Single Strip Response Creator for Observers and Net Controls

This “Single Strip Response Creator for Observers and Net Controls” is a customized version of the “RI Strip Reader and Response Creator.” It is designed specifically for submitting weather observations to the GYX (Gray, Maine) SKYWARN program which covers southern Maine and New Hampshire. It is also usable for CAR (Caribou, Maine) reports for northern Maine.

When submitted by Winlink, the response strip will be automatically added to the GYX database and the observer’s position and report information will be shown on the GYX SKYWARN map.

This tool may be used for individual users. It also has features for a Net Control Station (NCS) running a voice net to add or pull up a participant's previous submittals, permitting the NCS to add updates and save to that person’s record. For submitting, multiple strips may be added to a single Winlink message or a single email.

Installation

The form consists of 2 files: an HTML file (SS_Response_Creator.html) and a TXT file (SS_Response_Creator.txt). The two files must be kept together and must keep the same name.

• Winlink Express: Install both files in the Global Templates folder. To use the form, select Message > New Message > Select Template and choose SS_Response_Creator. When the form has been opened from Winlink Express, the green line “Composing a Winlink Express message” appears under the subtitle, and the Winlink buttons described below are shown.
• Standalone Browser Usage: The form works outside of Winlink Express with any modern web browser. Simply place the two files in a convenient location (e.g., a USB thumb drive). The Winlink buttons are hidden when the form is opened this way. Chrome and Edge are recommended, because they let you choose the folder when saving a file.

The form remembers your Call Sign, Spotter ID, Location, State & CWA, subtitle, message email address and message subject in the browser you use. If you change to a different browser or computer, they will need to be entered again.

Overview

The Request for Information (RI) message strip format gathers information in a compact and concise manner. The strip is a single row in a spreadsheet — a slant-separated set of values. The RI serves as the header line; responses form the data cells.

A GYX CAR SKYWARN response strip contains these elements, in this order:

• Strip Name (GYX CAR SKYWARN, entered by the form)
• DATE (MM-DD-YYYY) and TIME UTC (HH:MMZ), both entered automatically
• CALL SIGN and SPOTTER ID (or NA)
• SOURCE (drop-down menu)
• LOCATION (MGRS required) and STATE & CWA (e.g., NH GYX, ME CAR, MA OA)
• CURRENT WEATHER (temperature, barometer, cloud cover or type; be brief)
• SNOW, SLEET, ICE ACCRETION, RAINFALL and HAIL SIZE (inches, or NA; for a storm total add ST, e.g., 2.6ST)
• WIND DIRECTION & SPEED (e.g., NNE @ 7 21G)
• STORM DAMAGE (wind, flooding, ice jams, other details)
• MODE (drop-down menu)
• NET (name of the radio net, or other source such as email or Slack)

Using the Form – Single Observer

1. Click "Parse Strip" to build a two-column table with each element and a corresponding answer field. The current UTC date and time are entered for you, and your Call Sign, Spotter ID, Location and State & CWA are filled in from your previous strip.
2. Fill in your responses. Pressing Enter moves to the next field.
   • In order to import your strip into the GYX database, the time must be expressed in UTC as HH:MMZ and your MGRS coordinates must be included. The date and time are filled in for you; if you change the time, keep the same format.
   • Enter NA for any element that does not apply. The slash character (/) cannot be typed into an answer, because it separates the elements of the strip.
   • Two fields feature drop-down menus: SOURCE (e.g., Trained Spotter) and MODE (e.g., Personal Observation).
3. With the table completed, click “Create Response Strip.”

The completed strip will be formatted as follows:

At this point, you may:

• “Copy Strip to Clipboard” (useful if sending the strip by a method other than Winlink, e.g., NBEMS). The copied text has a “Response Strip:” heading line above the strip.
• “Save Strip to File” for archiving. In Chrome and Edge a Save As window lets you choose the folder; other browsers save to their usual download location. The file is named with the Strip Name and your computer’s local date and time, e.g., GYX_CAR_SKYWARN_20261109_1946.txt.
• “Send Strip to Email” to open your default email program with a new message already addressed, with a subject, and with the strip as the text of the message.
• “Submit Strip to Winlink Message” to send the strip directly to Winlink Express (shown only when the form was opened from Winlink Express).
• “Reset Form” to clear the table. Click “Parse Strip” again and your previous answers return, with a new date and time.

Send Now, or Wait and Combine with a Later Report

When you click “Submit Strip to Winlink Message” or “Send Strip to Email,” a window asks: “Do you want to send this strip immediately or wait and combine it with a later report?”

• Choose “No, wait” to place the strip into temporary storage. The form returns to a parsed strip with all of the answers from the last strip and a new date and time, so you can update the fields later (e.g., an hour later, with a new weather state, snowfall or rainfall). A blue line under the subtitle shows how many strips are waiting. Click “Create Response Strip” and send again.
• Choose “Yes, send immediately” to send the current strip together with all of the waiting strips, one strip per line, with nothing else in the message. When sending to Winlink Express, you are returned to the Winlink Express message.

You can repeat this as many times as necessary. Both buttons use the same list of waiting strips. Pressing Esc closes the window without holding or sending anything.

