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Pete, Actually we are adding FOS not AFOS characters (the AFOS are ZCZC and NNNN, while the FOS are the SOH \r \r \m and \r \r \n ETX that the script I sent previously had). Your problem is that you have a superfluous string of "2007/05/23 17:06" in your text, and do not have a valid WMO header. Delete the date string and replace with "SAUS80 KWBC 231700" The 231700 is the day, hour, and minute of a bulletin. You could automate this through a simple script to replace the line with a generated WMO header which must have the form TTAAII CCCC DDHHNN. Steve Chiswell Unidata User Support > Hi.. > > What header/trailer info does dcmetr expect? > > I am attempting to decode METAR reports obtained from NOAA's ftp site > using dcmetr. Each ob is stored in its own ascii file. Example - KNEW.TXT > contains 2 lines: > > 2007/05/23 17:06 > KNEW 231706Z AUTO 1601G29KT 10SM TS SCT026 BKN031 OVC070 23/17 A3013 RMK > A02 PK WND 14029/1657 WSHFT 1649 LTG DSNT N AND SE AND S > > There are no AFOS header/trailer lines nor other header info. Running it > thru addafos.csh and dcmetr yields errors as follows: > > cat KNEW.TXT | ./addafos.csh | dcmetr -a 500 -v 2 -m 72 YYYYMMDD.hrly > > (log file contents) > [20839] 070523/1433[DC 3] Starting up. Version 5.10.2 > [20839] 070523/1433[DCMETR 7] DCMETR version: 3.3 > [20839] 070523/1433[DC 2] read 163/102399 bytes strt 0 newstrt 163 > [20839] 070523/1433[DC -16] Invalid time > [20839] 070523/1433[DCMETR 2] 000 2007/05/23 17:06 KNEW 231706Z AUTO > 16016G29KT 10SM TS SCT026 > [20839] 070523/1433[DC 2] read 0/102237 bytes strt 163 newstrt 163 > [20839] 070523/1433[DC -9] End of input data file. > [20839] 070523/1433[DC 5] Normal termination. > [20839] 070523/1433[DC 2] Number of bulletins read and processed: 1 > [20839] 070523/1433[DC 6] Shutting down. > > Pete > > ----------------------------------------- > The information contained in this message is intended only for the > personal and confidential use of the recipient(s) named above. If > the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or an > agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you > are hereby notified that you have received this document in error > and that any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of > this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this > communication in error, please notify us immediately, and delete > the original message. > Ticket Details =================== Ticket ID: LBF-160380 Department: Support GEMPAK Priority: Normal Status: Closed