Category : Science and Education
Archive   : WXRDR3.ZIP
Filename : WXRDR.DOC

Weather Radar Plotting Program, [ WXRDR ] - Ver. 3.x - (CW - 1987,1988)
By: Phil Baughn & Mike McCauley -------------- (All Rights Reserved)
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Standard form 'raw' ÿradar data obtained from most services around ÿthe
country is in the format of RADAR.DAT.

xxxyyyz - xxx=lat*10
yyy=(lon-50)*10
z=intensity

Thisÿprogram ÿreads ÿthe data in RADAR.DAT, ÿor another data file, ÿand
plots ÿthe results on ÿEGA and VGA monitors. ÿMCGA and CGA systems are
NOT ÿsupported ÿas the best quality available on such systems ÿwas ÿnot
adequate ÿto ÿproperly ÿreproduce ÿthe ÿSuperRadar ÿimages ÿas ÿwe ÿare
accustomed to seeing.

The ÿprogram ÿis ÿcompletely 'menu-driven' ÿand supports your mouse ÿif
available. ÿÿOn ÿsome compatible systems with a mouse it is ÿmandatory
that you load both the mouse device driver AND run the mouse initiation
program before using this program, ÿone without the other may cause the
system to hang on some compatibles. ÿThe files packed with the program
disk ÿ(or ÿARChive file) ÿMUST remain on the same disk or in ÿthe ÿsame
subdirectory ÿas the main program. ÿBRUN40.EXE is required so that ÿwe
could make use of some extra and special subroutines which could not be
included in the standalone EXE method. The only other compatibility we
have ÿencountered ÿis with FALCON DOS. ÿThis companies version of ÿDOS
does not evidently properly support all of the functions that IBM's ÿPC
and Microsoft's MS-DOS do.

When you first start the program, ÿa default data file, WXRDR.PRM, ÿhas
been ÿsupplied ÿusing ÿLexington, ÿÿKentucky as the ÿcentral ÿpoint ÿof
plotting. ÿThis file can be customized for your specific locations and
color ÿdesires using the standalone program RDCONFIG.EXE or by choosing
the ÿOPTIONS ÿSETUP feature from the main menu which ÿwill ÿenvoke ÿthe
configuration ÿprogram for you directly from the main ÿprogram. ÿÿThis
option ÿis ÿespecially ÿuseful when attempting to select your choice of
colors and ÿintensities as it allows immediate display of data from the
menu. Should ÿthis file, WXRDR.PRM, be deleted it will be necessary to
recreate it ÿusing the program as just mentioned before any data can be
plotted.

This ÿprogram attempts to plot in as close to "SuperRadar" ÿÿformat ÿas
possible just as the television weather broadcasts do. We are sure you
will agree that this package does quite a good job. The distance rings
appear elongated to compensate for the curvature of the Earth. The Lat-
itude & Latitude coordinates, data plot points, and city placements are
EXACT to the 100th of a degree.

The most cost effective service we have seen from which to obtain up to
the minute data for plotting is WeatherBank, ÿInc. ÿwhich is accessible
at either 1200 ÿor 2400 baud 24 ÿhours a day for merely the cost of the
phone ÿcall ÿ(download of current radar data takes less than 1 ÿminute)
plus 15 ÿcents a minute. ÿFor more information on WeatherBank ÿcontact
either ÿauthor ÿof ÿthis program or Steve Root at ÿWeatherBank ÿdirect.
Steve ÿRoots number (voice) ÿis 801-973-3131. ÿWeatherBank ÿdata ÿalso
includes ÿa multitude of any other information which you might ever ÿbe
interested in besides the radar data. ÿFuture releases of this program
will contain additional sections and detail supplied by the WeatherBank
folks ÿalong ÿwith ÿa ÿfree ÿusage ÿ'test' ÿÿperiod ÿonline ÿfor ÿthose
referencing this program.

Several radar data files have been included and can be dated by ÿsimply
observing the date and time stamps which DOS has placed on the files as
they were downloaded. ÿThese data files can be named however you wish.
If ÿmultiple ÿ.DAT files are available the program will display a ÿmenu
with ÿtime and date stamps for you to select from. ÿIt is important to
note ÿthat ÿONLY standard .DATa files should be present ÿon ÿthe ÿWXRDR
disk/directory.

