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Hi Brendon, Sorry for the tardy reply (User Committee meeting)... > We recently had a student who was interested in using McIDAS to view > NCDC archived nexrad data. I was able to find the answers she was > looking for in the mailing archive, but it did take a considerable > amount of time poking the support email archives. I was wondering if it > would be possible to improve the upfront documentation so that users who > want to use McIDAS to view archived data can find something a bit faster > to guide them (maybe some kind of FAQ?) OK. I would like to point out, however, that the online McIDAS training workshop materials have an exercise that walks one through the steps needed to create an ADDE dataset from a collection of files. > In the Unidata community > spirit, here is the how-to email I sent to the student, feel free to post. Will do. Thanks! > I was also surprised that the DSSERVE page in the users guide doesn't > mention the NEXR type. I had not noticed this! I will report this shortcoming to SSEC for correction in the next McIDAS release (v2006). > Also, the alphabetic pointers at the top of > http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/mcidas/2005/users_guide/mainindex.html > appear not to be working. Thanks for reporting this. I affected the fix so they work now (missing link). > Brendon Hoch wrote: > > Melissa, > > > > Here are the procedures I used for viewing the radar data that you > > downloaded. Other students in your class may benefit from this > > information. > > > > 1. Download your radar data into a directory structure as follows: > > /some/path/ID/TYPE > > > > where > > > > ID = three letter station ID > > TYPE = three letter/number radar product type > > > > In our example Melissa's data is located in > > /home/username/RadarMeteorology/GYX/N0Z and > > /home/username/RadarMeteorology/GYX/NCZ > > > > 2. Create a configuration file so that McIDAS knows where to find your > > data. The recommended procedure is to copy > > /usr/local/mcidas/workdata/NNEXRAD.CFG to a directory and > > renaming/modifying to meet your needs. The file itself is comprised > > mainly of documentation (please read), but there are two lines > > at the bottom that you will want to modify; this will allow McIDAS to > > use regular expressions to find the proper data: > > > > DIRMASK: It should equal the pathname where your files are located. > > There are some keywords to use > > > > FILEMASK: You can also use keywords here if you want to get specific > > with filename formats > > > > In our example, the file was copied to > > /home2/share/m_wellman/RadarMeteorology and renamed as MWNCDCRAD.CFG The > > file was modified as follows: > > > > DIRMASK=/home2/share/m_wellman/RadarMeteorology/\ID/\TYPE > > FILEMASK=*\ID* > > > > This means that each filename must contain the three letter radar > > station identifier. > > > > 3. Start McIDAS, and load your data (DSSERVE commands should be on one > > line): > > > > DATALOC ADD MYRAD LOCAL-DATA > > > > DSSERVE ADD MYRAD/N0Z NEXR 1 9999 TYPE=IMAGE > > INFO='/home2/share/m_wellman/RadarMeteorology/MWNCDCRAD.CFG' "Base > > reflectivity 248 nm > > > > DSSERVE ADD MYRAD/NCZ NEXR 1 9999 TYPE=IMAGE > > INFO='/home2/share/m_wellman/RadarMeteorology/MWNCDCRAD.CFG' "Composite > > Reflectivity (16 Levels) 248 nm > > > > If you want to list your data, use IMGLIST, if you want to display it, use > > IMGDISP, you will need to specify the three letter ID of the station you > > want: > > > > IMGLIST MYRAD/N0Z.ALL ID=GYX > > > > IMGDISP MYRAD/NCZ.1 ID=GYX; MAP H > > > > 4. You will need to experiment with zoom (using the MAG keyword) and > > color tables (using the EU command), for example > > > > ERASE F 1 > > > > IMGDISP MYRAD/NCZ.1 ID=GYX MAG=3; MAP H > > > > EU REST NOWRAD.ET > > > > > > You can also get some data on specific points: > > > > PC E 43.9 70.25 (don't move mouse!) > > > > IMGPROBE MODE=N > > > > > > See also: > > http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/support/help/MailArchives/mcidas/msg01300.html > > http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/support/help/MailArchives/mcidas/msg01307.html > > > > Hope this helps, > > Brendon > > > -- > Brendon Hoch > Technology Manager > Judd Gregg Meteorology Institute > MSC 48, Boyd Hall 321A > Plymouth State University > Plymouth, NH 03264 > (603)535-2818 Fax: (603)535-2723 > http://vortex.plymouth.edu/~bhoch Cheers, Tom **************************************************************************** Unidata User Support UCAR Unidata Program (303) 497-8642 P.O. Box 3000 address@hidden Boulder, CO 80307 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unidata HomePage http://www.unidata.ucar.edu **************************************************************************** Ticket Details =================== Ticket ID: MCZ-288208 Department: Support McIDAS Priority: Normal Status: Closed