vortex@vpnet.chi.il.us (Jason J. Levit) (12/29/90)
Archive-name: astro/weather/wx/1990-12-25
Archive: listserv@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu:index wx-talk [mail]
Original-posting-by: vortex@vpnet.chi.il.us (Jason J. Levit)
Original-subject: Weather
Reposted-by: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti)
You CAN receive weather data and satellite images through the net.
Here's how to do it:
The WX-***** lists reside on the UIUCVMD (VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU) machine at
Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. They were created for persons interested in
weather. WX-TALK is intended for discussions and questions. Some
past topics have included Doppler radar, public warning issuance,
and home satellite reception. In addition to the discussions, a decoded
(plain language) version of the severe weather outlook is sent to
WX-TALK each week day to help people know when it's a potential severe
weather day. Some subscribers, especially those who receive a lot of
mail, may choose to subscribe to certain list only when severe weather
is expected within a day or two of their location and then signoff after
the threat is over.
The other lists are designed for receive-only mode. That is, you will
receive data and products from these lists but you should not attempt to
post mail to them. Address all replies or questions to WX-TALK.
*------------------------------------*-------------------------------------*
Below is a description of the lists:
--> WX-TALK
A general discussion list for weather-related topics, special event
notifications, job announcements, and administrative messages.
This list was formerly STORM-L.
--> WX-SWO
Severe weather, mesoscale convective, and public severe weather
outlooks. The non-public products are in abbreviated (coded) format.
--> WX-WATCH
Tornado and Severe thunderstorm Watches and cancellations (long
versions). Portions of these products are in abbreviated (coded)
format.
--> WX-WSTAT
Weather Watch prior notification statements and watch status
statements. These products are in abbreviated (coded) format.
--> WX-TROPL Tropical Storm Outlook, Hurricane Position Estimates, etc.
Tropical weather outlooks, hurricane position reports, etc. This list
will be most active from June through December. Portions of these
products may be in abbreviated (coded) format.
--> WX-PCPN
Precipitation products including heavy snow and excessive rainfall.
Products are in abbreviated (coded) format.
--> WX-NATNL
Public products of national interest like the national weather summary
and selected city forecasts.
--> WX-STLT
Satellite interpretive messages and orbital data. These messages give
descriptions of cloud features and disturbances observed by satellite.
Products are issued by geographical region. Products are in abbreviated
(coded) format.
--> WX-SPOT
Storm spotter/SKYWARN discussions. This list was formerly WXSPOT-L.
--> WX-LSR
Local Storm Reports issued by local WSOs and WSFOs. More detailed
than the SELS log. Issued as needed.
--> WX-MISC
Miscellaneous products like the SELS log, tornado stats, etc. Several
of these products will be in tabular format.
***Note: Abbreviated (coded) products contain word abbreviations and
contractions. They can usually be deciphered by looking at
sentence context. Airport location identifiers are also used.
For example, NYC is New York City, NY and STL is St. Louis, MO.
Decoding software is available on the VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU machine.
*------------------------------------*-------------------------------------*
Net Protocol.
Although discussion is encouraged on WX-TALK, please be considerate of
others on the list and send *personal* messages directly to the intended
recipient --not the list. Of course, if you feel your message might be
of interest to everyone, go ahead and post it. WX-TALK can be used as a
place to announce weather-related job openings, conferences, software,
and to call attention to special events appearing on the other lists.
Due to network delays and outages some postings (especially long ones)
may take several hours (or even days !) to reach everyone. Keep this in
mind when posting updates that are highly time-critical. For fastest
delivery, it is recommended that you subscribe to the lists using your
Internet address (if you have one).
Network addresses can be very difficult (if not impossible) to
reconstruct from messages sent through the LISTSERVer. Please include
your return address on all messages. Here's a sample signature that
contains just about every address imaginable:
> Chris Novy - WA9V BITNET: axvsccn@uicvmc
> Southern Illinois Univ. Internet: axvsccn@uicvmc.aiss.uiuc.edu
> Morris Library - Systems Packet: wa9v@wd9ebq FAX: (618) 453-8109
> Carbondale, IL 62901-6632 Phone: (618) 453-1683 or (618) 457-6149
Mail is distributed on most of the lists on a daily basis. Due to
network problems or MAILER problems it may be necessary at times to
remove problem subscribers from the lists without prior notice. If you
have not received mail from a particular list in several days and you
might want to REVIEW the list or ask the list owner for assistance.