A ÿbatch file which envokes PROCOMM and automatically runs the ÿPROCOMM
script ÿnecessary to 1 - call WeatherBank, ÿ2 ÿ- ÿlogon, ÿ3 ÿ- ÿopen ÿa
radar.dat file for data capture, 4 - retrieve the current radar data, 5
- ÿÿopen ÿa file for ASCII non-radar data capture, ÿ6 ÿ- ÿretrieve ÿthe
selected data, ÿ7 ÿ- ÿÿlogoff, ÿÿand ÿ8 - return you to the program for
immediate ÿplotting has been ÿincluded. ÿYou will need to fill in ÿthe
appropriate information as to your sign on passwords, ÿetc.. ÿYou must
also have PROCOMM available unless you wish to ÿrewite ÿanother ÿsimple
script ÿfor any of the ÿother ÿcommunications programs which you may be
using. ÿÿA ÿsample GT-Powercom script has also been included. ÿÿThose
wishing ÿto ÿreview these scripts and refine them for your ÿsystem ÿand
passwords ÿshould ÿedit BOTH the appropriate script file, ÿRDR.DNL ÿfor
Procomm, AND the batch file RDRDLOAD.BAT, which is the file called from
the ÿmain ÿprogram menu to initiate the ÿcommunications ÿprogram.ÿÿThis
automatic retrieval of current data and display is selectable as a main
menu option.

To ÿrun the program, ÿfirst create a subdirectory for the ÿfiles, ÿÿ(or
place ÿthem ÿall on the same disk), ÿand copy the files ÿover. ÿÿEnter
STARTWXR ÿat the DOS prompt. ÿIf you have PROCOMM, ÿeither change ÿthe
batch ÿfile ÿRDRDLOAD.BAT to properly go to the PROCOMM ÿdirectory ÿand
return or copy the PROCOMM files over as well. ÿIf Procomm is run from
a different directory, ÿuse must also copy the completed RDR.DNL script
file to that directory. ÿÿAdditionally, ÿÿa ÿdata file filename may be
enter directly from ÿthe ÿcommand ÿline to immediately plot rather than
going to the selection menu. Use the format WXRDR30 ÿ(dataname) at the
DOS prompt to automatically display the data file (dataname).

This ÿprogram ÿrepresents many hours of effort as can be ÿplainly ÿseen
when run. It is distributed as SHAREWARE. It is copywrited and NOT to
be ÿconsidered as Public Domain software. ÿThis program may be ÿfreely
copied and distributed for review purposes only. ÿShould this ÿprogram
be ÿof ÿvalue ÿto ÿyou after review, ÿÿthe ÿauthors ÿrequest ÿa ÿ$40.00
contribution in return for your 'licensing' fee to use the software. A
small ÿprice ÿfor the value received and to keep the SHAREWARE ÿconcept
strong ÿand ÿactive. ÿYour contribution will also grant you a ÿ1 ÿyear
membership fee to The Mailroom RBBS in Lexington, KY. where support and
future ÿenhancements ÿwill be released first. ÿThe ÿMailroom ÿnormally
charges a $25.00 ÿannual fee for its use alone as it contains over 3500
program files and has been established for nearly 4 years.*

Another ÿARChive ÿfile ÿhas been included ÿnamed ÿPHOTO_WX.ARC. ÿÿThis
program ÿpackage comes from another shareware author and should not ÿbe
considered as a part of this WXRDR program. It captures EGA screens to
disk ÿon command and allows the replay of them, ÿeven the screen 9 mode
which ÿwe ÿuse, ÿupon request from the DOS prompt. ÿA ÿbatch ÿfile ÿto
automatically 'walk' ÿthrough the screens allows for time lapse movment
of the radar data files to be observed.

We sincerely hope you find this program as useful and informative as we
do and would be very interested in your feedback and comments.



* Information current as of 1/88.
The Mailroom RBBS-PC
(606) 293-5119 24 Hours Daily
1200, 2400, 9600 HST Baud

Messages to the program authors should be left on The Mailroom RBBS
to the attention of either Phil Baughn, Mike McCauley, or SYSOP.