InfoMETAR

[Guest]

Is the weather system down? Haven't been able to download the weather for a few weeks. Reinstalled InfoMETAR and still no download. All help appreciated. ThanksRobert J

[Guest dajackman]

you can get it here by hand...http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/metar.shtml

[RandallR 444]

The NOAA FTP server is not very good, and goes down from time to time. When that happens just download the file manually as dajackman states and save the file to the metar folder. Open that file in Infometar and you will be able to set up your flight.

[Guest tonyc]

I have not had any trouble.tony

[Guest DSandberg]

I just tried it now within InfoMETAR and it downloaded without a problem. You might want to try it again. As Randall said, the NOAA server can be woefully unpredictable, especially if there's a major weather event happening somewhere. Also, if you are on dialup, make sure to give it enough time to complete ... on the order of several minutes. (I'd have loved to have been able to provide a progress indicator for the METAR download feature, but I don't know of any way to do that when relying on Microsoft's WININET.DLL for the FTP transfer, and I couldn't afford to license a 3rd party comms library for InfoMETAR and still keep it freeware.)- David Sandberg[br][br]

[Guest DSandberg]

>The NOAA FTP server is not very good, and goes down from >time to timeOur tax dollars at work, eh? :)- David Sandberg[br][br]

[Guest]

Thanks to all. Just tried again and all I get is the indication of 3 attempts to download. Will do the manual as suggested. Will also, take this opportunity to thank you David for InfoMETAR. Have used it for many years.Robert J

[Guest DSandberg]

Did you recently change anything with your Internet configuration? (I.e., a new browser version, cookie interception utility, firewall, etc.)The manual downloading can work as an alternative because that (depending upon how you do it) can utilize an HTML file transfer rather than FTP. But to track down why InfoMETAR's download facility doesn't seem to be working for you, you might try this link instead:ftp://weather.noaa.gov/data/observations/metar/cycles/Try going there with Internet Explorer (NOT another browser), and furthermore attempt to view/download one of the raw cycle text files with IE. If you can do so, then InfoMETAR really should be able to do so as well (it uses the same method), and I'd be stumped as to why it might not be able to (unless it's just luck in trying the server at the right/wrong moments). But if you can't, then something in your Internet setup (or even at your ISP) may have changed that is no longer allowing Internet Explorer to do FTP transfers, and that would also stop InfoMETAR from getting METAR files.You might also want to double-check your computer's clock and timezone settings ... if they drift too far away from reality it can cause problems for InfoMETAR when it tries to identify the correct cycle file to download. Although it doesn't sound like this is the problem in your case, I figure it's worth mentioning just in case.I hope this might have been of some help.- David Sandberg[br][br]

[Guest]

DavidSincle last using InfoMETAR, I've udated to IE6, installed Norton System Works (but disable to access FTP). Also, have been moved to EarthLink, but retained my old e-mail address. OS Windows 2000 Pro.In trying to access FTP, I'm asked to login with a name and password. So, that must be why InfoMETAR can't log on. Not savy enough to understand, but assume that's the problem. Therefore, I'm at a loss from this point.Don't want to be a bother. So, if there isn't a simple solution, I can do the manual download. Do appreciate you thoughts and guidance. ThanksRobert J

[Leen3131cs 107]

Hi folks,Used Infometar to download a weather-report this morning.I downloaded it at 10.15 hr ( dutch time) and it gave me weatherinformation of Dutch airports from approx.8.30 hr.It just worked fine.I noticed that this week the most recent reports were missingnow and then.In that cases downloading failed.The system was not able to load the most recent files and I think the fact that the most recent files were more than 3-4 hours old, made this happen.Just turned my computertime two hours backwards and downloading( bit old )weatherfiles was no problem.( ???? )GreetsLeen

[RandallR 444]

Leen,Rather than change your computer clock, go to the aforementioned site: http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/metar.shtmlDown the page a little are the cycles, listed in Zulu time. Just pick the time you want by right-clicking it, choosing Save target as... and placing the file in your Fly! Metar folder. If the cycle is empty or incomplete, go to one cycle earlier, etc.

[Guest DSandberg]

Yeah, that's happened before on the NOAA server, where what ought to be the most recent reports are a day old. InfoMETAR doesn't attempt to go backwards through the cycle files to find the most recent available reports for two reasons:1) That could be very misleading ... I can imagine numerous people emailing me to complain that "it's been raining outside for the last six hours but InfoMETAR thinks the skies are clear!" I'm more comfortable with just have InfoMETAR's automated download report that there's no "current" data to get in such cases.2) Attempting to roll back through all the cycle files to find the newest data could take a long time even over a fast connection, much less over a dialup. It's not as simple as checking the file dates, because I have noted numerous times in the past when NOAA had updated the file dates for some reasons but still had nothing but day-old reports in them.If you want older data in such cases, getting it manually is still probably your best bet, because then you can check for yourself beforehand what you are getting. Once downloaded, you can still load the downloaded files into InfoMETAR to benefit from the other things the utility does.- David Sandberg[br][br]

[Guest DSandberg]

>Sincle last using InfoMETAR, I've udated to IE6, installed >Norton System Works (but disable to access FTP). Also, have >been moved to EarthLink, but retained my old e-mail address. Oh yeah, that's a bundle of possible culprits. :(>In trying to access FTP, I'm asked to login with a name and >password. So, that must be why InfoMETAR can't log on.You've got it. The fact that you are seeing InfoMETAR performing retries supports this conclusion, as it normally is only able to do this when the connection or login request are immediately declined for some reason. If an FTP operation instead hangs in mid-transfer, that silly WININET.DLL of Microsoft's never gives up and returns control to InfoMETAR, which is why InfoMETAR can appear to hang up in such cases. WININET.DLL theoretically includes a timeout feature that would prevent this, and InfoMETAR does preconfigure that timeout period in the hopes that it might someday work as advertised, but at least as of a year or so ago it was well known as having NEVER actually worked in WININET. :(One possibility is that Earthlink is using some sort of upstream proxy that isn't configured to allow FTP (since most casual Internet users don't use FTP for anything). You could contact Earthlink tech support and ask them how to get FTP access working through Internet Explorer. (I'd suggest not bothering to bring up InfoMETAR if you talk to Earthlink, 'cause they won't know what it is, but they would nonetheless probably latch onto it as a convenient excuse to blame someone else's software for your FTP problems ... that is if my limited past experiences with Earthlink are any hint. Besides, like I said before - if you can get Internet Explorer to access an FTP server like the one I suggested, InfoMETAR should magically start working for you thereafter as well.)>Don't want to be a bother. So, if there isn't a simple >solution, I can do the manual download. Pretty much all I can tell you is that MSIE has to be configured properly to perform FTP, and any upstream impediments to doing so must be cleared as well. Basically all that InfoMETAR does is hand off its FTP requests to MSIE and keep its fingers crossed. :)Good luck ...- David Sandberg[br][br]

[Guest]

Well - appears EarthLink is the problem. Seems I need the new version 6. Tried to download, but they are having problems. Got a guy agree to send me a new CD. Will take a week to ten days. New software has a Task Panel. From there I can gain access to EarthLink 2003 FTP software. Wonders will never cease.Thanks to all for the guidance and patience. Will post later to advise the outcome.Robert J

[Guest]

Wrong again! I'll whip this thing yet!Robert J