Offline "real" weather

[Guest Himar777]

Dear ActiveSky Members,Unfortunately, I will not have Internet connection until next year :( . I only have it here, at my office.Since flights are so "unreal" whithout a real downloaded weather, I am very frustrated in attempt to get this satisfaction we all have when fly with real weather.So I have had an idea that I don't really know if it will work or if is it possible: can I download a set of airport METARs (in example from ServInfo) and then to load them when flying offline a few hours later ?I have tried to get answer for this question in AS manual but it has been a little confused to me. Sorry :-(Thank you very much in advance for your attention and help.Best regards,

[JSkorna 137]

Thanks for writing. I have not heard of anyone being able to do this. But, other users, any comments or help here?Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Support

[Gridley 257]

Look at a program called GetWeather3.0 from www.bearsoft.de - there's an english page too. The program is freeware, and will download data from Jeppesson, and archive the data. You can then select an archive from the list, and load it into FS using FS real weather. Catch: won't work with ActiveSky as far as I know.This is a functionality I wish was present in active sky (hint hint!).Best,sg

[Damian Clark 1,234]

Hi,Hmm, sounds like this is already supported. You can load wxRE on your internet machine and auto download (or manually download the data and create a wxd set). You can then save those files (i.e. cycle01z.wxd and all associated *cycle01z.* files) and load them on your FS PC for use in offline mode. You simply put the files in any folder and point wxRE's offline folder to it (or for convenience just use wxRE's install folder).I don't understand why everyone thinks this is not supported in wxRE! FWIW GetWeather simply downloads the encrypted/compressed file direct from MS wx server then provides it to FS at a later date. It is exactly what wxRE does but using a different (more accurate) source and it goes into wxRE instead of FS directly.-Damian

[Guest Himar777]

Thank you very much DamianBest regards

[JSkorna 137]

Because it was his "work" machine I didn't know if he wanted wxRE on it!!Jim

[Guest hlm65]

I've your same problem (no Internet at home only in the office), but I'm very happy with the offline files that you can "create" by your self.Try this example:say that you want to start you flight at around 08Z.Just go to weather.noaa.gov/weather/metar.shtml, download the 08Z cycle, save it as a "metar08z.met" file: you'll get all the worldwide METARs for around that hour (wait until the next cycle, 09z, is complete or you may miss some report)Then go to weather.noaa.gov/weather/taf.shtml, download the 06Z cycle, save it as a "taf06z.taf" file: you'll get all the worldwide TAFs produced around that our.Then go to raob.fsl.noaa.gov and you'll download the winds (really you'll download the real soundigs) for the time you wish (I do advise you to select a span of time greater than 12 hours, select "all times" and just mandatory flight levels) and the country or countries (even worldwide if you wish): save this as a "winds08z.wmo" file.Then edit one of your .wxd files putting the right names for the files you downloaded and that's it. It DOES work greatly.Some hints: make a zip file of these downloaded files, so you can save them in a single floppy (MET and WMO files tend to be over 800 K if they're complete); before using these files, give a look with the "search" option of you favorite text editor (wordpad works ok) to check if the airports you'll need (at least dep,arr and alternates) have valid reports (if they don't, you can edit as you please).I know it could be a little tricky and you'll not have exactly "REAL TIME" weather, but it works fine and is rather real for me.Hope this could help you.Enrico.

[Guest Himar777]

Jim,Excuse me I forgot to indicate I also have ActiveSky wxRE installed here in my office :-(Also thank you Enrico.Best regards,

[JSkorna 137]

Himar, thanks, I didn't know!Enrico, thanks for the clear explanation.Hope this helps,JimActiveSky Support

[Guest hlm65]

Jim, it's just a way to use AS when you've not a live connection !Anyway it does work fine and additionally you have the option to "create" your own weather files, those that suit your flight better. You don't have any annoyance of downs srevres if you got a good download. Unfortunately, this procedure is a little time consuming, but...Regards.Enrico.