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| A sample display from GRLevel3 radar software. |
One of the most useful situational awareness tools for a SKYWARN storm spotter is a good view of radar data. For several years, I’ve used a program called, “GRLevel3,” from Gibson Ridge Software. It runs on a computer, receives raw data from National Weather Service (NWS) Doppler radar stations via the Internet and then displays that data on the computer screen. With software like GRLevel3, you can see much more than the various radar websites display. For example, I have GRLevel3 configured on my computer to display the outline of the county warning area of my local NWS weather forecast office. It also displays the locations of spotters who are registered with spotternetwork.org, the locations of ham radio repeaters, and lots of other data.
I just learned that tomorrow evening, March 18, a ham radio leader who is a user of GRLevel3 will conduct a webinar (online presentation) titled, “An Introduction to GRLevel3, Version 2.” Below is an email message that gives the details. If you have a copy of GRLevel3 or if you’re thinking about acquiring radar software, this could be a good webinar to attend.
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 1:29 PM
To: INARES Yahoo Group
Subject: Online Introduction to GRLevel3
An online training session will be conducted tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 7:00 p.m. EDT. The topic of this session is “An Introduction to GRLevel3, Version 2”. GRLevel3 is a Windows-based viewer for live and archive NEXRAD Level III radar data. If you want to learn about the capabilities and features of this radar rendering program, then this event is for you.
Instructions for participating in the online conference can be found at www.W9TCA.com/joinme
The meeting site is https://join.me/WR9Aradio
The online training session will become active at about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evening, allowing you to log on and prepare for the event. You can participate on a PC or a Mac, or on an iPad or Android tablet if you have the join.me application installed. Please use your call sign to enter the meeting, or name if you are not an amateur radio operator.
GRLevel3 displays high resolution base products, dual polarization products, and derived products along with Local Storm Reports and severe weather warnings. The latest version 2 of GRLevel3 introduces a new UI for the program and has several significant changes from previous versions.
You do not need the program installed to benefit from the online training. If you wish to try out GRLevel3, it has a 21 day free trial period and can be downloaded from http://www.grlevelx.com/grlevel3_2/
I am not associated with Gibson Ridge Software in any way, other than as a customer and user of their products. GRLevel3 is the most widely used Windows-based radar rendering software, and many SKYWARN folks that do not use it are curious to learn more about it. Those are the reasons why this online training session is being conducted.
The online meeting is limited to a maximum of 100 participants, so please log on early. The session will be active with the host admitting participants starting about 06:30 p.m., with the presentation getting underway at 7:00 p.m. EDT. Hope to see you online!
73,
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Stephen M. Parker, WR9A
ARRL District Emergency Coordinator
Indiana ARES District 4
WR9Aradio@gmail.com
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