Cross-posted from another aviation forum:

Subscribe to get your METAR's from your cell phone? No more!

Google now offers it for free Text "METAR ICAO" to "Google" (466453) and get a text message reply of the current METAR.

No TAF's yet, at least not that I can figure. Gonna fool around with it to make sure though.

Also you can send "weather zip code" (weather 12345) or "weather city, ST" to the same address to get current conditions in plain english along with three days forecast.

METARs and TAFs are available sending just the ICAO id to "[email protected]" and that's free as well.

Now somebody just needs to chime in with who to test to get TFRs send with SMS.

I developed a similar SMS METAR system a few years ago, dubbed "E-wos." I used it all the time, but it was never really ready for primetime as it used derived email addresses instead of a true SMS gateway.

METARS are readily available from the FAA in a FTP download. When the observation station updates, the file is updated on their server. All I did was automated the download on request of the station identifier and send it back to you.

Nice that Google is on this now though. I used their SMS directory lookup all the time.

once&futr_alaskaflyer wrote:Cross-posted from another aviation forum:

Subscribe to get your METAR's from your cell phone? No more!

Google now offers it for free Text "METAR ICAO" to "Google" (466453) and get a text message reply of the current METAR.

No TAF's yet, at least not that I can figure. Gonna fool around with it to make sure though.

Also you can send "weather zip code" (weather 12345) or "weather city, ST" to the same address to get current conditions in plain english along with three days forecast.

Texting them METAR ICAO KBIL does not work. What's the format?

Bonanza Man wrote:
Texting them METAR ICAO KBIL does not work. What's the format?

Substitute your ICAO identifer for <ICAO>

ie: metar kpdx

That works but I sit here at 11:15 am(18:15Z) and it sent me a METAR for 10:53Z. Totally useless.

Bonanza Man wrote:That works but I sit here at 11:15 am(18:15Z) and it sent me a METAR for 10:53Z. Totally useless.

Did you verify that a more recent one was available?

A request for KPDX gave me the most recent one available, which I verfied here:

ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov/data/observati ... s/KPDX.TXT

Bonanza Man wrote:That works but I sit here at 11:15 am(18:15Z) and it sent me a METAR for 10:53Z. Totally useless.

Been reading on the support groups that there is a bug they are working on. This is only been up about a day or two, I guess we'll have to let it mature a bit before actually relying on it.

Why not just use the telephone number for the automated weather station? Or, are you doing this with the engine on, where you couldn't hear a phone?

tom

ps. what I would really like is the TAFs in a text message

My code returned TAF's as well. If I get this back online, will people use it? Send an sms/email to [email protected] and get the data back? Hmm? Hmm?

techno geeks

a64pilot wrote:techno geeks

My thoughts exactly...but ain't ya glad we have them!

1SeventyZ wrote:My code returned TAF's as well. If I get this back online, will people use it? Send an sms/email to [email protected] and get the data back? Hmm? Hmm?

If you do resurrect it make it available by texting a phone number. Many people are not allowed to text an email address.

Bonanza Man wrote:If you do resurrect it make it available by texting a phone number. Many people are not allowed to text an email address.

That would make it not-free. Email is free, SMS(phone number) gateways are not.

Most cell plans nowadays allow free emailing. The limiting factor is often the phone handset. I have the most basic of phones on a Verizon plan and I can email. In most phone operating systems, a text message and an email are transparent.

1SeventyZ wrote:

Bonanza Man wrote:If you do resurrect it make it available by texting a phone number. Many people are not allowed to text an email address.

That would make it not-free. Email is free, SMS(phone number) gateways are not.

Most cell plans nowadays allow free emailing. The limiting factor is often the phone handset. I have the most basic of phones on a Verizon plan and I can email. In most phone operating systems, a text message and an email are transparent.

Then why does it ask me for my "email server number" every time I try it

once&futr_alaskaflyer wrote:Then why does it ask me for my "email server number" every time I try it

What provider and phone do you have?

Have been going through old posts and realized how useful this one is.

Bump.

I never paid much attention to this before, but in areas of iffy cell service this is great. I frequently get in spots I can't carry on a cell conversation, much less hit a bunch of keys and then wait on hold for a briefer, but I can almost always send and receive texts in those spots. Don't know the technology behind it all, just know that's what happens here...
Take care, Rob