Weather monitoring for those that use a tablet

[Hillbilly Heaven]

What do you use to monitor the weather?
In doing a brief search this morning I find that it is a nightmare for those that have an Android tablet. Not only is the hardware expensive, but the data via satellite is a subscription based service. The subscription is not that expensive if you choose one of the marine or aviation subscription. Ground based subscription is crazy at $99/month.

It is also more oriented to aviation and marine use.

Granted there are apps that you can use if you have a cell phone data connection or wifi. I am more worried about when I have no type of data connection.

WxWorx offers an XM Weather receiver but the price is outrageous at around $800

 

[1Louder]

I have yet to find anything cheap. Foreflight (iPad) is an aviation app that now offers XM weather with a required $500-600 piece of hardware. Then the basic subscription is $34 a month.

If you really need radar info etc in a pinch then I think a satellite hotspot with pre-paid minutes is the current way to go. Still stupid expensive but if you are concerned about impending weather that would allow you to use an app(s)

Delorme InReach now has a basic weather service but there is no radar. It just shows current conditions and I think some basic futurecast info. Pretty much text only. It only costs 1 message per request. So depending on what plan you are on it will either be included in your plan or you might have to pay $.50 per request.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

Reason I posted this is due to the reason events that occurred during hurricane Mathew. Soon after power loss the cell towers started going down. I would have thought the backup generators on site would give more back up than time than that. With power down no internet no cell there was no way other than a portable battery powered radio for keeping up to date on info.

Was thinking that since some of us like to use a tablet for navigation a nice tie in would be to have access to more than just the basic current weather info. Thinking of some of the travelers in the places where flash floods are prone due to storms in the distance.

 

[Rando]

NOAA weather radio is your best option for this - if you already have a ham radio, there is a very good chance you can receive WX radio:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/

Or you really want images you can try weather fax (http://www.blackcatsystems.com/software/multimode/fax.html), but I am guessing weather radio is all you need.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

Want a little more than the WX radio provides. Usually by the time you get a warning from them it's too late if it is something major. Yes already have a ham radio so for me it was just reaching out to those that still had power and internet and having them tell me what they see going on on the radar.

With the proper wx radar imagines a lot can be gleaned from them, more than what you see on broadcast tv. They dumb it down for the average person. Things like wind speeds and direction, type of precip, lightning.

That second link is for satellite images those basically can give you tracking over a long period of time and how large an area is effected. Not the best for minute by minute update. Anyone with a laptop, software, and a shortwave radio can receive and decode those images.

 

[theksmith]

sorry i don't have any specifics for you, but since you have a HAM, maybe search for something providing standardized weather via APRS...

i know there are plenty of people putting up weather stations with APRS feeds, but i don't know if there is a offline (radio-only) solution to centralizing or relaying more official weather info. a quick search yielded only a few mentions of people sending small doppler radar images via APRS.

if you do find something along these lines, i can recommend the MobilinkD TNC for use with an Android tablet: http://www.mobilinkd.com/ - i have a short blog post with an overview of the little device: https://theksmith.com/hardware/aprs...linkd-bluetooth-tnc-android-tablet-aprsdroid/

another approach might be Software Defined Radio. i know there are some drivers & apps for using an RTL2832U based USB stick as a SDR receiver on Android tablets, but not sure if any of them can decode the sort of transmissions that the NOAA satellite radar images are embedded in. here's a couple approaches on grabbing that imagery with a PC based program though: http://www.rtl-sdr.com/rtl-sdr-tutorial-receiving-noaa-weather-satellite-images/

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

Yeah there are several local stations that have weather stations. Most you will see, furnish only temp, wind speed, direction. Imagines that are embedded in APRS are 128x256 due to available bandwidth limiting you to 9600 baud. Even at that image size it takes 4 minutes to transfer one image.

XM Weather is the best available option but the hardware is priced beyond the reach of the average overland adventurer.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Reason I posted this is due to the reason events that occurred during hurricane Mathew. Soon after power loss the cell towers started going down. I would have thought the backup generators on site would give more back up than time than that. With power down no internet no cell there was no way other than a portable battery powered radio for keeping up to date on info.

Was thinking that since some of us like to use a tablet for navigation a nice tie in would be to have access to more than just the basic current weather info. Thinking of some of the travelers in the places where flash floods are prone due to storms in the distance.

In the first paragraph you talk about the grid going down, cell towers dropping off. In the second you're wanting more data than just temp/wind/forecast that the NOAA WX radio can provide. That data has to come from some place and if the cell towers are down then where does this data come from? It's off grid. Those people traveling away from cell towers will use simplified data or pay for a satellite service. Downloading the APT images using the RTL-SDR link theksmith provided is the best free way to do that.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

The data and images comes straight from NOAA to XM Satellite and they downlink it to users as XM Weather. This is how most stormchasers get data when they are in very rural areas with weak to no cell signal. XM Weather requires a special and costly reciever for use with tablet or PC. As far as I know this is the only way to get current up to date images and data. Hope maybe some pilots might step in. I do know some of there GPS system are integrated with weather data and image.

 

[1Louder]

The data and images comes straight from NOAA to XM Satellite and they downlink it to users as XM Weather. This is how most stormchasers get data when they are in very rural areas with weak to no cell signal. XM Weather requires a special and costly reciever for use with tablet or PC. As far as I know this is the only way to get current up to date images and data. Hope maybe some pilots might step in. I do know some of there GPS system are integrated with weather data and image.

uh that's what my 1st post was! I am a pilot.... It's all XM both in the jet I fly and what Foreflight now offers. https://foreflight.com/connect/siriusxm/

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

Yeah I hate being tied to just one brand. Looks like a combination WxWorx receiver and Baron Mobile link with one of $10/month XM marine weather subscriptions will do what I need on any device with wifi capabilities and a web browser. About a grand worth of hardware.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Yeah I hate being tied to just one brand. Looks like a combination WxWorx receiver and Baron Mobile link with one of $10/month XM marine weather subscriptions will do what I need on any device with wifi capabilities and a web browser. About a grand worth of hardware.

They gotta cover that cost of putting the satellites up. It's not cheap. Looks like the ForeFlight SXAR1 receiver is about $500 (but they're doing a $200 rebate right now) and the XM WX subscription is $40 per month. The WxWorx basic marine subscription is $30 per month (fisherman or sailor) and their receiver is $1K.

 

[Hillbilly Heaven]

Thanks I just noticed that the $10/month marine package didn't include the NEXRAD radar data. NEXRAD is what is needed if you want to monitor storm front movement. I guess this type of capability has not moved to the consumer level availability yet. It is a shame because unlike cell phones additional users do not place a load on the system. It is not a bi-directional link. For anyone adventuring to an area with no cell or internet service I would consider this on the essential list but at the bottom of the list for now until the price lowers.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I've never felt the need for anything more than NOAA WX radio for information out beyond the next couple of hours and my own two eyes for the immediate information. But where I live there aren't hurricanes and that may change things. I'll say this that weather radio is extremely useful to me and all I need is the handheld radio I have with me anyway.

 

[proper4wd]

Pack a rain coat, camp on high ground. It's worked for decades.