I understand that the long-predicted move from alpha-numeric codes such as
SYNOP is now very imminent. The target date for the end of the use of the SYNOP
code is currently 1st Nov 2010. Some countries are struggling to make that date
so there may be a bit of slippage. Currently, the Met Office plans to cease the
transmission of UK observations in the SYNOP code onto GTS on 1st Nov.

--
Norman Lynagh
Tideswell, Derbyshire
303m a.s.l.

On 07/09/2010 17:05, Norman wrote:
I understand that the long-predicted move from alpha-numeric codes such as
SYNOP is now very imminent. The target date for the end of the use of the SYNOP
code is currently 1st Nov 2010. Some countries are struggling to make that date
so there may be a bit of slippage. Currently, the Met Office plans to cease the
transmission of UK observations in the SYNOP code onto GTS on 1st Nov.

That sad news Norman. I use it to create synoptic charts. I guess
whatever replaces it is not possible to access...

Phil

Phil Layton wrote:

On 07/09/2010 17:05, Norman wrote:
I understand that the long-predicted move from alpha-numeric codes such as
SYNOP is now very imminent. The target date for the end of the use of the
SYNOP code is currently 1st Nov 2010. Some countries are struggling to make
that date so there may be a bit of slippage. Currently, the Met Office
plans to cease the transmission of UK observations in the SYNOP code onto
GTS on 1st Nov.

That sad news Norman. I use it to create synoptic charts. I guess whatever
replaces it is not possible to access...

Phil

I meant to say that observations will, in future, be put onto GTS in BUFR code.
This is a binary code format that is only machine readable. No more doing an
eye-ball scan of the SYNOPs. What will get into the public domain on the
Internet remains to be seen.

--
Norman Lynagh
Tideswell, Derbyshire
303m a.s.l.

"Phil Layton" wrote in message
...
On 07/09/2010 17:05, Norman wrote:
I understand that the long-predicted move from alpha-numeric codes such
as
SYNOP is now very imminent. The target date for the end of the use of the
SYNOP
code is currently 1st Nov 2010. Some countries are struggling to make
that date
so there may be a bit of slippage. Currently, the Met Office plans to
cease the
transmission of UK observations in the SYNOP code onto GTS on 1st Nov.

That sad news Norman. I use it to create synoptic charts. I guess whatever
replaces it is not possible to access...

Phil

The replacement is binary and is not readable in human form. I understand
that decoders should become available. I'll see what I can find out, but
others may have the information anyway.
It will be interesting to see what www.ogimet.com do?

Will
--

On 07/09/2010 17:29, Will Hand wrote:

The replacement is binary and is not readable in human form. I
understand that decoders should become available. I'll see what I can
find out, but others may have the information anyway.
It will be interesting to see what www.ogimet.com do?

Will

Thanks Will.

I do receive ACARS messages from aircraft through a decoder on the
computer. It sounds like a 'buzz' to the ear but comes up in readable
message format on the computer.
I guess it might look like the ATD data on:
http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/raw...uk67.egrr..txt
unreadable, but Meteocente could decode it until it was stopped!

Phil

On Sep 7, 6:42*pm, Phil Layton wrote:
On 07/09/2010 17:29, Will Hand wrote:

The replacement is binary and is not readable in human form. I
understand that decoders should become available. I'll see what I can
find out, but others may have the information anyway.
It will be interesting to see whatwww.ogimet.comdo?

Will

Thanks Will.

I do receive ACARS messages from aircraft through a decoder on the
computer. It sounds like a 'buzz' to the ear but comes up in readable
message format on the computer.
I guess it might look like the ATD data on:http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/raw...uk67.egrr..txt

unreadable, but Meteocente could decode it until it was stopped!

