I have been able to get this to work. Here is what you need to do.
- In the WINAprs WEATHER menu option. Check the WX Display File Button.
- Put the path to the WXNOW.txt file in the space provided. For example:
D:\wdisplay\datafiles\WXNOW.TXT.
The entries are case sensitive, so pay attention to the full path and naming convention you actually have on your computer and enter it exactly. - In Weather Display. Go to the Setup - > Produce APRS output file option.
- Click on Yes/Setup
- Select your datafiles directory : D:\wdisplay\datafiles and click SAVE. Of course you could put the file where ever you want. This just made sense to me.
Next go back to the Setup/ Produce APRS output file option (I wish Brian would make the menus so they didn’t disappear without you wanting them to. Maybe like having to press esc or something
- Select Com Port output of data. This is COM port for a seperate serial cable that goes to the TNC. In my case I used COM2 for the Davis Vantage Pro weather station at 9600 Baud, and the COM3 for a serial cable connection to the TNC using 14400. Yes I know. But it worked.
- Set the frequency of the output to one (1) minute. This makes sure that the data going to the TNC is always on time. The APRS program expects its weather input to be no less than 90 minutes old. Thats built in and you can’t change it. Its in the documentation for WinAPRS.
- Do a test com port usi ng the option provided. If the com port connection is correct, Weather Display will let you know that. I then forced creation of the first weather file by using that option.
- In the Setup/ Produce APRS output file option I checked YES to the option add /fwd on the end. This is not in the Weather Display documentation, but I believe it adds the wxd on the end of the APRS weather data stream.
- Make sure that in the KISS mode option in WinAPRS that the Digipeater option is not checked. You can not send weather when Digipeating.
I believe this is all that I did. I had to play with things for a while before it started working right. I eventually went back to using my Peet Ultimate 2000 connected directly to the COM3 port and stopped using WXDisplay data for APRS. I how have both weather stations running. One generating website data the other APRS.