using, but now I need to set up Icecast, time for another Raspberry Pi (I have like 8 of them).

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #8 on: February 11, 2017, 04:03:54 PM »
I have a pretty robust system but Broadwave will not run on it.  Nothing but trouble, freezes, lockup's, etc.  I'm willing to add my stream but I need software that works and thus far Windows Medial Encoder is all that does, and that isn't cross browser compatible.  I am open to suggestions!
See my PM... my suspicion is that something's using a resource that Broadwave needs... I don't think it's a bandwidth issue, which causes most problems.. you are streaming WMA at 8kb, and Broadwave MP3 should work fine at that bitrate ... Mine is set for min 24 max 56
 


Offline Mark / Ohio

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2017, 12:23:32 AM »
Looking good and working good for me.   8-)
Mark 
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Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #10 on: February 12, 2017, 11:48:10 AM »
Another PWS owner and a scripter weather-lover have informed me they're working on a couple of features to add... stay tuned... http://ourspecial.net/NOAANET2/  this will truly be a community project when it's done!  Great!
 UU
 


Offline satcop

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #11 on: February 12, 2017, 06:40:08 PM »
Looking good, and looking forward to the additional features.  Let's fill in all of those NOAA sites folks.
Clifton, Virginia Weather


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Offline Jáchym

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #12 on: February 12, 2017, 06:50:40 PM »
I probably cant help you much, but you have my full support in this and it is great when people get together like this to work on some useful thing.

I only wonder what Im going to hang above my toilet  :-( :-( :-(

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #13 on: February 12, 2017, 07:03:25 PM »
I probably cant help you much, but you have my full support in this and it is great when people get together like this to work on some useful thing.

I only wonder what Im going to hang above my toilet  :-( :-( :-(
Here:

 


Offline Jáchym

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #14 on: February 12, 2017, 07:14:19 PM »
Ohh... thank you so much!!! I dont even think I deserve this... It will nicely complement the one I already have in my bathroom - that one I deserved for absolutely top-quality data which passed the strict WU Gold star algorithm

Offline saratogaWX

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #15 on: February 12, 2017, 07:37:25 PM »
It's sometimes hard to understand what you're saying with your tongue planted so firmly in your cheek :)
Ken True/Saratoga, CA, USA main site: saratoga-weather.org
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Offline Jáchym

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #16 on: February 12, 2017, 07:45:06 PM »
:D yes... I am sometimes ironic

Offline mikev

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #17 on: February 12, 2017, 07:51:11 PM »
Glad to have found some kind of group looking to re-organize a directory of weather radio streams following the demise of Weather Underground's streaming server (btw, yes, it looks like it's dead; it's not even resolving in DNS anymore).

I'm just an individual streamer, knowledgeable enough to set up a relatively secure server and host my own stream, and happy to spend a small amount to make it possible (the VPS I'm using costs me a whopping $5/mo for 1 TB of data throughput). Looking at the numbers, I might even be able to host a couple of other streams and still be safe on data... but I'm not quite to that point, because I would want to have different username/password info for each stream provider, and I need to dig through the Icecast configuration documentation to get that figured out.

I'm trying to claim the TuneIn listing for the NOAA Weather Radio stream that I've been providing through Weather Underground (Manassas, VA), given that it has over 8,000 people that have saved it as a favorite. They had shot me down with that before when WU had streaming issues because they claimed when WU sent their next data update, it would get re-pointed to them. Shouldn't be a problem now though.

I also raised the question over at RadioReference about if they'd be willing to host NWR streams now since Weather Underground isn't doing so anymore... one of the admins responded saying only if the owner of the site were to give the OK. He hasn't responded yet, so not sure about that, but it might be another solution for hosting streams, though they might not be as easy to link to.

Anyway, just wanted to say hi! My stream's already been added to the list as an alternate for Manassas. I might pop in from time to time, but you probably won't see me here regularly.
« Last Edit: February 12, 2017, 07:55:07 PM by mikev »

Offline vreihen

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #18 on: February 13, 2017, 06:46:35 AM »
Since everyone here has some sort of weather computer running 24/7 but not necessarily a scanner and sound card cables, can I throw out a crazy idea?  Write the software to turn a sub-$20 USB SDR dongle into a streaming source...if it doesn't already exist.  At that price point, there isn't a reason why you couldn't build a huge network of contributed streams very quickly.

For those not familiar with the technology, SDR is a Software-Defined Radio receiver.  They are being used to track airplanes (ADS-B/dump1090), ships, satellite image decoders, as ham radio receivers, for TV in Europe, and there's even code available in rtl_433 to grab wireless PWS data from the air for several non-Davis stations.  As I said, perfect fit for streaming NWS radio if someone wants to take the ball and run with it.....
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline mikev

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #19 on: February 13, 2017, 07:59:03 AM »
Since everyone here has some sort of weather computer running 24/7 but not necessarily a scanner and sound card cables, can I throw out a crazy idea?  Write the software to turn a sub-$20 USB SDR dongle into a streaming source...if it doesn't already exist.  At that price point, there isn't a reason why you couldn't build a huge network of contributed streams very quickly.

