cswn-toolkit 4.4.0

Colorado Severe Weather Network — Net Control Toolkit for Skywarn amateur radio nets

Colorado Severe Weather Network — Net Control Toolkit

A cross-platform PyQt6 desktop application for amateur radio net control operators running the Colorado Severe Weather Network daily Weather Outlook Net on the SkyHubLink repeater-linking system.

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Features

• Automated net script generation — fetches live NWS Area Forecast Discussions (AFD) and Hazardous Weather Outlooks (HWO) for all regional WFOs (GJT, BOU, GLD, PUB, CYS) and builds a complete, section-by-section net script
• Regional Weather Roundup — renders the NWS Pueblo RWR as a styled HTML table with color-coded temperature, wind, and conditions columns
• Weather Resource Toolkit — categorized quick-access panel linking to SPC convective outlooks, NWS office pages, radar & satellite tools, Skywarn resources, mesonets, and more
• Built-in web browser — opens dashboards in-app via PyQt6-WebEngine (optional; falls back to external browser)
• PDF export — generates a formatted, bookmarked PDF of the net script via pdflatex when TeX Live / MiKTeX is installed
• Session persistence — save and restore operator callsign, name, and location; auto-saves every 60 seconds
• Dark / Light / Blue themes — full Qt stylesheet theming
• Auto-advance mode — steps through script sections on a configurable timer
• Cross-platform — tested on Windows 10/11 and Linux (Ubuntu 22.04+)

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Installation

Standard (no web engine)

pip install cswn-net-toolkit

With in-app browser support

pip install "cswn-net-toolkit[webengine]"

With timezone-aware Mountain Time display

pip install "cswn-net-toolkit[all]"

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Running

# Console script (installed automatically by pip):
cswn-toolkit

# Or as a Python module:
python -m cswn_toolkit

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Optional Dependencies

Extra	Package	Purpose
webengine	PyQt6-WebEngine	In-app browser for dashboards
timezone	pytz	Accurate Mountain Time display
all	Both above	Full feature set

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Optional Assets (image files)

The app will look for the following image files in these locations (in order):

• ~/.colorado_swo/ (Linux/macOS) or %APPDATA%\CSWN_Toolkit\ (Windows)
• The package assets/ directory
• ~/Public/ or ~/bin/

File	Purpose
Skywarn-cyan.png	Header logo (falls back to 📡 emoji if absent)
CSWN-logo-BRAND.png	PDF watermark (omitted if absent)

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PDF Export

PDF export requires pdflatex. Install it with:

• Linux: sudo apt install texlive-latex-recommended texlive-fonts-recommended
• Windows: MiKTeX or TeX Live
• macOS: brew install --cask mactex

Plain text (.txt) and LaTeX source (.tex) export work without any TeX installation.

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System Requirements

• Python 3.9 or newer
• PyQt6 ≥ 6.4
• Network access (for fetching NWS data)

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About the Colorado Severe Weather Network

The Colorado Severe Weather Network (CSWN) is a Skywarn Core Partner network running daily weather briefing nets on the SkyHubLink system at 1300 MT, Monday–Friday. It serves NWS offices in the Central Rockies and High Plains region.

• Website: cswn.net
• Email: [e-mail]
• Facebook: Colorado Severe Weather Network

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Author

Jon Poindexter W5ALC — Technical Systems Specialist & Consultant
[e-mail]

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License

MIT License — free to use, modify, and distribute with attribution.