20030121: McIDAS - Tru64 - ptlist not listing CMAN stations

>From: "Angel Li" <address@hidden>
>Organization: University of Miami
>Keywords: 200301211600.h0LG0gD13023 McIDAS-XCD CMAN

Hi Angel,

>I'm using the PTLIST command to access CMAN data and these stations are not
>viewable:
>
>MLRF, LONF, KTNF
>
>Is there some database I need to update?

Yes, and this turns out to not be an Tru64-only problem.

None of these stations are listed in the McIDAS station database,
so the decoder does not decode the data for them.  You can correct this
situation by creating a user addendum to the station database that
includes location information for these stations.  Here is what to do:

1) find out as much information as you can about these stations.  At
   a minimum, you will want their station ID, Lat, Lon, Elev, and
   a description

2) create the file STNDB.USER in the ~mcidas/workdata directory.  You
   will add one entry for each station you want to define.  The entries
   will look something like:

ID=MLRF LATLON=25.01 80.38 ELE=0 ST=FL CO=US NAME='Molasses Reef' DATATYPE=CMAN
ID=LONF LATLON=24.84 80.90 ELE=0 ST=FL CO=US NAME='Long Key' DATATYPE=CMAN
ID=KTNF LATLON=29.80 83.60 ELE=0 ST=FL CO=US NAME='Keaton Beach' DATATYPE=CMAN

Things to note:

  o I got the Lat and Lon values from station tables in GEMPAK.  You should
    check to make sure that they match the information you have.

  o if you know the WMO number for the stations, include it with an IDN=wmonum
    sequence

  o Longitudes in McIDAS are west positive.  That is why the LATLON=lat lon
    values have positive longitudes

  o the textual description must be sorrounded with single quotes

  o the definition for a station must line entirely on a single line

  o make sure that the read/write permissions on STNDB.SITE are such that
    the user running your LDM can read the file

Once you have created the file ~mcidas/workdata/STNDB.SITE, you should
use the McIDAS application STNLIST to verify that there are no typos:

<login as 'mcidas'>
cd ~mcidas/workdata
stnlist.k MLRF
stnlist.k LONF
stnlist.k KTNF

I believe that the next time a new output MD file is created, the
new station location information will be used in the decoding.  This
will most likely occur as the clock ticks past 0Z.  If this does not
work, please let me know and I will tell you how to force the issue.

>Thanks,

On another topic, do you think that U Miami would be willing to act as
an IDD relay node to feed sites in Central and South America?  The
reason I ask is that Miami is the home for the AMPATH NAP of the
Americas, so U Miami should be the closest (electronically) Unidata
site point to new sites in those regions:  the University of Buenos
Aires (Argentina), the Federal University of Rio de Janerio (Brazil),
and the Federal University of Para (Brazil).

Tom