Funny that you mention using SDR... I'm actually using one of NooElec's Nano receivers for my feed. The tricky part right now is in the software though. I have three different pieces of software that I'm using to make it all work. One of those pieces could be eliminated though if the other two could be combined together.

As it is right now, I have SDR# (SDRSharp) tuning the receiver and filtering out the noise (the noise filter it has does an AWESOME job), then the audio goes through Virtual Audio Cable, which takes the audio output from SDR# and sends it to the input of my streaming encoder, Broadcast Using This Tool (yes, its acronym is BUTT). I spent about $25 on Virtual Audio Cable, the other two are free.

If someone were to write software to tune the receiver, filter the audio, and send the audio output directly to the part that would handle encoding it for a server, it would greatly simplify the process (no virtual audio cable needed). Also, the interface could be much more simplified over SDR# as far as tuning and filtering go. A $20 RTL-SDR USB receiver and one program to make the stream possible would be great.

Offline vreihen

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #20 on: February 13, 2017, 08:27:52 PM »
FYI, the software is freely out there to stream an SDR output to at least one service from Linux on a Raspberry Pi:

http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Raspberry_Pi_RTL-SDR_Broadcastify
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline tim273

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #21 on: February 14, 2017, 09:30:25 PM »
Ok, so I switched to using an RTL SDR instead of a regular radio for the MSP one.  It's about the same, but now I don't need the radio or sound card and it's on a Raspberry Pi 3 and I'm using this: http://www.nooelec.com/store/sdr/sdr-receivers/nesdr-mini-2-plus.html and I purchased a kit that includes an SMA adapter which have connected to an antenna in my attic.  Here's what I used for the command line, I started it in screen so that I can detach from it:

rtl_fm -f 162.55M -s 48000 -l 0 | lame -s 48000 --lowpass 3200 --abr 64 --scale 9 -r -m m - - | ezstream -c /etc/ezstream.xml

I might need to tweek the lowpass and scale numbers, but it's not too bad. My ezstream.xml file looks like this:

<!--
   EXAMPLE: MP3 playlist stream WITHOUT reencoding

   This example streams a playlist that contains only MP3 files. No other file
   formats may be listed. Since ezstream will not be doing any reencoding, the
   resulting stream format (bitrate, samplerate, channels) will be of the
   respective input files.
 -->
<ezstream>
    <url>http://localhost:8000/tim273/edina</url>
    <sourcepassword>my_password</sourcepassword>
    <format>MP3</format>
    <filename>stdin</filename>
    <stream_once>1</stream_once>
    <!--
      The following settings are used to describe your stream to the server.
      It's up to you to make sure that the bitrate/samplerate/channels
      information matches up with your input stream files. Note that
      <svrinfoquality /> only applies to Ogg Vorbis streams.
     -->
    <svrinfoname>Minneapolis, Minnesota Weather Radio</svrinfoname>
    <svrinfourl>http://www.wunderground.com</svrinfourl>
    <svrinfogenre>Weather</svrinfogenre>
    <svrinfodescription>NOAA Weather Radio KEC65 162.55Mhz</svrinfodescription>
    <svrinfobitrate>64</svrinfobitrate>
    <svrinfochannels>2</svrinfochannels>
    <svrinfosamplerate>48000</svrinfosamplerate>
    <!--
      Prohibit the server to advertise the stream on a public YP directory:
     -->
    <svrinfopublic>0</svrinfopublic>
</ezstream>

Seems to be working ok, now I don't need darkice either.  Anyway, let me know how it's working.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2017, 09:06:19 AM by tim273 »

Offline mikev

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #22 on: February 15, 2017, 12:39:15 PM »
Tim, my only question would be why are you using such a high sampling rate and bit rate for your audio? The audio bandwidth used by NWR is maybe 16-20 KHz at its peak, and your low pass filter is only passing 3.2 KHz and lower anyway... so why sample at 48 KHz? And with that sample rate reduction, you can also cut back your bit rate. There are some who will stream at 32 Kbps, but really, between 16-24 Kbps is plenty. If you cut your sample rate to 11025 or 16000, you might get away with 12 Kbps without too much compression.

My stream of Manassas VA (listed as the alternate) runs at 22050 Hz and 16 Kbps.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2017, 12:41:22 PM by mikev »

Offline tim273

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #23 on: February 15, 2017, 12:47:59 PM »
Two words: sound quality.  I know it seems excessive, but it does sound better, and I spent a lot of time getting the best sound quality I could.  I've had it set up this way when I streamed to Weather Underground and have been doing it for years.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2017, 12:51:19 PM by tim273 »

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: NOAA WEATHER RADIO
« Reply #24 on: February 15, 2017, 02:32:35 PM »
I believe the NOAA AM bandwidth is 5 kHz...especially on the older transmitters... a sampling rate of 16 kHz would be expected to handle up to 8 kHz without aliasing -- however, aliasing could also be introduced with higher volume input levels, and noise within the source, so an even higher sampling rate could produce a "cleaner" sound, to the ears, than the lower sampling rate...especially if you have a 'dirty' or poor signal in, in many cases, believe it or not...
 I use 24 to 56 K