My WU NOAA upload

[Koolkid1935]

I finally got our NOAA weather radio up on WU as well as embedded on my website!  Right now I am using our Uniden Bearcat scanner, but plan to purchase a standalone weather radio tomorrow after work (RadioShack is closed on Sundays).

http://powellwyweather.com/#Radio

Now, to get it listed on NWS' site, what all do I need to include in the email?

[Mark / Ohio]

Actually the NWS found me on their own.  I'm not sure how often they go looking and revising their links.

BTW The audio quality sounds great on your site!   

[Koolkid1935]

How do I get it to broadcast as a mono stream so it isn't just coming out of the left channel?  I guess it might just be that our scanner only outputs in mono on the left channel and will change once I get a true weather radio in place.  If I change it in edcast to 1 channel, it messes it up and it sounds like the chipmunks

[Mark / Ohio]

Not sure about Edcast.  I'm still using and old version of Oddcast for mine.  It's worked and been pretty stable so I just never bothered to upgrade.  It might be assuming your using a stereo cable/plug into the mono jack on the scanner, putting an a stereo to mono adapter inline with the plug into the scanner would solve the problem when you try to use a single channel.  Just a thought..

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062469&CAWELAID=37900888


I'm using an old Radio Shack Uniden handheld scanner for mine.  The audio output on it got too weak to use it for normal operation years ago without an amplified speaker or using an ear plug but it works fine for the computer.  

[Koolkid1935]

Thanks for the info.  I will order one as well as a Midland WR300 from RadioShack.  Currently I am using a mono cable but have a stereo cable handy as well once the adapter arrives.

Question though about the WR300 - does it have a mode to be 'always on' so that it will always relay the audio to my computer or does it come on when there is an alert then shut off x minutes after it until the next alert?

Edit: looks as though if I disable all alerts it should stay on all the time.

[Anthony]

I was uploading my NOAA steam at one time. But all of a sudden my oddcast program quit streaming the data. I tried all I could think of to get it working again and never could. So I gave up.

[Mark / Ohio]

I was uploading my NOAA steam at one time. But all of a sudden my oddcast program quit streaming the data. I tried all I could think of to get it working again and never could. So I gave up. 

My only problems so far were in the beginning with it.  I could not get my audio into the program.  IIRC I could hear it on my PC speakers but could not get it to show up either on the modulation indicator nor the data output to WU.  Turned out to be an issue of some sort with my old Sound Blaster card.  Being a 1999 model computer I went to the local custom shop that originally built it to see if they had any old cards laying about.  They came up with a slightly newer Sound Blaster card  for a few dollars that has served the purpose ever since.

[Anthony]

I never thought about it being that. Expecially since I still have audio on that computer. Something may have happened to the mic input on that sound card. Thats that I was using to imput the audio from the radio into the sound card. And no I don't have it muted and the volume on the radio is turned up and so is the volume contol for the mic input.

[W Thomas]

I have seriously thought about uploading here but I am on the fringe of the closest transmitter and reception is not that encouraging. Matter of fact the NWS Holston Mtn transmitter was on low power yesterday during all the activity and I never got a single warning from the radio. I had to go outside and use my mobile in the truck to hear anything from there.  There was some talk a year or so ago about a transmitter a few miles up the road from me but it evidently fizzled.  I am in the fringe of both transmitters that carry our CWA's alerts...  I'd seriously consider linking it from one of our radio sites but I don't guess the NWS would like that very well

[kray1000]

I have seriously thought about uploading here but I am on the fringe of the closest transmitter and reception is not that encouraging. Matter of fact the NWS Holston Mtn transmitter was on low power yesterday during all the activity and I never got a single warning from the radio. I had to go outside and use my mobile in the truck to hear anything from there.  There was some talk a year or so ago about a transmitter a few miles up the road from me but it evidently fizzled.  I am in the fringe of both transmitters that carry our CWA's alerts...  I'd seriously consider linking it from one of our radio sites but I don't guess the NWS would like that very well

Supposedly the NWS has been doing some testing of the 300-watt Wytheville transmitter on 162.45 MHz, but I'm too far away to hear that broadcast.

[W Thomas]

Supposedly the NWS has been doing some testing of the 300-watt Wytheville transmitter on 162.45 MHz, but I'm too far away to hear that broadcast.

Thanks Kevin!
I had heard about some sort of goings on upon Sand Mountain but never verified it!  I'll see if I can hear it from here. Need to get out and play with the new service monitor/s SA function anyway 
Sure would be good to get a better reception opening here.

