The A2A Simulations Community

New updated Weather ship gauge V1.33b

History log:

Version 1.33b has been released 12-05-2019.
+Fix for Anchorage

Version 1.33a has been released 13-04-2019.
-Added the following stations (per user request):

HF Stations:
+ Zygis (Cyprus)
+ Aden (Yemen)
+ Nairobi (Kenya)
+ Malta (Malta)
+ Bahrain (Bahrain)
+ Baghdad (Iraq)

LORAN Stations (Simulated as longer ranged HF stations):
+ Skuvanes (Faroe Islands)
+ Frederiksdal (Greenland)
+ Battle Habour (New Foundland)
+ Bonavista (New Foundland)[/color]

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

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

Version 1.30 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.

The dropbox link now points to the new "Weathership gauge V1.33b"

Download link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/d26j9znecqcza ... b.zip?dl=0

Old post:

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

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

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

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.

Does it works with the fsx std autopilot enabled? Because its also merged into the radio panel

Cpt. Lennox wrote:Does it works with the fsx std autopilot enabled? Because its also merged into the radio panel

It has nothing to do with the Autopilot, so You canot tune the "Weathership" radio and couple the Autopilot to that signal.

You can use the Weathership radio to find the bearing to a weathership and then set the AP heading accordingly.

Excellent reading on the websites you linked to. Very well done.

Rob.

Thanks for linking this to the Constellation as well, Finn. This is one of my favorite immersion add-ons for the 377.

Hi there, I tried to install it but when I open the 2D panel in P3Dv3 the custom panel does not show up, just the original panel off to one side, and an empty space where the new custom panel should be.

Also I noticed in the install instructions it says to put weathership.cab into the panel folder. But there is no weathership.cab file in the zipped RAR file

Any ideas to what I am doing wrong?

Cheers,
-Peter

Mantock wrote:Hi there, I tried to install it but when I open the 2D panel in P3Dv3 the custom panel does not show up, just the original panel off to one side, and an empty space where the new custom panel should be.

Also I noticed in the install instructions it says to put weathership.cab into the panel folder. But there is no weathership.cab file in the zipped RAR file

Any ideas to what I am doing wrong?

Cheers,
-Peter

Try to download the zip again.

It contains:

Readme_how to install.txt
Weather Ship Gauge Manual.docx
Weatherships.kmz
Weatherships.cab

AHhh!!

I got it, I extracted the cab file rather than just adding it as it was to the panel folder, thanks!!!
seems to work now.



Now to learn how to use it....

Did a test flight using the gauge from Shannon to Ocean Station Juliet about a week ago and now making my first transatlantic flight tonight from Shannon to Gander in G-AHEL using dead reckoning and the ocean stations for navigation. I'm currently about halfway between Ocean Stations Juliet and Charlie and the gauge seems to working perfectly. It also gives you a Loran estimate of your latitude and longitude. All in all a great little period addon which can be recommended to anyone who wants to more accurately replicate the era of pre-INS/GPS navigation.

Bill

Stratocruiser2 wrote:Did a test flight using the gauge from Shannon to Ocean Station Juliet about a week ago and now making my first transatlantic flight tonight from Shannon to Gander in G-AHEL using dead reckoning and the ocean stations for navigation. I'm currently about halfway between Ocean Stations Juliet and Charlie and the gauge seems to working perfectly. It also gives you a Loran estimate of your latitude and longitude. All in all a great little period addon which can be recommended to anyone who wants to more accurately replicate the era of pre-INS/GPS navigation.

Bill

Just to clarify..
The LORAN position is NOT that of Your airplane, but the position of the Weather Ship. It changes because the Ship drifta around it´s assigned position.

[/quote]

Just to clarify..
The LORAN position is NOT that of Your airplane, but the position of the Weather Ship. It changes because the Ship drifta around it´s assigned position.[/quote]

Luckily I wasn't using what I thought was the Loran position for navigation, but I eventually noticed that the latitude and longitude hadn't really changed at all over a period of an hour! I mistakenly thought that the Loran had become inoperative, so thank you for clarifying that!!

Bill

The Weather ships had a assigned position to keep, but where allowed to drift within a 210 square mile grid from that position.
Without the LORAN position all You know is the ships assigned position, wheras having the LORAN position active, means the ship will report it´s actual position derived from LORAN readings.
This makes Your own position calculation more accurate.

While You don´t have any accurate distance measurement, You can try to tune two different weather ships and then then from the two bearings triangulate Your exact position.

wothan wrote:The Weather ships had a assigned position to keep, but where allowed to drift within a 210 square mile grid from that position.
Without the LORAN position all You know is the ships assigned position, wheras having the LORAN position active, means the ship will report it´s actual position derived from LORAN readings.
This makes Your own position calculation more accurate.

While You don´t have any accurate distance measurement, You can try to tune two different weather ships and then then from the two bearings triangulate Your exact position.

Oh, I must try triangulation on my next transatlantic trip! I did not actually manage to fly over either weathership but passed abeam both of them. By what distance I missed them I have no idea although I had quite strong signals. I tried to make the flight as realistic as possible for the era, so I allowed myself to look at my default FSX position just 3 times - once between Shannon and Juliet, once between Juliet and Charlie and then once between Charlie and Gander. I felt that this might simulate the position as estimated by astral navigation readings being made by the navigator. All good fun and beats the hell out of navigating with modern instruments!

Bill

Hello!
I guess it is very interesting to navigate with weatherships during Trans Atlantic flights.
I've tried to install this gauge but without success.
Main problem I have marked in yellow - followed by the instruction but still have default radio panel.


Could somebody tell me please where I have made mistake?
Thank you in advance!

ups, it was duplicate.
Sorry!