WeatherSaver NEXRAD Radar Screensaver by Mike Robinson

Software by Mike Robinson

Weather Screensaver
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WeatherSaver is a screensaver that shows current NEXRAD animated radar map, air temperature, weather conditions, wind speed, time, and date. These are downloaded from the internet every 6 minutes. Radar maps are available for any location in the USA including Alaska and Hawaii. The temperature and weather conditions text are available for any location in the world.

The time, temperature, and weather conditions can be turned on or off. If you turn off the time and temperature, then just the radar screen will be shown. The time can be customized to show the seconds, time only, AM/PM, or 24-hour time. The text colors can also be customized.

You can choose from 2 radar sources: NCAR ↑ or NWS ↓ The NCAR radar is shown above ↑ the NWS radar is shown below ↓ (NCAR = National Center for Atmospheric Research, NWS = National Weather Service.)

Only the local radar is available from NCAR at this time. NCAR is trying to reinstate regional and entire-USA views, and I will add them back to WeatherSaver as they become available.

The NCAR radar shown above ↑ can be animated or static. You can select one of 3 radar types: Composite Reflectivity, Base Reflectivity, or Velocity. Choose a color background, a gray background, or a black background. On NCAR, these settings can be turned on or off: Borders, Image Numbers, Range Ring, Bottom Text, Hint Text, Latitude/Longitude Numbers, and a red Tiny Circle at your specific location.

The NWS radar shown below ↓ can be animated or static. You can select 3 different radar views: local, regional, or entire USA. On NWS, these settings can be turned on or off: Borders, Image Numbers, Bottom Text, Hint Text.

You can select a NWS local radar like this:

You can select a NWS regional radar like this:

You can select a NWS entire USA radar like this:

It can also display temperature from La Crosse WS-2300 series weather station that is connected to a Com Port on your computer.

It installs both as a normal program and a real screensaver with password ability and preview in the small Windows screensaver setup screen. To exit the program just press any key, click the mouse, or move the mouse.

This is a 32-bit program and will run on Windows ME, NT, 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11. It also runs fine on 64-bit systems.

See the bottom of this page if you would like to purchase WeatherSaver for just $20.00 US Dollars. This trial version will operate for 14 days. If you purchase the program, I will send you a serial number that will that will enable continued operation with no time limit. Pay once and all future upgrades are free. This demo version is fully functional. No features have been removed. It contains no spyware, no advertising.

Automatic Radar Source Switching

If the NCAR radar source becomes unavailable, the program will automatically switch to the NWS radar source. It does this on a temporary basis, and does not change your settings. You can manually change radar source by pressing the R key when the program is running. Please wait until the animation finishes loading before pressing the R key or else the program will exit.

Setup

When the program is running, press the C key and this setup screen pops up:

The changes you make on this screen are shown in the preview panel on the left. Press the "OK" button and the changes will be saved and used the next time the program runs. Press the "Cancel" button and the changes will not be saved. The Help button displays this help file, and the Purchase button takes you to PayPal if you would like to purchase this program. The cost is just 20 dollars. You can use your credit card or PayPal account. The About button displays information about this program such as version number and provides links to my home page on the web.

Show Clock - Turns clock time, day, and date display on and off.

Show Temperature - Turns temperature and weather conditions display on and off.

Center Display - Centers all of the displays in the middle of the screen.

Show Hints - Displays the following keyboard hints at the bottom of the radar display:

A=About C=Config R=Range I=Info S=Save T=Temp Up/Dn=Site

Please wait until the animation finishes loading before pressing a key or else the program will exit.

When on the local or regional maps, The Up, Down, Left, Right arrow keys will move to the nearest radar site in that direction.

The A=About key shows the program About info.

The C=Config key lets you changed the Configuration settings.

The R=Range key changes the Range from NCAR local, to NWS local, to NWS regional, to NWS entire USA, and then back to NCAR local. Wait for each animation to finish loading before pressing the key again.

The I=Info pops up the detailed Metar info for the airport used to get the temperature and weather conditions.

The S=Save key allows you to Save the static image.

The T=Temp key changes to the next Temperature site, for up to 5 selected sites.

The M=Mode key that changes between radar Composite Reflectivity, Base Reflectivity, and Velocity.

The B=Color key changes between black, gray, and colored backgrounds.

The G=Get key reloads the radar display.

The E=Email key composes an email message with detailed diagnostic information. The message is addressed, and ready to send, in your default Windows email program.

The F1 key shows this help file as a PDF document.

These keys cause temporary changes. Just for fun or curiosity. Your configuration will not change unless you enter the configuration screen, make changes, and then press the OK button to save the changes.

Show Border - Shows radar border with additional information.

Show Bottom Text - Shows radar detailed information on bottom.

Show Longitude Latitude - On lower left, shows longitude/latitude of the radar tower located at the center of the image. This can help you pick a longitude/latitude for your location to use in the Show Tiny Circle boxes.

Show Image Numbers - Shows the image numbers in sequence as the radar animation progresses.

