bam@sdchema.UUCP (Bret Marquis) (11/20/84)
At one time, the NWS offered a dial up service to provide weather information for pilots. Does this service still exist? Who would you contact for it and what does it cost? There seems to be a service that is accessed over Tymnet with 'WSI' that looks useful, is this the same thing and has anyone used it? Thanks, Bret Marquis (ihnp4, sdcsvax)!bang!bam -- Bang World Communication Center - San Diego.
dwl@hou4b.UUCP (D Levenson) (11/27/84)
I have used WSI via Tymnet. It provides (as of two years ago, when I last used it) very complete pre-flight weather info. This includes current observations, route forcasts, terminal forcasts, winds aloft, radar summary charts, and weather depiction charts (presented graphically, using standard ASCII characters). The charge for the service, at 300 bps, was $1.00/minute for connect time. At 1200 bps, the charge was $2.00/minute. No other charge was made. A monthly minimum of 1 hour per account also applied. Four of us (all pilots) shared an account, each committing to fifteen minutes per month, and agreeing to pay $15.00 each month for 300 bps access. WSI did not mind shared accounts, and even encourages it by offering multiple usernames on a single account for no extra charge. This provides detail billing for each individual. One name is designated the account manager, and is responsible for paying the monthly bill and collecting from the other users. The service was terriffic. I got much more complete briefings than I usually do from the local FSS. All hardcopy that I could carry with me. They even indicated that at some time in the future, their system would accept ifr flight plans and forward them to FAA. Two of my partners backed out, after finding they didn't use the service enough. Therefore, I'm no-longer using this service, but I'd like to if I can find another group to share it with. Dave Levenson AT&T ISL Holmdel
dwight@timeb.UUCP (Dwight Ernest) (11/28/84)
> > At one time, the NWS offered a dial up service to provide weather > information for pilots. Does this service still exist? Who > would you contact for it and what does it cost? > > There seems to be a service that is accessed over Tymnet with 'WSI' > that looks useful, is this the same thing and has anyone used it? > > > Thanks, > > Bret Marquis > (ihnp4, sdcsvax)!bang!bam > -- > Bang World Communication Center - San Diego. *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** Regarding dialup (computer/modem-accessible) weather information, you should know that Compuserve offers a very good aviation weather service (full of disclaimers, of course), including aging information, PIREPS, NOTAMS, and SIGMETS. Compuserve can be accessed from most Canadian and American cities through a local number at a cost of about $12 during primt time and about $6 during evening and early morning hours (300 baud--1200 baud access is about 100% more--and this is an hourly cost). I think there may be surcharges for the weather information, and Compuserve also offers flight planning online, and is rumored to be preparing to soon offer flight plan filing online to the FAA. -- --Dwight Ernest KA2CNN \ Usenet:...vax135!timeinc!dwight Time Inc. Editorial Technology Group, New York City Voice: (212) 554-5061 \ Compuserve: 70210,523 \ EIES: 1228 Telemail: DERNEST/TIMECOMDIV/TIMEINC \ MCI: DERNEST "The opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Time Incorporated, its management, or stockholders." [Unix is a trademark of AT&T Information Systems] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------