Topic: Combining WeeWx and APRS

[WA4OPQ]

It took a while, but I was able to install the extension to create a wxnow.txt file: weewx-cwxn-0.4.tgz
github's instructions were not correct. It says: wee_extension --install weewx-cwxn-x.y.tgz
It should be: wee_extension --install ~/Downloads/weewx-cwxn-x.y.tgz

I have a RasPi setup using YAAC that takes the wxnow.txt data and uses it in a ham radio application.

Soon I will have a compact weather package that I can put in areas that do not have internet coverage. It will send the weather data to CWOP via a ham radio link.

[WA4OPQ]

Update:

It seems to be working well with one exception:
The 24 hour rain data is not being delivered to CWOP. As this is a rather important parameter my station is not ready to be fielded until I find the problem.
It could be one of three things:
1) GW1000 to WeeWx interface (input)
2) WeeWx
3) wxnow.txt interface (output)

[WA4OPQ]

It looks like it's #3
WeeWx is not putting the cumulative rain in wxnow.txt

Now I have to figure out where to go to get this resolved.

[WA4OPQ]

Here's the hardware setup. The 2902 array talks to the GW1000 which talks to the Raspberry Pi on the right (Weewx), which talks to the red circuit board on top, a modem TNC which talks to the ham radio on the left which talks on 144.39 MHz to the ham APRS network which talks to CWOP.

With good conditions this could have 50 - 100 mile range.  It is CWOP only, no wunderground or other networks.

[WA4OPQ]

Woo Hoo!  I'm a beta tester. (actually an alpha tester)
I have a new extension to test, It's should fix the issue with the 1hr and 12hr rain data.
I'm glad the WeeWx developers and such are so responsive.
Now I just have to wait for a rainy day.

[WA4OPQ]

I have good news.

The modification has corrected the problem. I now have a complete system for putting a weather station at a site without internet access, using ham radio.

[vreihen]

Out of curiosity, what TNC is that?????

[WA4OPQ]

This is the Pi-TNC, but it is now out of production. I was upset when I found that out.

But.... I have a TNC-pi9k6 arriving Monday for my next node.   https://www.etsy.com/listing/775608115/tnc-pi9k6-raspberry-pi-hat-kit

And I've just discovered a new TNC being developed, I'll be trying this next  http://tarpn.net/t/nino-tnc/n9600a/n9600a_info.html

[N3FWE]

It took a while, but I was able to install the extension to create a wxnow.txt file: weewx-cwxn-0.4.tgz
github's instructions were not correct. It says: wee_extension --install weewx-cwxn-x.y.tgz
It should be: wee_extension --install ~/Downloads/weewx-cwxn-x.y.tgz

I have a RasPi setup using YAAC that takes the wxnow.txt data and uses it in a ham radio application.

Soon I will have a compact weather package that I can put in areas that do not have internet coverage. It will send the weather data to CWOP via a ham radio link.

Sounds very interesting.   I'll have to follow this and play with it when I get a chance.

Steve,  N3FWE

[WJ1I]

@WA4OPQ   I'm having trouble getting wxnow.txt to populate with data from WEEWX

Apr 16 2020 14:35
243/006g000t000r000p000P000h000b00000

I'm only getting wind speed and direction. The loop is updating correctly.   . Any thoughts? 

Dave WJ1I

[WA4OPQ]

What extension are you using to get the wxnow.txt?

I successfully used cwxn.   Does weewx show the data correctly on it's web display?

[WJ1I]

I'm using the http://lancet.mit.edu/mwall/projects/weather/releases/weewx-cwxn-0.4.tgz  extension.  Weewx is populating it's reports correctly, with the data coming from a Weatherflow system. My wxnow.txt loop is getting updated every minute , but it seems to be populating with wind speed and direction only, everything else is 0.   I'm guessing that the extension may be calling for  WEEWX sent data to CWOP just fine when enabled (I disabled it today to get the RF system working). I'm feeding into 144.39 using APRSCE32 with the SSID of WJ1I-WX for the weather station feed. https://aprs.fi/info/a/WJ1I-WX   (BTW as of writing...flat calm so the wind speeds going to be nothing too!)


D.

[WA4OPQ]

If you have a spare SD card I'd try a fresh installation of weewx and cwxn with the weatherflow extension. Nothing else.
All cwxn does is query the database and create a text file. Nothing magical about it.

[vreihen]

Keep in mind that the WeatherFlow UDP station driver only sends partial LOOP packets to WeeWX, repeated live as the WF Hub receives them.  The Air and Sky send one packet per minute with their summary data, and the Sky also sends rapid_wind (sounds like what you're seeing in wxnow.txt) every 3 seconds (or 15 seconds with the Sky in power-save mode).  Odds are that the extension you're using sends the contents of the last LOOP packet that it received, and it was a rapid_wind packet since they are sent 20 times more frequently.  (On a side note, WF named rapid_wind because it was sent frequently, not because it contains wind gusts or anything.)  But what do I know about the WeatherFlow UDP driver for WeeWX.