There are several check boxes on the right:

Show Day - Shows the day of the week. (Not shown if clock is turned off.)

Show Date - Shows the date. (Not shown if clock is turned off.)

Show Seconds - Shows the time seconds. (Not shown if clock is turned off.)

Wind Speed Units - Shows winds speed in Miles Per Hour (MPH) or Kilometers Per Hour (KPH).

Temperature Units - Shows temperature in degrees Fahrenheit (F) or degrees Celsius (C).

On the right you can also set Time Format (time only, AM/PM, A/P, 24-hour format), Time Color, Temperature Color, Background Color.

Com Port - If you have a La Crosse WS-2300 series weather station attached then select the Com Port number in this drop-down box. The outdoor temperature from the WS2300 will be shown. The temperature from the internet is shown briefly and then immediately replaced by the WS2300 temperature. Leave this at "None" if you do not have a WS2300 weather station.

Radar Tab

The Source drop-down box selects either NCAR radar or NWS radar.

The Location drop-down box selects one of the 154 NEXRAD radar sites across the continental USA, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico.

The Range drop-down box selects local, regional or entire USA for NWS source only. The NCAR source is currently local range only. NCAR is trying to reinstate regional and entire-USA views, and I will add them back to WeatherSaver as they become available.

The Reflectivity drop-down box selects: Composite Reflectivity, Base Reflectivity, or Velocity for NCAR only. NWS reflectivity is composite and cannot be changed. Click the following link for a discussion of Composite versus Base Reflectivity:

https://boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/weather/difference-between-composite-and-base-radar-reflectivity

The Color drop-down box selects background color: black, gray, or colored for NCAR source only. The NWS background color is white and cannot be changed.

The Loop Duration drop-down box selects single static image, or an animation loop. The NCAR loop time can be 1 hour to 12 hours. The NWS loop time is about 1 hour and cannot be changed. The number of images in each period varies through the day. If you select 12 hours, you may get over 100 images. One hour usually works fine for me. Sometimes there are only a few images in the NCAR 1 hour, so 2 hour gives a better animation. The program is limited to 150 images.

The Black Ocean checkbox turns the oceans black on NCAR only.

The Radar Range Ring checkbox gives a big white circle that defines the limit of the local radar on local NCAR only. It does not appear on the other maps. The radar in each local map is at the precise center of this circle. The Longitude/Latitude of the center is given in the lower left corner of the local map. There is a "+" sign and tiny yellow circle at the center.

Use the slider to make the radar animation speed faster or slower. Just below the slider you can use the spin-edit to set the number of minutes between each internet update of the radar, temperature, and weather conditions. The default of 6 minutes is usually adequate.

The Show Tiny Circle checkbox places a tiny red circle at the longitude/latitude you specify in the boxes on local NCAR only. Experiment with the numbers to place a circle at your location, or any location of interest. Just one location. The default location at startup is the location of the airport used for temperature and weather info. For the startup location of New York City radar, and temperature, the red circle is at JFK airport. The circle only appears on the local maps. In some cases, your location may be visible on several maps. Press the Left, Right, Up, Down arrow keys to temporarily move to the closest location in that direction. Wait for the animation to fully load before pressing another key.

Longitude is a negative number, degrees west of Greenwich England. Latitude is positive, degrees up from the equator. New York City longitude is -74.0 degrees, latitude is 40.8 degrees.

Temperature Tab

Select your location from the top drop-down boxes. This is the site that will be used for the temperature and weather conditions display. The list contains thousands of locations around the world. You can select 5 different nearby locations. As you select them, they appear in the list at the bottom. Sometimes a site will go down or not give a proper temperature. When that happens, the program goes to the next site as a backup. The first site is at the top of the list. Also, when the program is running, you can press the "T" (Temp) key and the temperature and weather conditions for the next site down in the list will be displayed. If you press the "I" key (Info) when the program is running you will see a popup window with all the detailed information provided by the site including wind, visibility, sky conditions, temperature, wind-chill, dew point, relative humidity, and barometric pressure. These changes are temporary. The saved locations will not change unless you intentionally select new locations.

Monitor Tab

If you have multiple monitors, changing this setting may improve the display.

Install

If you run the install program, I recommend that you do so as an Administrator on that computer.

The install program weathersaver-setup.exe will copy all the files to your Windows System Folder:

C:\Windows\System32 (on 32-bit Windows)
C:\Windows\SysWOW64 (on 64-bit Windows)

The install program will overwrite any previous version so you are not required to uninstall older versions.

An alternate install method is to download the executable file weathersaver.scr and copy it to your Windows System Folder.

Programs with an .scr extension in these folders, such as weathersaver.scr, are recognized by Windows as screensavers and appear in the Windows list of available screensavers. A desktop shortcut link to weathersaver.scr is also created so you can run weathersaver as a normal program. WeatherSaver is a 32-bit program but also runs fine on 64-bit systems.

