Jeremy Den Hartog
Hey guys,
Figured I would try to contribute something back to this great storm chasing community/forum (as I have already learned a lot here so its my thanks to everyone). As the title suggests, I will show you how you can have GRLevel 2/GRLevel 3 radar (with pretty much all of the features available - including velocities, warnings, etc) and also any other PC compatible program available for use on your Droid from anywhere you have cellphone access - and best of all its VERY easy to do and will only cost you $9.99.
PS, some of you may already know this but I thought it was pretty cool and useful
. Also, I have just recently set this up myself so I'm not 100% sure how well it works with a lower or poor quality cellphone signal strength. So far though everything works flawlessly for me.
Requirements:
- A Droid phone (click here for a list of Droids that this should work on. It may work on other Droids as well but they may have not tested on them yet)
- A Windows PC (desktop or laptop) that is on and running (you must be fully logged into Windows).
- A radar program for your PC (typcially GRLevel 2 or GRLevel 3 but really whatever you prefer)
- Internet access for your desktop or laptop (so your radar software will work/update, etc)
- PhoneMyPC for your Droid (described more in depth below)
Step 1:
Go to the 'Market' on your Droid to download new apps for your phone. Click on the magnifying glass in the top right corner and search for 'PhoneMyPC'. Purchase, download and install this app (this will be the only thing you need to purchase for this to work). Basically what this app does is it allows you to access your PC and any software on your PC through your Droid phone.
Step 2:
Once you have 'PhoneMyPC' downloaded and installed on your phone the next thing to do is download and install the 'PhoneMyPC' software on your PC. Click here to download the software. The installation process is pretty straight forward for the software - basically it is installed like any other software but make sure you don't have your firewall block access for the software or it won't work properly.
Step 3:
Next you need to configure the software on your PC. Again, this is pretty simple and straight forward. Open up your PhoneMyPC software on your PC. Once open you will see 'Credentials' with a place to enter a user name and password and also a place to enter a computer name. Basically what you want to do is choose and enter a user name and password that you will remember and then enter a name to identify which computer you are accessing (in case you have this running for more then one PC...for example, typically I use 'laptop' as the name for my laptop and 'desktop' for my desktop - pretty creative eh?). Then click 'OK' and you should be good to go. Please note that you have to make sure the PhoneMyPC software is running and configured (it will be located in your 'system tray' anytime it is running) on your PC anytime you plan to do this or it won't work.
Step 4:
On your Droid, run the 'PhoneMyPC' app. Enter the user name and password that you chose to use in step 3. No other options need to be changed. Hit the 'back' button on your phone once you have entered your user name and password. You should now see the 'name' you chose for the computer(s) that you setup in step 3. Click on the name. Now you should see several different options that you can click on. Typically what you want to chose is 'Interactive Live' which will allow you to use the 'ball thingy' (whatever its called) at the bottom of your phone like a mouse which will allow you to scroll around and click on things (just like you would a mouse).
Final Step:
Now all you have to do is open up and use whatever program you chose to use on your PC but through your Droid. It may take some time to get used to things but really its pretty straight forward. Now you should have access to anything and everything on your PC including much better radar then what you will currently find available on your Droid. This may not be the greatest solution in the world but it will work until something better comes out on the Droid.
*Tip* - I strongly suggest that you lower your quality settings through the PhoneMyPC app on your Droid. To do this you have to be accessing a computer through your phone. Hit 'Menu' on the phone itself and then click on 'Quality'. The default is medium but I suggest you change it to low (something you may need to change every time you do this as it seems it reverts back to 'medium' on its own). This really doesn't degrade the quality that much and for me anyway it made the animated loops on my radar software (GRLevel 3) run much smoother.
Anyhow, thats about it - like I said pretty simple but I hope you guys find it useful...
Figured I would try to contribute something back to this great storm chasing community/forum (as I have already learned a lot here so its my thanks to everyone). As the title suggests, I will show you how you can have GRLevel 2/GRLevel 3 radar (with pretty much all of the features available - including velocities, warnings, etc) and also any other PC compatible program available for use on your Droid from anywhere you have cellphone access - and best of all its VERY easy to do and will only cost you $9.99.
PS, some of you may already know this but I thought it was pretty cool and useful
. Also, I have just recently set this up myself so I'm not 100% sure how well it works with a lower or poor quality cellphone signal strength. So far though everything works flawlessly for me.Requirements:
- A Droid phone (click here for a list of Droids that this should work on. It may work on other Droids as well but they may have not tested on them yet)
- A Windows PC (desktop or laptop) that is on and running (you must be fully logged into Windows).
- A radar program for your PC (typcially GRLevel 2 or GRLevel 3 but really whatever you prefer)
- Internet access for your desktop or laptop (so your radar software will work/update, etc)
- PhoneMyPC for your Droid (described more in depth below)
Step 1:
Go to the 'Market' on your Droid to download new apps for your phone. Click on the magnifying glass in the top right corner and search for 'PhoneMyPC'. Purchase, download and install this app (this will be the only thing you need to purchase for this to work). Basically what this app does is it allows you to access your PC and any software on your PC through your Droid phone.
Step 2:
Once you have 'PhoneMyPC' downloaded and installed on your phone the next thing to do is download and install the 'PhoneMyPC' software on your PC. Click here to download the software. The installation process is pretty straight forward for the software - basically it is installed like any other software but make sure you don't have your firewall block access for the software or it won't work properly.
Step 3:
Next you need to configure the software on your PC. Again, this is pretty simple and straight forward. Open up your PhoneMyPC software on your PC. Once open you will see 'Credentials' with a place to enter a user name and password and also a place to enter a computer name. Basically what you want to do is choose and enter a user name and password that you will remember and then enter a name to identify which computer you are accessing (in case you have this running for more then one PC...for example, typically I use 'laptop' as the name for my laptop and 'desktop' for my desktop - pretty creative eh?). Then click 'OK' and you should be good to go. Please note that you have to make sure the PhoneMyPC software is running and configured (it will be located in your 'system tray' anytime it is running) on your PC anytime you plan to do this or it won't work.
Step 4:
On your Droid, run the 'PhoneMyPC' app. Enter the user name and password that you chose to use in step 3. No other options need to be changed. Hit the 'back' button on your phone once you have entered your user name and password. You should now see the 'name' you chose for the computer(s) that you setup in step 3. Click on the name. Now you should see several different options that you can click on. Typically what you want to chose is 'Interactive Live' which will allow you to use the 'ball thingy' (whatever its called
) at the bottom of your phone like a mouse which will allow you to scroll around and click on things (just like you would a mouse). Final Step:
Now all you have to do is open up and use whatever program you chose to use on your PC but through your Droid. It may take some time to get used to things but really its pretty straight forward. Now you should have access to anything and everything on your PC including much better radar then what you will currently find available on your Droid. This may not be the greatest solution in the world but it will work until something better comes out on the Droid.
*Tip* - I strongly suggest that you lower your quality settings through the PhoneMyPC app on your Droid. To do this you have to be accessing a computer through your phone. Hit 'Menu' on the phone itself and then click on 'Quality'. The default is medium but I suggest you change it to low (something you may need to change every time you do this as it seems it reverts back to 'medium' on its own). This really doesn't degrade the quality that much and for me anyway it made the animated loops on my radar software (GRLevel 3) run much smoother.
Anyhow, thats about it - like I said pretty simple but I hope you guys find it useful...
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