Editing an Existing Strip

The form has a section at the bottom where you can add or recall an existing strip for editing. If you saved the strip, use the “Browse Saved Response Strips” function. You may also paste an existing strip into the box. To proceed, click the “Populate Table” button. When the strip is populated, it will automatically be updated with the current UTC date/time. Only strips that begin with the current Strip Name, or with GYX CAR SKYWARN, are accepted.

Setting the Subtitle, Message Email and Message Subject

Three settings can be changed from the keyboard. Press Ctrl+P, release, and within two seconds press one of the letters below. (Ctrl+P does not print while the form is open.) Type the new value in the window that opens and click “Save.” Each setting is remembered the next time the form is opened. Leaving the box empty restores the default.

• Ctrl+P, then T — the subtitle under the title. The subtitle and the Strip Name are always the same, so changing the subtitle also changes the Strip Name. By default the subtitle is GYX CAR SKYWARN, and therefore the Strip Name is also GYX CAR SKYWARN. The Strip Name is the first element of every strip, the start of every saved file name, and the name that saved strips must begin with to be loaded (for example, if the subtitle is changed to TEST NET, new strips begin TEST NET/ and are saved as TEST_NET_YYYYMMDD_HHMM.txt).
• Ctrl+P, then E — the message email address. Winlink Express messages are addressed to it, and so are messages created with “Send Strip to Email.” More than one address may be entered, separated by commas. The default is skywarn@wx1gyx.net.
• Ctrl+P, then S — the message subject used for Winlink Express messages and for “Send Strip to Email.” The default is WX Report.

The Net Control Feature

For the NCS running a GYX SKYWARN weather net, the form includes an expanded strip save and recall function capable of handling multiple strips simultaneously.

Recommended Workflow:

1. Create a starter strip for each of the regular net attendees containing at least: Call Sign, Spotter ID, MGRS (Location), State & CWA, and Net, and save it with “Save Strip to File.”
2. Store saved strips in a common folder using the naming convention: GYX_CAR_SKYWARN_YYYYMMDD_HHMM.txt.
3. Periodically sort files by date and clear out older strips for each participant.

During Net Operations:

1. Before the net starts, open the form and click “Browse Saved Response Strips…”. (When the form was opened from Winlink Express, the button reads “…to Edit, Export, or Submit to Winlink Message.”)
2. In the file window that opens, highlight the strips in the desired date range (Ctrl+A selects all of them, or use Shift+click for a range) and click “Open.” This displays a “Saved Strips” list arranged by call sign (multiple entries per call sign will be sub-arranged by date, newest first). Files that are not strips for the current Strip Name are skipped.
3. Select the desired strips and click “Load Selected.” Selecting “Select all” is simplest for local nets; “Select by Call Sign” and “Select by Date” drop-down menus are also available, and if both are chosen only the strips that match both are selected. If one strip is selected, it goes straight into the table. If several are selected, the full text of all of them is brought up, one per line, in the “Selected Strips” box.
4. When a member checks in (e.g., KB1TCE), highlight their strip and click “Transfer Highlighted Strip to RI Table.”
5. Make the necessary updates to the Observation Information. The Date/Time is updated automatically.
6. Click “Create Response Strip,” then (if you wish to keep a copy) “Save Strip to File,” followed by “Submit Strip to Winlink Message” (or “Send Strip to Email”).
7. When prompted with “Do you want to send this strip immediately or wait and combine it with a later report?”:
   • Choose “No, wait” to place the strip into temporary storage if more reports are expected during the net. Then repeat steps 4 to 7 for the next check-in.
   • Choose “Yes, send immediately” on the final submission of the net to submit all combined strips, one per line, and return to the Winlink Express message.

Buttons under the Selected Strips box:

• “Copy All to Clipboard” — copies all of the strips in the box.
• “Save to File” — saves the strips in the box as a slash-delimited text file for importing into a spreadsheet. A No is added at the start of each row, for the spreadsheet’s first column (NWS USE, Logged). In Google Sheets, use File > Import > Upload, choose Append to current sheet, and set the separator type to Custom with /.
• “Send to Email” — opens your default email program with all of the strips in the box, one per line. This button sends the strips in the box immediately; it does not ask the send-or-wait question and does not include waiting strips.
• “Submit Strips to Winlink Message” — shown only when the form was opened from Winlink Express. Sends all of the strips in the box to the Winlink Express message, one per line. As with “Send to Email,” it sends immediately and does not include waiting strips.
• “Transfer Highlighted Strip to RI Table” — as in step 4 above.
• “Close” — closes the Selected Strips box.

Troubleshooting

• No “Submit” buttons: the form was not opened from Winlink Express. Open it with Message > New Message > Select Template; the green line “Composing a Winlink Express message” confirms that it was.
• The email program does not open: the computer needs a default email program. Some email programs cannot accept a very long message from a link. In that case the new message opens with only the address and subject, and the strips are copied to the clipboard to paste into it.
• No choice of folder when saving: only Chrome and Edge offer this; other browsers save to their usual download location.
• Call sign, subtitle, email address or subject back to the defaults: the form was opened in a different browser or on a different computer. Enter them again.