Phil

2010 is turning out to be a complete nightmare for me atm and this
just adds more misery. I have been thinking about giving up upating my
website as I am becoming 'stressed out' atm, so maybe the decision
will be made up for me. I just do not have the time nowadays as I have
just started self-employment in a lawn care franchise (Lawnscience).
The last two weeks have basically been leafleting and I am becoming
quite exhausted. I don't wish to wish my life away but I sometime wish
I had been ten years older when I was made redundant, not now, at 50 :-
(

Very worrying times

Keith (Southend)

"Keith (Southend)G" wrote ...
snip
2010 is turning out to be a complete nightmare for me atm and this
just adds more misery. I have been thinking about giving up upating
my
website as I am becoming 'stressed out' atm, so maybe the decision
will be made up for me. I just do not have the time nowadays as I
have
just started self-employment in a lawn care franchise (Lawnscience).
The last two weeks have basically been leafleting and I am becoming
quite exhausted. I don't wish to wish my life away but I sometime
wish
I had been ten years older when I was made redundant, not now, at 50
:-
(

Very worrying times

Keith (Southend)


.... don't make a mess of your life for some BUFR code Keith! It ain't
worth it. Obviously it would be a blow if we lost the (relatively)
easily available data that the old codes provided, but time moves on.

I suspect that once the changeover settles down, the data we obtained
via the SYNOP regional/national coding groups will be available in
some form or other. I did a quick search around this evening and found
some offers of free decoding software for the BUFR output ... the key
thing of course is whether the National Met. Services make those data
available - that could be the key, rather than the decodes themselves.

Martin.


--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023

"Martin Rowley" wrote in message
news
"Keith (Southend)G" wrote ...
snip
2010 is turning out to be a complete nightmare for me atm and this
just adds more misery. I have been thinking about giving up upating my
website as I am becoming 'stressed out' atm, so maybe the decision
will be made up for me. I just do not have the time nowadays as I have
just started self-employment in a lawn care franchise (Lawnscience).
The last two weeks have basically been leafleting and I am becoming
quite exhausted. I don't wish to wish my life away but I sometime wish
I had been ten years older when I was made redundant, not now, at 50 :-
(

Very worrying times

Keith (Southend)


... don't make a mess of your life for some BUFR code Keith! It ain't
worth it. Obviously it would be a blow if we lost the (relatively) easily
available data that the old codes provided, but time moves on.

I suspect that once the changeover settles down, the data we obtained via
the SYNOP regional/national coding groups will be available in some form
or other. I did a quick search around this evening and found some offers
of free decoding software for the BUFR output ... the key thing of course
is whether the National Met. Services make those data available - that
could be the key, rather than the decodes themselves.

Martin.


Agreed. Keith you really have to look after yourself. You have given
selfless service over the years and never moaned, for that you should be
thanked. I would have thought that under the various WMO Resolutions "basic
data" should at least be available even if it is in binary.

Will
--

On Tue, 7 Sep 2010 17:29:42 +0100
"Will Hand" wrote:

The replacement is binary and is not readable in human form. I understand
that decoders should become available. I'll see what I can find out, but
others may have the information anyway.
It will be interesting to see what www.ogimet.com do?

There's a free to use, modify and pass on to others package at
http://www.ecmwf.int/products/data/software/bufr.html. Two snags:
it's written in the "C" language and only comes with files to compile
under various flavours of Unix. I don't write C, and don't have any
Windows computers, but for someone who does both the conversion might
be be feasible.

If it's a serious problem to amateurs not being able to read the codes
I might look at the documentation of BUFR and see if I could write a
translator that could be run on Windows. No promises though, it
would be an exercise in improving my programming skills and only done
when there's no paying work in sight -- and competing with a couple of
other back-burner projects.


Mike

On Tuesday 07 September 2010 17:05, Norman scribbled:

I understand that the long-predicted move from alpha-numeric codes such as
SYNOP is now very imminent. The target date for the end of the use of the
SYNOP code is currently 1st Nov 2010. Some countries are struggling to
make that date so there may be a bit of slippage. Currently, the Met
Office plans to cease the transmission of UK observations in the SYNOP
code onto GTS on 1st Nov.


It was announced years before I retired and that was over six years ago.
"Long-predicted" indeed!

--
Graham Davis, Bracknell, Berks. E-mail: "newsman", not "newsboy".
"It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out." - Carl
Sagan
Pakistan Floods Appeal: http://www.dec.org.uk/