This archive contains answers to questions sent to Unidata support through mid-2025. Note that the archive is no longer being updated. We provide the archive for reference; many of the answers presented here remain technically correct, even if somewhat outdated. For the most up-to-date information on the use of NSF Unidata software and data services, please consult the Software Documentation first.
Carissa, I have an hypothesis as to why pqing(1) is deleting ESC characters if they follow the sequence CR CR LF in a WMO bulletin. That sequence is a control sequence: it introduces the bulletin header; new reports, and the end of the WMO message. If the WMO bulletin is binary rather than textual, there's a small but non-zero probability that it will contain that control sequence in its data. Such a non-control sequence can be delimited and vitiated by appending it with an ESC character, with the understanding that the ESC character will be removed by the downstream decoder. Interestingly, the WMO No. 386 manual doesn't mention this. I can only assume that this was an ad-hoc hack necessitated by the increasing use of binary WMO bulletins (it does date from 1994, after all). As I see it, you have the following options: 1) use pqinsert(1) rather than pqing(1); 2) append an ESC character to the sequence CR CR LF wherever it occurs in the data and is not a control sequence; or 3) have pqing(1) interpret the data as textual rather than as binary via use of the "-f feedtype" option, in which case the feedtype must have no bits in common with the feed pattern "IDS|DDPLUS|HDS|NMC2|NMC3|AFOS|FAA604" (see <https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/ldm/ldm-current/basics/feedtypes/>). I don't know if the last option will work. It definitely won't if the data is binary. Regards, Steve Emmerson Ticket Details =================== Ticket ID: OWC-960244 Department: Support LDM Priority: Normal Status: Closed