The A2A Simulations Community

New updated Weather ship gauge V1.32

NOTE !!
Version 1.3 has been released 19-01-2018.
- Fixes for Guam, Anchorage and Manilla HF stations.
- Fixed CTD.
- Weather report and Loran position (if enabled) will only be shown when the ship transmits.
- In Nav Calc. the wind info will only be updated when the ships transmit, otherwise it will keep the last known info.

Version 1.31 has been released 25-01-2018.
- Fix for wrong frequancy at Gander.
- Fixed "Nav Calc" calculations.

Version 1.32 has been released 15-07-2018.
- Various fixes related to MAP function

NOTE!!
Read the new Install Guide, since an extra gauge line has been added !

The dropbox link now points to the new "Weathership gauge V1.31"

HF Radio beacons has been added. They loosely portray the HF stations used pre WW2 by the flying boats on transoceanic flights.
requency and position is more ore less fictious, though they for most of them certainly has existed nearby.
Some of them where dedicated radio beacons meant for navigation, while others have been common radio broadcast stations.
The range of these are between 450-650 nm.

Following HF stations has been added:
Prestwick, Scotland
Shannon, Ireland
Foynes, Ireland
Lisboa, Portugal
Azores, Portugal
Bermuda, Uinted Kingdom
Gander, New Foundland
New York, USA
Alameda, USA (San Fransisco bay)
Honolulu, USA (Hawaii)
Midway, USA
Wake Island, USA
Guam, USA
Manila, Philipines

Old post:
Install instructions for the A2A L-049 Constellation has been added.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vl7hmgq09aq4b ... 2.zip?dl=0

Here are links telling the story of the Weather ships and their operation:
http://www.weatherships.co.uk/
http://www.weatherships.co.uk/role.htm

Short explanation:
The Radio for homing in on the weatherships can be opened with the Sh+7 (Old radio Key press)
The original Radio panel has been merged into the new radio.

For the radio to work ensure that electrical power and avionics switch is On.
Turn the Power switch on the radio On

You can now dial in the frequency for the required weathership/station
Recieving range is appr. 500 nm, for some slightly less.

With the HDG ADJ knob - set Your current heading on the compass card.

Use the Loop Antenna Bearing knob to point the loop antenna towards the general direction af the station.
Loop antenna bearing can be read on the needle on the commpass card.

When the signal is recieved, the signal needle will start to deflect towards the right.

Turn You Loop antenna bak and forth to find where the needle peaks - this is the exact bearing to the station.

The Stations doesn´t transmit continuosly, but at these times during the hour:
05-10 min
20-25 min
35-40 min
50-55 min

When signals are recieved You will get Weather reports, shown in the mid-lower right part of the gauge.
Left clicking the mouse on the blue box beside LORAN Position, will show the ships reported LORAN position.
LORAN was not available before later in history - thus the option to toggle it On/Off.
The ships will drift around their assigned position within 210 sq nm.

Left clicking the mouse beside Navigation Calculations, will calculate the Course to steer, taking magnetic variation and wind data into account.
Your desired true course can be set by using the mouse wheel on the blue box displaying Your desired course.

Magnetic variation and wind data are the last reported ones. So when You have gone outside the recieving range of the staton, these won´t be updated.

Hello Finn,

I used your brilliant Weathership gauge now the 2nd time in my life (First was a very exciting pond crossing with the B377 a few years ago)

Now I'm on the way and was nearly lost a few hundred miles short off the coast of Newfoundland with the Connie, because your gauge says 392 for Gander, but it is obvisiously 396 (?)



Because I have such a good pilot on board (me) and such a brilliant navigator (me) I managed to find that error. Otherwise we've ended in a desaster.





Or is there anything wrong on my end?

guenseli wrote:Hello Finn,

I used your brilliant Weathership gauge now the 2nd time in my life (First was a very exciting pond crossing with the B377 a few years ago)

Now I'm on the way and was nearly lost a few hundred miles short off the coast of Newfoundland with the Connie, because your gauge says 392 for Gander, but it is obvisiously 396 (?)



Because I have such a good pilot on board (me) and such a brilliant navigator (me) I managed to find that error. Otherwise we've ended in a desaster.





Or is there anything wrong on my end?

That emphasises the importance of having a competent crew for such endevours

I´m about to finish next update (V1.31), since I found a few other bugs.

FinnJ

Is V1.31 the latest or the one your working on soon to be released?

I'd like to post your great work on our facebook page for everyone to see in social media land.

cheers,
Lewis

Lewis - A2A wrote:Is V1.31 the latest or the one your working on soon to be released?

I'd like to post your great work on our facebook page for everyone to see in social media land.

cheers,
Lewis

Same question from me.

Hi Lewis and Paul...

Thanks for Your feedback !

Since no new bugs has been found, I regard 1.31 being final, not saying that I won´t add more features later on.
But for now it´s probably best to settle with this version.

Any suggestions for more features / enhancements are offcourse welcomed.

FinnJ

Thanks Finn. The weather ships, along with the bubble sextant gauge, are going to help me some flights that I'm planning. Thanks again for all your work.

Thanks for the confirmation, cracking job

cheers,
Lewis

I fitted the weather-ship gauge to Manfred Jahn's WB-50 this afternoon and decided to try it out on a trip from Gander in Newfoundland to the VOR at Narsarsuaq on the southern tip of Greenland. It works like a charm. Here, I have just picked up the signal from weathership Bravo. The ship's bearing is about 15 degrees starboard of my heading, so I'm just about to alter course towards it.





If, like me, you enjoy the challenge of radio navigation, Wothan's gauge is absolutely essential before heading out over the pond.

Paul K wrote:I fitted the weather-ship gauge to Manfred Jahn's WB-50 this afternoon and decided to try it out on a trip from Gander in Newfoundland to the VOR at Narsarsuaq on the southern tip of Greenland. It works like a charm. Here, I have just picked up the signal from weathership Bravo. The ship's bearing is about 15 degrees starboard of my heading, so I'm just about to alter course towards it.





If, like me, you enjoy the challenge of radio navigation, Wothan's gauge is absolutely essential before heading out over the pond.

Great - happy trip - and thx for the feedback.

FinnJ

Lovely add-on! And P3D4 compatibility too! Oh, my! Well done! Many thanks!

Cheers,

-jahman.

Hi,

Excellent addon! I am going to be using this soon, just a question, I've been searching around on the net and can't find some specific historical information. I don't suppose anyone knows about the early 1940's? I am specifically trying to find out what weather ships would have been operating during the year of 1941, and how exactly where they able to transmit a signal when they were trying to hide from German U-boats at the same time?
All light that can be shed upon this is greatly appreciated!

-Peter

Mantock wrote:I don't suppose anyone knows about the early 1940's? I am specifically trying to find out what weather ships would have been operating during the year of 1941, and how exactly where they able to transmit a signal when they were trying to hide from German U-boats at the same time?

Neither the US Coast Guard ships nor the German weather ships were able to hide, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atl ... er_vessels and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_ship#Origin, and the books linked from there. On the other hand the Germans could use the weather info from foreign ships as well, thus maybe reducing the urge to destroy them, while their weather ships sent Enigma-encrypted weather data, which may explain that more German weather ships were sunk.

Hello!

Must be the pills, but where can I download v. 1.32 from?

Cheers,

- jahman.

Thanks for those links Thomas!