Merrillville Community Planetarium
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Weather Station - ActiveWeather

Our weather station features ActiveWeather 32, from WeatherView. ActiveWeather is a "streaming information" weather service. ActiveWeather requires that you download a program, which can then be used to connect to our weather station and stream semi-live weather information back to your machine.

MCP's ActiveWeather client does not contain spyware or any other malicious programs. MCP does not collect any personal information about you or your viewing habits while operating our software.

Follow the instructions below to set up ActiveWeather on your computer today!

Step 1

Download and install ActiveWeather from http://www.weatherview32.com/activesetup.exe.

ActiveWeather window immediately after installation
The ActiveWeather window will look like this once you start it up.
(Click for larger version.)

Step 2

Once installed, run ActiveWeather. You may get an error about having your color depth set to 256 or lower. You can click "Continue" and ignore this error unless you have a problem running ActiveWeather. See our Troubleshooting section below for help fixing this error.

Editing ActiveWeather Site List
Page to edit your list of possible servers.

Step 3

Add MCPStars to your "site list".

To do this, click on "Edit" then choose "Enter\Edit HTTP Server Paths".

Available Sites
MCPStars information typed into the "HTTP Server Paths" list

Step 4

You will now receive a new window that looks like this: ActiveWeather sites box (Click for larger version.)

In the first box, change Weather View 32 Site to MCPStars and http://www.weatherview32.com to http://www.mcpstars.org/weather_data/. It should look like the image at the right.

Step 5

Click "Close" and you will be returned to the main ActiveWeather screen. Now, click "Select WV32 Active Site to Monitor". You will be presented the list of addresses we just specified. Choose MCPStars and ActiveWeather will begin streaming the data from our server.

When you are done viewing weather, simply close the program. Every time you launch ActiveWeather, simply re-select "MCPStars" from the list of "Active Sites to Monitor", and you will automatically be reconnected to our weather server.

Happy surfing!

ActiveWeather

Troubleshooting

Q: The time that is displayed for "Data Collected" is five minutes old. Is your clock slow?

A: Our data is not "live streaming" data. Our server collects five minutes worth of data then uploads it. The ActiveWeather program downloads the data and plays back the last five minutes worth of data. Once 5 minutes has elapsed, ActiveWeather downloads and shows another five minutes worth of data. There will be at least a five minute delay from the time the data is recorded to the time you view it.

Q: I can not get into ActiveWeather. I am getting an error about 256 colors being insufficient.

A: You need to set your "color depth" higher. Color depth is the number of colors your computer will use to display the graphics on your screen. Most computers are set to use at least 16 million colors now, not 256. To change this, right-click anywhere on your desktop. Choose "Properties," then "Advanced." Change "256 colors" to at least 16-bit (high color). Higher is better, but can also make your computer slower, depending upon its age.

Q: I do not see MCPStars in my list of available WeatherView sites. Why?

A: You probably did not specify MCPStars in your list of available sites to monitor. Repeat step 4 in setup.

Still having other issues? Contact us.