*------------------------------------*-------------------------------------*
You may subscribe, signoff, review, and change your distribution options
for any list by sending the appropriate command via interactive message
or by including the command as the ONLY line of a MAIL file to one of the
following addresses:
LISTSERV@UIUCVMD
LISTSERV@UIUCVMD.BITNET
LISTSERV@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU
>From UUCP/UUNET if the above addresses fail, try:
uiucuxc!vmd!listserv
*------------------------------------*-------------------------------------*
To subscribe to a new list, WX-MISC for example, use the SUB command:
SUB WX-MISC <your real name goes here>
Interactive example from CMS:
TELL LISTSERV AT UIUCVMD SUB WX-MISC T.T. Fujita
MAIL example:
SUB WX-MISC James T. Kirk
To cancel your subscription to issue the SIGNOFF command:
SIGNOFF WX-MISC
To see who is subscribed to a particular list issue the REVIEW command:
REVIEW WX-TALK
*-----------------------------------*--------------------------------------*
Back issues of WX-TALK are maintained in a weekly log and are available
via LISTSERV and anonymous FTP transfer. Archive files are stored under
the name LOGYYMMW where "YY" is the year (ie. 89) and "MM" is the month
(ie. 03 for March) and "W" is the week --beginning with "A"...then B..C.
For a list of archive files via LISTSERV issue the following command:
INDEX WX-TALK
This command will return something like...
* WX-TALK FILELIST for LISTSERV@UIUCVMD.
*
* NOTEBOOK archives for the list
* (Weekly notebook)
* rec last - change
* filename filetype GET PUT -fm lrecl nrecs date time Remarks
* -------- -------- --- --- --- ----- ----- -------- -------- --------------
WX-TALK LOG9005C ALL OWN V 79 935 90/05/21 11:55:59 Started on Wed,
WX-TALK LOG9005D ALL OWN V 80 731 90/05/25 14:41:55 Started on Tue,
WX-TALK LOG9005E ALL OWN V 79 241 90/05/31 11:49:21 Started on Sun,
You could then issue a SENDME command to retrieve a log file.
Example:
SENDME WX-TALK LOG9005C
*-----------------------------------*--------------------------------------*
FTP users can access the archives via ANONYMOUS file transfer by
connecting to VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU (128.174.5.98). After connecting, change
to the LISTSERV sub-directory where the archive files are kept by
issuing the following command:
CD LISTSERV.193
To see what archive files are available issue a LIST command like:
LIST WX-TALK ... or perhaps LIST WX-SWO ... or maybe LIST WX-MISC
Please make certain you include a list name after the LIST command.
To retrieve an archive file like the one in the LISTSERV example, enter:
GET WX-TALK.LOG9005E your.file
where "your.file" is whatever name you want to call your local copy.
FTP users can also access the weather-related software and archived
(GIF format) satellite pictures by connecting to VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU
(128.174.5.98) and changing to the PHIL.515 sub-directory.
Many of these satellite pictures are also available in LIST3820 laser
printer format at UA1VM.UA.EDU (129.66.8.100) in the DARREN.515
sub-directory.
The satellite files must be retrieved using BINARY or IMAGE mode.
*-----------------------------------*--------------------------------------*
BITNET users who do not have FTP access may still FTP-request files by using
the BITFTP service machine at PUCC. You can MAIL a file containing a
complete FTP transaction script to BITFTP@PUCC. BITFTP will then perform
the FTP transfer and return the file(s) and/or directory listings requested
to you via BITNET. For more information on how to conduct a transaction
send a HELP command to BITFTP@PUCC.BITNET as the first line in a MAIL
file or as an interactive message.
Note: Although the VMD and UA1VM FTP machines do not request/require a
password, you must include a bogus password in your BITFTP transaction
file. In the examples below "WX-TALK" is used as the password.
*-----------------------------------*--------------------------------------*
Here's a couple sample transactions. The first gets a directory listing
and the second retrieves a file.
FTP VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU
USER ANONYMOUS WX-TALK
CD PHIL.515
TYPE A
DIR *.*
FTP VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU
USER ANONYMOUS WX-TALK
CD PHIL.515
TYPE I
GET HUGO36.GIF HUGO36.GIF
*-----------------------------------*--------------------------------------*
Contributions to WX-TALK are always welcome and should be sent in MAIL
format to one of the following addresses.
WX-TALK@UIUCVMD WX-TALK@UIUCVMD
WX-TALK@UIUCVMD.BITNET WX-TALK@UIUCVMD.BITNET
WX-TALK@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU WX-TALK@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU
WX-TALK%VMD@UIUCUXC.UUCP WX-TALK%VMD@UIUCUXC.UUCP
uiucuxc!vmd!wx-talk uiucuxc!vmd!wx-talk
*-----------------------------------*--------------------------------------*
If you have any questions or comments please send them to me at one of the
addresses below. Thank you for your interest in the WX lists.
*------------------------------------*-------------------------------------*
Chris Novy - WA9V BITNET: axvsccn@uicvmc
Southern Illinois Univ. Internet: axvsccn@uicvmc.aiss.uiuc.edu
Morris Library - Systems Packet: wa9v@wd9ebq FAX: (618) 453-8109
Carbondale, IL 62901-6632 Phone: (618) 453-1683 or (618) 457-6149
ICBM: 37.43N 89.12W
*--------------------------------------------------------------------------*
--
Jason J. Levit - KB9BUU | A good planet is hard to find. Let's save this one!
vortex@vpnet.chi.il.us | Apple II Forever