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 Note that the archive is no longer being updated. We provide the archive for reference; many of the answers presented here remain technically correct, even if somewhat outdated.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.
Users of the UNIWISC (aka MCIDAS) IDD data feedtype, GOES-12 products are now being transmitted in replacement of the previous GOES-8 (GOES EAST) products. If you are using pqact.conf pattern/actions to decode and file the products using the LDM product header information (eg, not using the McIDAS Routing numbers), you will need to update your matching pattern for the water vapor products only if your pattern is matching on the wavelength portion of the product header. The GOES-8 water vapor products were identified as 6.8um, while the GOES-12 product headers contain 6.5um in the LDM product identifier. If you obtained the ldm-mcidas decoders package, the pnga2area pattern sugested: # WV (6.8 um) MCIDAS ^pnga2area Q1 (U[^ACXY1]) (.*) (.*)_IMG (6.8)um (.*) (........) (....) The above pattern should be changed to MCIDAS ^pnga2area Q1 (U[^ACXY1]) (.*) (.*)_IMG (6..)um (.*) (........) (....) For GEMPAK users, the pqact.conf template for decoding water vapor products using pnga2area should similarly be updated in: $NAWIPS/ldm/etc/templates/pqact.gempak_images Steve Chiswell Unidata User Support address@hidden