Okay, I think all of this is finally getting through this thick skull of mine. As I said, I'm no programmer and simply wasn't aware of all of the nuances of this package. I am going to stick with the MapClick.php url's and v4.0x for the time being. Will watch the WXFORUM for any updates/changes in the future.
Ken - sorry for causing such a stir on this topic. you have always done such a great job and I am not faulting anyone here. It must be very frustrating for you to have the NWS feeds constantly changing without much, if any, notice.