The Quick Form allows instant access to all of the FM-13-X-SHIP, ships' synoptic code, symbols.
FM-13-X-SHIP, ships synoptic code

Definition: FM-13-X-SHIP, ships synoptic code, is comprised of 23 groups of symbolic letters representing meteorological and oceanographic elements, report identification and ship location data. There are three main sections of the ships' synoptic code, 0,1 and 2.

Section 0 is a mandatory section. Location , time, and date groups in section 0 must be included in the report. Any error or missing data here will likely result in the report being discarded.

Section 1 consists of code groups 6-14 and contains most of the meteorological data of the report. The first two groups of section 1 are also considered mandatory. Ranking of groups does not mean other groups are less important. All 23 groups of the weather message are important and should normally be included in your report to completely describe condition at your vessel. If a report is sent with just the first seven groups, it will be accepted but is of limited usefulness.

Section 2 consists of code groups 15-23 and contains ships movement data, oceanographic data, ice data and wet bulb temperature.

Data Entry: The Quick form data can be entered in two ways. Data can directly be entered into the edit boxes. Or the button below each edit box can be clicked. This will pop up the dialog associated with that code. If data is entered directly into the edit box and the data is found to be unacceptable an error message will appear on leaving the edit box. From the error message the operator can go back and fix the code in the edit box or can access the information dialog by clicking the 'Display Help Screen' button on the error box.

Transmission: When message is coded it is ready for transmission. Transmssion is essential for the data to be received by the national forecast centers. The message can be saved in binary or ASCII format. If the ship is transmitting the message using the Standard-C transceiver then the message must be saved in binary. The name of the binary fomatted file is Met.bin. The messages can be saved from the menu by selecting 'Transmit' then 'Save Binary' or 'Save ASCII' as required. The message can also be saved in binary by clicking on the 'Save Binary For Transmit' button. If any of the weather codes are inconsistent then a message box will appear containing information on which codes need to be corrected. However if the operator is sure that the data is correct then this error message can be overridden by clicking the 'Over Ride' button.

Menu Items:

File -
Exit: Allows the operator to exit the program.

Transmit -
Save Binary: The standard way the data should be saved for transmission as described above. In addtion the data is written to the archive file on the hardisk under the AMVERSEAS/Reports_Seas/Archive_Met.txt.(LINK) (See Archiving.). Data is also written to the Ascii.sea file under AMVERSEAS/DialUp.
Save ASCII: Save the data in ASCII format for transmission.


Calculators -
Wind Speed, Direction: Calculates True Wind Direction and Speed.
Meters - Feet: Converts feet to/from meters.
Fahrenheit - Celsius: Converts Fahrenheit to/from Celsius.

Help -
About: Tells the version number.
Help: Access the help screen.