Topic: Virtual Weather Station issues V14.01 P43 issues

[JOD]

This is my first week online with this software and the first thing I noticed that I dont like is the wind direction arrow. Seems to me that the pointer should point from the edge to the center and not the center to the edge, It's 180 degrees out of phase and a little confusing.

The second thing I noticed is the rain rate is not accurate and today I had a negative reading when it started raining.

Are there any adjustments I can make to the software?
The weather station it self appears to display accurate info.

Thanks...

 

[mmorris]

This is my first week online with this software and the first thing I noticed that I dont like is the wind direction arrow. Seems to me that the pointer should point from the edge to the center and not the center to the edge, It's 180 degrees out of phase and a little confusing.

The second thing I noticed is the rain rate is not accurate and today I had a negative reading when it started raining.

Are there any adjustments I can make to the software?
The weather station it self appears to display accurate info.

Thanks...

The arrow points in the direction the wind is coming from. And I have never heard it said (if the arrow pointed the way you want it) that The wind is Blowing to the South. So the Arrow look ok to me the way it is.

Also I can't ever remember a rain rate in the neg. #'s

[JOD]

And I have never heard it said (if the arrow pointed the way you want it) that The wind is Blowing to the South.

I have no idea what that means..

I'll explain myself a little better and compare two software programs.

Wunderground has a dial with an edge mounted indicator, the indicator points to the center away from the compass position (E)indicating the direction the wind is blowing from.

Ambient Weather's wind direction indicator points TO the compass point which would give the impresion the wind is blowing TO the East.

[neondesert]

I'll explain myself a little better and compare two software programs.

Wunderground has a dial with an edge mounted indicator, the indicator points to the center away from the compass position (E)indicating the direction the wind is blowing from.

Ambient Weather's wind direction indicator points TO the compass point which would give the impresion the wind is blowing TO the East.

There really isn't any way to change this in VWS that I know of.   In fact, the bulletin in WeatherLink displays wind direction the same way. 

[hdmax]

The issue I seam to have with VWS 14.01 is the sun set/rise, and moon set/rise. If one were to believe VWS, sunrise was this evening at 6:37 PM, and will set in the morning at 9:33 AM, while the moonrise is 3:10 PM, and moonset at 4:52 AM (For all I know, the moon information may be correct, but I know the sun information is not!)

[JOD]

@hdmax,

I did notice the same as you when it was first put online, checked the lat/long time zone several times (which were correct) but it corrected itself after a couple of days.

[hdmax]

Thanks JOD! I'll keep an eye on it.

[mmorris]

And I have never heard it said (if the arrow pointed the way you want it) that The wind is Blowing to the South.

I have no idea what that means..

I'll explain myself a little better and compare two software programs.

Wunderground has a dial with an edge mounted indicator, the indicator points to the center away from the compass position (E)indicating the direction the wind is blowing from.

Ambient Weather's wind direction indicator points TO the compass point which would give the impresion the wind is blowing TO the East.

Ok both of those images look good to me the one on the left is like looking at a weather vain and the one on the right looks like looking at a windsock.

[mmorris]

So in the Program Cumulus the wind rose look like this. 

[wxtech]

This is my first week online with this software and the first thing I noticed that I dont like is the wind direction arrow. Seems to me that the pointer should point from the edge to the center and not the center to the edge, It's 180 degrees out of phase and a little confusing.

The second thing I noticed is the rain rate is not accurate and today I had a negative reading when it started raining.

Are there any adjustments I can make to the software?
The weather station it self appears to display accurate info.

Thanks...

 

The wind direction gauge is similar to an image of a mechanical wind direction meter as used on the AN/GMQ-20 ID-373 wind direction indicator.  The needle is mounted on a synchro shaft in the middle of the gauge and hense the needle points toward the edge of the gauge faceplate.
The needle simulates a mechanical pointer, not a vector line pointing in direction and magnitude.
If you're talking about negative inches displayed in the rain graph; select the display attributes, and uncheck the autoscale plot block.  If autoscale is checked and the rain rate is zero, the center line is displayed at half of the vertical axis which will allow a possible rain rate graphed in negative values.
The software is based on National's Labview and the images are can't be modified.  I have tried all wx station software and settled on VWS in 2004.  I like the images, the reliabiltiy and the simplicity.

[JOD]

@mmorris,
Yep, another varient on the wind direction arrow. Ok, I wont mention it again.
I just downloaded Cumulus. I like this program, clean lines and nicely laid out. I'll use this one when I'm at work. 

@wxtech,
The negative reading showed in the rain rate in/hr area. Will take a look at the autoscale tonight, thanks for the tip.

If you're talking about negative inches displayed in the rain graph; select the display attributes, and uncheck the autoscale plot block.  If autoscale is checked and the rain rate is zero, the center line is displayed at half of the vertical axis which will allow a possible rain rate graphed in negative values.
The software is based on National's Labview and the images are can't be modified.  I have tried all wx station software and settled on VWS in 2004.  I like the images, the reliabiltiy and the simplicity.

[wxtech]

The attached image of rain rate graph Vws859autoscaleon shows what happens when the autoscale block is checked and the rain rate data is zero.  The graph base line goes to zero, half way between the negative and positive.  It gives space for negative rain rate numbers, but of course there is never a rain rate less than zero.
When the rain rate becomes a positive value, then the graph becomes like the second image vws859.

[JOD]

If you're talking about negative inches displayed in the rain graph; select the display attributes, and uncheck the autoscale plot block.  If autoscale is checked and the rain rate is zero, the center line is displayed at half of the vertical axis which will allow a possible rain rate graphed in negative values.

@wxtech, I didnt see the "display attributes, autoscale plot block" anywhere in the software, or is it on the console?
I did a reset last night and started from scratch setting up. I'm now using Cumulus, it rained again, and again I got the negative reading, which as you can see from the pic, it's being deducted from the total rain. I'll look on the console tonight.

[mmorris]

Did you post over on the cumulus forum there is a thread about neg rain?

[LFWX]

The arrow points in the direction the wind is coming from. And I have never heard it said (if the arrow pointed the way you want it) that The wind is Blowing to the South. So the Arrow look ok to me the way it is.

Yes, I've always seen wind direction shown this way, unless you're watching The Weather Channel - not something you want to emulate, for a while they showed it backwards. I don't really watch it much any more and right now they are talking about summer heat increasing violence and how to get your car out of mud, maybe they will actually do some weather in the next few hours so I can see how they show wind direction these day.

Wait, now they are covering the tropics, maybe they will show winds.
Nope, now we are in the digital media center (what?).

Oh well, I'll DVR an hour and fast forward through it after work.