CWOP Archive and Computer Security

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Related Links: CWOP info APRS-IS info findu.com info FAQ & Forums T238 home page MADIS Program APRSWXNET info APRS Servers to Use NOAA mesonet display

1. CWOP Policy

CWOP will never ask you for a credit card number or any credit information. Also, we will never send you an e-mail with an attached file and instructions to open or run that file on your computer. If you receive an e-mail purporting to be from CWOP asking for credit information or with instructions to open an attached file, send us an e-mail describing what you have received and give a telephone number where we may call you.

2. CWOP and Internet Security

Here is a good discussion of CWOP and Internet Security with links to web pages covering computer security. A UK security-oriented web site called get safe online is also good.

The National Security Agency has a brochure on "Best Practices for Keeping Your Home Network Secure." It starts....."The cyber threat is no longer limited to your office network and work persona. Adversaries realize that targets are typically more vulnerable when operating from their home network since there is less rigor associated with the protection, monitoring, and maintenance of most home networks. Home users need to maintain a basic level of network defense and hygiene for both themselves and their family members when accessing the Internet."

3. Windows Update

It is good policy to regularly update your Windows Software. We recommend that every week you visit the Windows Update Site and click on "Scan for updates". If you get a message that "There are no critical updates available at this time", your version of Windows has the current secutity protections installed. If, however you receive a list of critical updates, you should follow the directions to install all of the critical updates. After installing critical updates, it is a good idea to go through the process again until you get the message that no critical updates are available.

4. Identity Theft and "phishing"

While you should patch computer insecurities using software and hardware, you also should not respond to some emails requesting personal information. These include fraudulant criminal activity called "phishing". Read more about it in this Washington Post phishing article. Beware of identity theft, especially when it's yours!

5. Current Computer Virus Situation

The information box below is from one of the major anti-virus software providers. You can obtain a complete description of almost any virus and software to remove that virus from your computer.

1. Findu.com archive of CWOP data

The findu.com archive is provided as a public service by the amateur radio community. The saved data are archived back to March 2000 and there are two ways of getting this weather data. The first provides weather data in text form. The URL to cut and paste into your browser for this data request is "http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wx.cgi?call=CW1035&last=240" where last implies how many hours of data back from the present time is returned and call is either a ham callsign or a CWxxxx citizen callsign (6 characters).

The second way of getting data from the archive gives graphs covering up to 120 hours from some specified date. The URL for this data request is "http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/wxpage.cgi?call=K4HG&date=20030601000000&last=120" where last implies how many hours after the given date (and time) are plotted for the weather station call, either a ham callsign or a CWxxxx citizen callsign (6 characters). Note that the returned radar picture is current, and used for position information.

2. MADIS data archive

The MADIS program is sponsored by NOAA and provides weather data for research and operations and to the general public. Other data besides CWOP data are available. These data are available in text or XML format. When using the viewer, note that CWOP is referenced by the older name APRSWXNET and that the NWS ID is used. For CWOP this is APxxx, ARxxx or Cxxxx. Note that the NWS IDs used in the MADIS surface text/XML viewer are maximum five characters.

3. Meso West data archive

MesoWest is a cooperative program between the University of Utah and NWS that provides weather data to NWS for operational use and also makes these data available to the public. Use the NWS ID (5 characters) and APRSWXNET name in the MesoWest direct link to the data. If you want more than a couple weeks, you can send in a Data Request Form. Other data besides CWOP data are also stored here.

4. Miscellanous Items in the Local Archive

Items of interest such as the CWOP logo, a Digital Communications Conference PowerPoint Presentation, and an excellent downloadable manual, "International Weather Watchers Observer Handbook" by Tim Vasquez (obsman.pdf) are at the top of the archive list.

5. 1-Wire / T-238 Diagnostic Information Local Archive

For each month, the T238 diagnostic files (*dgn.txt) are compressed into a *.zip file and placed into the archive folder. The compressed monthly file names start with ZA followed by the year and month in yyyymm format followed by .zip, e.g. ZA200411.zip. The archive goes back to New Year's Day, 2001.

Local Archive File Index