VirtualVP (V-VP) is a program that lets you connect up to 4 weather programs to a single Davis Vantage Pro 1 or 2 weather station (console or Envoy).

Recently released and written by Steve Hatchett ('Tinplate'), V-VP will be a godsend to anyone who has encountered the limitation that Weatherlink data logger can only talk to one PC at a time and to only one program running on that PC at a time. As a consequence, only one specific single program can be taking a live feed of weather data from the VP console at any given time. Of course, for many users this isn't a material constraint because a single program/PC fully meets their needs. But others may have more advanced requirements, usually for one of two reasons:

• It's generally agreed that no one  VP-compatible program is perfect. Some programs work well at providing certain features but other features may be missing altogether. Competing programs may be very full-featured but lack cutting-edge graphics for example. Often it would be appealing to design a single web page that can combine the very flexible and detailed output from one program with high-quality graphics from another, for example.
• An increasing number of users now have local area networks, ie two or more interconnected PCs. Such users might appreciate the facility to view live VP data on two or more of these PCs at the same time.

As illustrated in the graphic below, VirtualVP can address both of these types of requirements by accepting the data feed direct from the Weatherlink logger and relaying it to up to four output devices in a highly controlled and robust manner. Multiple programs running on the same PC may be serviced by configuring a virtual COM port as the output channel. Each program then takes its input from a different vCOM port.

Programs running on different PCs on a private network can be configured to receive a live VP data feed via a TCP/IP connection to V-VP on the PC that is directly linked to the logger. (It's even possible in principle to feed live data to a remote PC far across the Internet, though here there may be issues of, for example, IP addresses, firewall configuration etc to sort out and so is probably more suitable for experienced users.)

Trial versions of VirtualVP may be downloaded from the author's website, but we're pleased to be able to offer licenses for V-VP (£20+VAT) and frontline UK support for anyone purchasing from us.