If the extension has the ability to use ARCHIVE packets and not LOOP packets, they should contain a complete observation collected over the WeeWX archive_interval which I believe defaults to 5 minutes.

Speaking of intervals, the latest maximum APRS WX send frequency recommendation is 5 minutes between packets.  Hence using the ARCHIVE packets if the extension will support that.....

[WJ1I]

archive vs loop did the trick. thank you.

i'd already added these lines into weewx.config

 [CumulusWXNow]
        filename = /var/tmp/wxnow.txt
        binding = archive

but when I looked at syslog i saw binding was loop. have no idea why it wasn't changing it... so I edited the cwxn.py script to make the change  there which locks the binding to archive.

      binding = d.get('binding', 'archive').lower()

So any suggestions there  greatly appreciated.

I have set my aprsis32 weather object to 10 min... working great!

many thanks for the help...very much appreciated

 Dave WJ1I

[WA4OPQ]

Now that it's working, please go to https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/weewx-user/TUn5ibGr9uo and download the modified cwxn.py 
The unmodified version does not properly report rainfall.

[WJ1I]

Wonderful. thanks for the help folks.... I've substituted the new python script... rain over the weekend forecast for testing.

Disclosure: my python experience is pretty ropy, but try as I have to get the binding variable to pull over from weewx.conf, I can't get it to work and it goes to default, so I've resorted to changing the default to 'archive' in the cwxn.py script instead.

Dave WJ1I

[N7UV]

Good day, all -

I just found this last night while again trying to figure out how I could interface my Davis Vantage 2 feeding weewx on an RPi, to my YAAC running on a Windows box, both in the same subnet. Thanks for doing all the hard work! Now I need to digest this and hopefully make it work for me as well.

So it looks like I modify weewx.conf to add a new report in a format that YAAC can accept? But how do I get the report from the RPi to the Windows box? Perhaps the answer is below, so I'll go there now.

Cheers and 73 - Jon N7UV

[WA4OPQ]

But how do I get the report from the RPi to the Windows box?

Is is absolutely necessary to keep YAAC on the Windows box? It's very easy if weewx and YAAC are both on the Pi

[N7UV]

Funny you should ask. After I posted it I was thinking about your setup with YAAC running on the RPi. That particular RPi is pretty under-utilized, with weewx and GPS-disciplined NTP server. Since the TNC is an ancient KPC3+, it's serial, so I'd have to add a serial port to the RPi. The RPi has no head - is it practical to run YAAC via command line only?

If not, I do have a 10" display to donate to the RPi...

Cheers and 73 - Jon N7UV

[WA4OPQ]

To answer your question: No, YAAC can't be run on command line only.
But I run all of my Pi's headless using VNC.

[N7UV]

I'd forgotten about VNC. Yeah, that can work fine. So would I start with a RPi build with desktop? The RPi I'm using right now for weewx is the CLI only version. I've got an unused RPi 3B+ staring at me right now, and a fresh SD card!

Cheers and 73 - Jon N7UV

[WA4OPQ]

Yes, a fresh build with desktop is what you need. Here's a thread where I posted a cheat sheet:
https://sourceforge.net/p/yetanotheraprsc/discussion/general/thread/fe01457d59/

[WA4OPQ]

I have a Pi Zero with CLI style weewx and aprx. I'm waiting on another TNC and will be testing it for reliability for a remote solar powered station.

[N7UV]

Good day, all -

I've now got an RPi 3B+ running desktop mode and with YAAC and weewx installed, VNC, SSH, and serial enabled per your pdf, Bill.

However, neither software is currently working as I need to connect it to the wx station and KPC3+ at the other location. As well, I'm awaiting a USB serial dongle and a uBlox NEO7m GPS since the ones I have are tied up on other RPis. Maybe tomorrow or Friday I'll receive the goodies, then finish my software installs, and drag the whole mess up to the other location where the wx station and APRS radio are. At that point, I can finish the configuration.

I also have a timing GPS antenna to mount on my setup on the roof, and will run another cable down from there to the soon-to-arrive uBlox. And finally, I got a 10" 900 cfm thermostatically controlled exhaust blower for the little room that all the gear is in, hopefully it will get it down closer to outside ambient.

The Davis display head measures "inside" temperature with a poorly placed sensor somewhere in the body of the display unit. It's strange that they did that. In the past, it's always been 5-8 F high from the actual inside ambient, so I will also need to re-attach the little 40 mm fan that I'd placed over the rear vent holes on the display case to attempt to pull the inside-case temp down a bit to make it closer to inside room ambient.