A screensaver is actually a real program, but the file extension is .scr instead of the usual .exe found on most program files. This allows Windows to recognize the program as a screensaver when it is placed in the Windows System Folder.

To setup WeatherSaver as your screensaver on Windows 10 or Windows 11:

Right-click on the Desktop.
Personalize.
Lock screen.
Screen saver settings.

and then this screen is shown:

Then use the "Screen Saver" drop-down box and pick "weathersaver" from the list of screen savers. Then click OK. The "Settings" button brings up the setup screen above. The "Preview" button runs the screensaver in full screen mode.

Earlier versions of Windows may have slightly different steps.

You can also change the settings by pressing the C key when the screensaver is running.

UnInstall

Open Windows Control Panel, select Programs and Features, select the program in the list of programs, and click the uninstall button, or right click on the program and select Uninstall in the menu. The Windows uninstall system will then run and remove the program. If you installed the program manually then delete the files to uninstall the program, and also delete any Desktop shortcut links

Then delete this entire key in the Windows Registry:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Michael_Robinson\WeatherSaver

Running as a Program

Click the desktop WeatherSaver icon and the program will run. If you use WeatherSaver in this normal program mode, that is not as a screensaver, your normal screensaver will kick in and appear over (and hide) WeatherSaver.

Program Support

Press the E=Email key when the program is running and it will compose an email message with detailed diagnostic information. The message is addressed, and ready to send, in your default Windows email program. The Email button on the About screen will also create this email.

The diagnostic email message is very helpful. Use it if you can.

I usually answer email messages in less than 24 hours. I have been supporting this program for over 15 years.

Legal Stuff

This program is Copyright © 2005 Michael Robinson. All Rights Reserved. Use this program at your own risk. If you purchase this program and are not satisfied with it for any reason, I will refund your money. You may give this file away free, but you may not sell it. It must be distributed as a package along with all files. Modification of the executable file is prohibited.

The radar images are provided by NCAR = National Center for Atmospheric Research and RAL = Research Applications Lab. The source images come from the NEXRAD radar system as provided by NWS = National Weather Service and NOAA = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Revision History

3.0.0.0 Feb 19, 2021 Initial public release. Based on a program series first released in 2005.
3.0.0.6 Mar 08, 2021 Bug Fixes & Improvements.
3.0.0.8 May 31, 2021 Temporary removal of long-range radar.
3.0.0.9 Jul 16, 2021 Now has 2 radar sources: NWS and NCAR.
3.0.0.9 Aug 04, 2021 Digitally Signed by Michael Robinson using purchased Sectigo Code Signing Certificate.
3.0.1.0 Dec 04, 2021 Bug Fixes.
3.0.2.0 Oct 17, 2022 Removed expiration date. Reduced weather text sizes to fit. Smaller range ring.
3.0.3.0 Nov 17, 2022 Fixed NWS Radar.

Digital Signature

I purchased a Code Signing Certificate from Certificate Authority (CA) company Sectigo and used it to digitally sign (and timestamp) program executable file weathersaver.exe and install program weathersaver-setup.exe. The signature says it was signed by MICHAEL ROBINSON. Code Signing proves that the program actually came from me and has not been modified by a hacker since it was signed.

Run Windows File Explorer (explorer.exe) right click on the file and select Properties:

Then click on the tab Digital Signatures, and click the Details button:

Then click the View Certificate button to see my certificate:

If even one byte is changed, either in the file or in the signature, the signature will show as invalid in the file properties.

Purchase

If you purchase this program and are not satisfied with it for any reason, I will refund your money.

This trial version will operate for 14 days. If you purchase the program, I will send you a serial number that will that will enable continued operation with no time limit. Pay once and all future upgrades are free. This demo version is fully functional. No features have been removed. It contains no spyware, no advertising. It makes changes to the Windows Registry only as required for proper operation.

The purchase price is $20.00 (Twenty US Dollars). I accept major credit cards, PayPal , or personal checks. You can use PayPal to pay by credit card even if you do not have a PayPal account. The total cost to you is $20.00. No fees. Use your Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover card.

Use your Credit Card.

Or send payment by PayPal to: ElegantPie@HotMail.com

Or send personal check or money order payable to Michael Robinson:

Michael Robinson
PO Box 95
Shelton, CT 06484

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The Official PayPal Verified Seal above means that I have provided PayPal with proof that I have a bank account and that my address is valid. Banks are required by law to screen account holders so PayPal's verification process increases security when you pay parties you do not know. My bank has my address and Social Security number on file. I have been using PayPal for over 20 years.

I use PayPal because the fees are low. If you send me $20.00 PayPal only takes about $1.00 so I net $19.00. All other payment services take several dollars so I would have to charge around $25 for my program to gain the same net. This lowers the cost to you. PayPal is usually free for most transactions, such as Ebay auction payments, but as a business I am required to have a Premier Account with fees. If you do not have a PayPal account, you can still use PayPal to make a payment using your credit card. PayPal does not charge you any fees for this. PayPal is a very secure and reliable payment system used by millions of people around the world.

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