[Koolkid1935]

I have the WR300 set up as well as the mono -> stereo adapter.  The only problem I am hearing is there is a high-pitched noise in there.  I thought at first it was interference since I have it sitting on top of my TeraStation right next to the computer, but even if I move it away it still seems to be there.  Maybe an external antenna will help?

[Mark / Ohio]

Might wait a day or so and see if it changes any.  Using my laptop if I were not listening for it I probably would not have noticed it.

I'm getting a fair bit of co-channel interference here last couple of days in this area.  Depending where I stand by the radio upstairs I either get Kentucky or my station out of Columbus, Ohio in the mornings.  I have the radio that's connected to the computer off the outside antenna at the moment as well since storms are in the forecast.  It's actually doing better reception wise even though it is setting in the basement.  Being below grade is shielding it from some of the interfering signals.

[wuhu_software]

I have the WR300 set up as well as the mono -> stereo adapter.  The only problem I am hearing is there is a high-pitched noise in there.  I thought at first it was interference since I have it sitting on top of my TeraStation right next to the computer, but even if I move it away it still seems to be there.  Maybe an external antenna will help?

Play the sound files at the top of the page and see if this is the same noise issue that you have:

http://home.comcast.net/~wuhu_software/EliminateHum/

[Koolkid1935]

I am not sure if that is it or not.  I can hear it ever so slightly even on the built-in speaker so I have a feeling it has more to do with interference than anything...Though as of right now the transmitter is still having problems so it is difficult to test.

[Koolkid1935]

Something else I have noticed is that when my feed is listened to in a media player it will play anywhere from 112Kb/s to 160Kb/s even though I have Edcast set to a 16Kb/s stream...Even in Edcast it shows a transfer rate of about that.  Any thoughts on how to lower that down so someone on dialup can listen in, or is that something their player will do on it's own?

This is what Edcast looks like:


I can't seem to modify the samplerate from 44100Hz to 22050Hz like the instructions say or it messes up the stream...Don't know if that is where the problem is or not though.

[kray1000]

I have seriously thought about uploading here but I am on the fringe of the closest transmitter and reception is not that encouraging. Matter of fact the NWS Holston Mtn transmitter was on low power yesterday during all the activity and I never got a single warning from the radio. I had to go outside and use my mobile in the truck to hear anything from there.  There was some talk a year or so ago about a transmitter a few miles up the road from me but it evidently fizzled.  I am in the fringe of both transmitters that carry our CWA's alerts...  I'd seriously consider linking it from one of our radio sites but I don't guess the NWS would like that very well

Supposedly the NWS has been doing some testing of the 300-watt Wytheville transmitter on 162.45 MHz, but I'm too far away to hear that broadcast.

Wayne,
The testing of the Wytheville broadcast was stopped last year when the broadcast interfered with emergency communications.

But testing has just resumed again, still from Sand Mountain at 162.45 MHz.  I can hear the broadcast from Roanoke with an external antenna, but not well.  I'm guessing they are still broadcasting at 300 watts.  Supposedly the listening area also includes Mount Airy and the northern foothills of North Carolina, which I find hard to believe given the topography just northwest of Mount Airy.

Here is a temporary link to what my feed would sound like if I did the streaming.  As I type this, the reception comes and goes and is subject to interference.
http://audioplayer.wunderground.com/roanokevalleyweather/wytheville.mp3.m3u

[kray1000]

Something else I have noticed is that when my feed is listened to in a media player it will play anywhere from 112Kb/s to 160Kb/s even though I have Edcast set to a 16Kb/s stream...Even in Edcast it shows a transfer rate of about that.  Any thoughts on how to lower that down so someone on dialup can listen in, or is that something their player will do on it's own?

This is what Edcast looks like:


I can't seem to modify the samplerate from 44100Hz to 22050Hz like the instructions say or it messes up the stream...Don't know if that is where the problem is or not though.

I know this response is a little late, but I'm sure others who try this will have the same question.

I installed Edcast on an XP machine and I'm having the same issue trying to set the transfer rate to 16K.  I'd have to say there's definitely some kind of bug in Edcast.  I'm seeing other new streams on Weather Underground with high throughput rates as well, so I think it's definitely an Edcast issue.  If I'm not mistaken, Edcast is open source, so perhaps someone with more brains than me can fix this.  This wasn't an issue with Oddcast.

I tried to set this up on a Windows7 machine, but I couldn't figure out how to mute/unmute the "Line In" feed.  

[Mark / Ohio]

I tried to upgrade awhile back and along with the noted issue had a lot higher cpu usage.  I ended up going back to the old version of oddcast.