[Xastir] Wx Alerts

[Lynn W Deffenbaugh (Mr)]

I wasn't here then, but I suspect the complaints were targeted at the
data source, but were in fact the problem of IGate operators that
configured their IGates to transmit alerts for a much larger area than
their reasonable RF footprint.  It's easier to shut down the source than
to "fix" a few (tens? hundreds?) of IGates that might not have even
supported sufficient filtering capability to even stem the tide of messages.

The weather alerts as specified at http://www.aprs-is.net/wx/ don't
actually include any actual APRS-aware location, but only an NWS office
designator.  You'll note that the t/n (NWS weather type) filter isn't
supported in the .../call/range form.  So, there's no defined way to get
"local" NWS alerts from the APRS-IS feed for gating to start with.  The
filters are all-or-nothing.

I'm trying to figure out a way to support a filtered gating of such
information for any IGates running APRSISCE/32 and they'll probably be
based on the NWS office being explicitly specified in the filter
component(s).

Lynn (D) - KJ4ERJ - Author of APRSISCE for Windows Mobile and Win32

Hank Lambert wrote:
> That's a shame. I don't know why someone would have a problem with a weather
> alert. But what's worse is that someone would get harassed for providing a
> service like weather alerts. Can't the alerts be turned off on the clients?
>
> 73,
>
>
> Hank Lambert
> KB4MTO/TA5ZC
> hank at hanklambert.com
> kb4mto at winlink.org
> www.hanklambert.com
> PGP Key: 0x96D33D71
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xastir-bounces at lists.xastir.org
> [mailto:xastir-bounces at lists.xastir.org] On Behalf Of Tom Russo
> Sent: Monday, January 17, 2011 2:17 PM
> To: Xastir - APRS client software discussion
> Subject: Re: [Xastir] Wx Alerts
>
> On Mon, Jan 17, 2011 at 10:39:00AM -0800, we recorded a bogon-computron
> collision of the <warpedspeed1 at yahoo.com> flavor, containing:
>   
>> Does anyone know the status of Weather Alerts here in the U.S. ?  
>>
>> We have had a few Tornado warnings here in Central Florida today, but no
>>     
> alerts 
>   
>> coming across from APRS-IS.  
>>     
>
> The original wxsvr server that gated WX alerts from NWS to APRS-IS was taken
> down by its maintainer qhite a while ago.  A replacement server was put up
> by 
> Pete Loveall, but he made a decision to gate only alerts that were immediate
>
> warnings from NWS, unlike the prior server that gated all of them.
>
> Apparently the owner of the previous system had taken a lot of heat from
> people
> about too many non-APRS alerts being gated, so when Pete stepped in to fill
> in
> the gap, he chose to be much more conservative in what he gated.
> Unfortunately,
> that means that very few NWS alerts really ever show up on APRS in many
> areas 
> --- unless NWS designates the alert as an immediate threat, it doesn't show
> on 
> APRS.  My area is one that went from having a number of WX warnings all the 
> time (high wind, high fire danger, dangerous thunderstorms, winter storms, 
> etc.) to almost none.
>
> There's really nothing to be done for it other than for someone else to put
> up another wxsvr replacement with a less-conservative gating policy and be 
> willing to endure the flaming from those who object to wx data on APRS.
>
>