News/Updates For NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS)

Welcome to news and updates.  This section provides new information and special announcements.  Please direct questions to Contacts For NWWS.  For information about system outages, click here.

Use of PIL Headers on NWWS Products To Be Discontinued October 1:
Effective October 1, 2001, at 12:30 UTC, use of 9 character PIL headers on NWWS products will be discontinued, and products will be identified by WMO header only (along with the 6 character AWIPS ID). If you are already receiving products with WMO headers, you will not have to do anything on October 1.  If you are still receiving products with PIL headers, you must change the data type setting in your Calypso Satellite Receiver setup menu to WMO on or before October 1.  Click here for the National Administrative Message issued May 31, 2001. 

Graphics Products To Be Added to NWWS: 
Graphics products (primarily Redbook Graphics) are now available on the NWWS INTERNET data feed for testing.  Format specifications for these products will be posted on this website very soon.

Fall, 2001 Training/Coordination Meeting For Emergency Managers: 
The NWWS training meeting, held December 4-6, 2001, in Tallahassee, FL., was a huge success.   Click here for the trip report, which contains summaries of the key presentations, workshops, and tutorials.

1.  Message on Discontinued Use of PIL Headers (issued May 31, 2001)

2.  Eastern Region Transition to End-State WMO Headers (Effective May 8, 2001)

3.  Notice on De-Icer Power Requirements (Issued 3/31/00)

1. Message on Discontinued Use of PILHeaders (issued May 31, 2001).

NOUS29 KWBC 312046 ADWMSG NATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE FOR NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON DC 445 PM EDT MAY 31 2001 TO: NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE /NWWS/ SUBSCRIBERS FROM:  J. DOUGLAS WALLS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NWWS PROGRAM MANAGER SUBJECT:  DISCONTINUED USE OF PIL HEADERS ON NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE PRODUCTS EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1 2001 AT 1230 UTC EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 1 2001 AT 1230 UNIVERSAL COORDINATED TIME /UTC/... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE /NWS/ WILL DISCONTINUE IDENTIFYING NOAA WEATHER WIRE SERVICE /NWWS/ PRODUCTS WITH PRODUCT INVENTORY LIST /PIL/ HEADERS.  THIS CHANGE WILL AFFECT BOTH THE NWWS SATELLITE BROADCAST AND THE NWWS OPEN INTERFACE VIA THE INTERNET...PROVIDED UNDER CONTRACT WITH DYNCORP.  PIL HEADERS ARE GENERALLY NINE CHARACTERS IN LENGTH...AND ARE AN ARTIFACT FROM A LEGACY NWS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM.  SINCE JUNE 2000... ALL PRODUCTS TRANSMITTED ON THE NWWS HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED WITH BOTH PIL HEADERS AND WORLD METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION /WMO/ HEADERS. AS OF OCTOBER 1 2001 AT 1230 UTC...ONLY WMO HEADERS WILL BE USED TO IDENTIFY NWWS PRODUCTS. THE FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE TERMINATION OF PIL HEADERS ON NWWS PRODUCTS WAS MADE ON APRIL 3 2000 IN AN ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGE FOR THE NWWS. THE TERMINATION DATE WAS ALSO MENTIONED IN SEVERAL OTHER NWWS ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGES AND LETTERS LAST YEAR. THE TERMINATION WAS ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED FOR MAY 30 2001. THE NEW TERMINATION DATE IS OCTOBER 1 2001. IF YOU ARE STILL USING THE PIL HEADERS TO IDENTIFY NWWS PRODUCTS IN YOUR OPERATION...YOU WILL NEED TO REPROGRAM YOUR SYSTEM TO RECOGNIZE THE EQUIVALENT WMO HEADER FOR EACH PRODUCT YOU RECEIVE. INFORMATION TO AID IN PIL TO WMO HEADER TRANSITION IS AVAILABLE ON THE DYNCORP NWWS WEBPAGE /USE LOWER CASE/: http://dynis.is.dyncorp.com/contracts/nwws/other/afos2awips.txt ALSO AN ONLINE FORMAT CONVERSION TOOL IS POSTED ON THE NWS' NWWS WEBPAGE /USE LOWER CASE/: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/oso/oso1/oso15/newnwws.htm A NEW NWWS WEB PAGE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND WILL CONTAIN ADDITIONAL PIL TO WMO HEADER CROSS REFERENCE TEXT FILES.  THIS NEW WEB PAGE SHOULD BE AVAILABLE BEFORE THE END OF JUNE 2001 AND WILL RESIDE AT /USE LOWER CASE/: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwws/ PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU NEED ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND NOTIFY US OF ANY CHANGES TO YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES. Marty Baron  NWS NWWS PROGRAM LEADER 301-713-0644 x137 martin.baron@noaa.gov YOU ARE AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT OF THE NWWS SYSTEM IN PROVIDING THE PUBLIC WITH CRITICAL WEATHER INFORMATION AND WE WILL DO WHAT EVER POSSIBLE TO FOSTER OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH YOU. THIS NOTICE AND ALL NATIONAL ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGES FOR NWWS ARE POSTED ON THE INTERNET AT /USE LOWER CASE/: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/notif.htm END NNNN

(2) Notice on De-Icer Power Requirements (Issued 3/31/00)

DynCorp has advised that the de-ice system will work from a prime power source anywhere in the range of 198 VAC (4.7 amps) to 242 VAC (3.9 amps), single phase.