Getting started
Setup is done entirely from your phone. There is no keyboard, mouse, or IT ticket involved.
Before you start
- Plug in the display's power and connect it to your TV or monitor.
- Have your WiFi network name and password handy. Networks that make you tap a sign-in page first (hotel or guest portals) can't be used; METARBoard needs a normal WiFi network.
- Know your home airport's code (for example
KHGR).
First-time setup
- Power on. A new METARBoard shows a setup screen. Give it a minute or two after powering on.
- Join the setup network. On your phone, connect to the WiFi network named
METARBoard Setup. It is open, so there is no password. - Open the setup page. In your phone's browser, go to
10.42.0.1. (Your phone won't open the page automatically, so type the address in.) -
Fill in the form:
- WiFi network: pick yours from the list (tap Rescan networks if it's missing, or Join a hidden or unlisted network) and enter its password.
- Home airport: the airport the display should focus on, by ICAO or FAA code.
- Name this display (optional): a friendly name such as "Briefing Room". It becomes part of the display's address on your network.
- Timezone: Eastern, Central, Mountain, Mountain (Arizona, no daylight saving), Pacific, Alaska, Hawaii, or UTC.
- Admin password: at least 8 characters. You'll need it to change settings later, so write it down.
- Finish. The display joins your WiFi and loads the map. Your phone shows a "Connected!" message with the address to use for settings later (see Opening the admin page). You can close the page.
Using the display
METARBoard is built to run on its own. Once it's set up, there's nothing to tap or click on the wall. All changes are made from the admin page on a phone or computer.
What's on the screen
- The map. A live sectional chart centered on your home airport, with ADS-B traffic, weather radar, and hazard overlays on top.
- Clocks. Local time at top-left and Zulu (UTC) time at top-right.
- Home airport card. The current METAR with an "Observed N min ago" line, your airport's runway diagram, and live wind arrows. A small line at the bottom shows the display's name, IP address, and software version.
- Favorite airports. A row of small chips along the bottom showing each airport and its current flight category.
- Weather trend. A panel showing how conditions at your home airport have changed over the past 12 hours.
- NOTAM panel (bottom-left). Active NOTAMs for your home airport, scrolling automatically. When there are none, it shows a green "NO NOTAMS" badge.
- Radar. Weather radar can be played or paused with the on-screen buttons.
- Hazards. TFRs, SIGMETs, AIRMETs, lightning strikes, and storm-motion arrows appear on the map when active.
Traffic colors
Aircraft are colored by altitude so you can read the sky at a glance:
| Aircraft | What it means |
|---|---|
| On ground | Aircraft reporting that they are on the ground. |
| 5,000 / 10,000 / 20,000 / 30,000 / 40,000 ft+ | Color steps by altitude band. A legend is shown at the bottom of the admin page. |
| Military | Military aircraft, in red. |
| Fleet | Your own aircraft (see Fleet highlighting), in bright pink, so students learn to spot them. |
Student-solo GO / NO-GO badge
If turned on, the home airport card shows a badge comparing current conditions to the limits you set (see Flight school):
- SOLO: GO: conditions are within all your limits.
- SOLO: NO-GO: at least one limit is exceeded. The reasons are listed in plain language, such as "Visibility 4 SM (below 5 SM minimum)".
- SOLO: CHECK WIND: the wind direction is variable, so the crosswind can't be estimated.
- SOLO: NO DATA: the weather report is too old to rely on.
Opening the admin page
The admin page is where you change every setting. You open it from a phone, tablet, or computer that is on the same WiFi network as the display.
- Find the address. Look at the small line at the bottom of the home airport card on the display. It shows the display's name, its IP address, and the software version, for example
metarboard-xxxxxx · 192.168.1.50 · vX.Y.Z. Your address is the name followed by.local/admin(for examplemetarboard-xxxxxx.local/admin), or the IP address followed by/admin(for example192.168.1.50/admin). The setup page also shows the name when setup finishes. - Open it in a browser on any device connected to the same network.
- Enter your admin password. You stay signed in for 7 days.
.local names. Use the IP address shown on that same line at the bottom of the home airport card instead, typed as http://<IP address>/admin.You can also open the display's address on your phone or computer to see the same board, then tap the small admin link at the end of that line.
The admin password
- It must be at least 8 characters.
- Changing settings is disabled until a password exists. If you see "No admin password is set yet - saving is disabled until you set one", use the Set an Admin Password box.
- Too many wrong guesses lock the page for a short time (starting at 30 seconds and growing to a maximum of 15 minutes). Wait and try again.
- To change it, use Change Admin Password at the bottom of the page. You'll need the current password, and every device that was signed in will be signed out.
Changes take effect right away: when you save, the display refreshes itself within a few seconds.
Settings reference
Settings appear on the admin page in the groups below. Defaults are what a new display uses until you change them.
Display settings
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Home Airport | The airport the display focuses on. Drives the home airport card, METAR, weather trend, NOTAM panel, and airspace boundary. Use a 3 or 4 character ICAO or FAA code. Changing it refreshes the weather immediately. | KHGR |
| Favorite Airports | Up to 6 airports, comma-separated. They appear as chips along the bottom of the screen with their flight category. | None |
| Default Zoom | How far the map is zoomed when it starts, from 1 to 20. The display remembers where it was last panned and zoomed; changing this setting clears that remembered view. | 10 |
| Timezone | Sets the local clock and the night-dimming schedule. Same eight choices as in setup. | Eastern |
Night dimming
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Dim the display at night | Darkens the picture on a schedule. It does not turn your TV off or change its backlight. | Off |
| Dim from / Until | The start and end times, in your selected timezone. | 22:00 to 06:00 |
Map overlays
Each of these is a checkbox. Turn off anything you don't want on the wall.
| Setting | What it shows | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Show live weather radar | Radar on the map when the display starts. It can still be paused on screen. | On |
| Show active TFRs | Temporary Flight Restrictions. | On |
| Show home airport's airspace boundary | The outline of the airspace around your home airport. | On |
| Show live ADS-B traffic | Nearby aircraft, colored by altitude. | On |
| Show recent lightning strikes | Recent strikes plotted on the map. | On |
| Show active SIGMETs | Convective, turbulence, and icing SIGMETs. | On |
| Show active AIRMETs | IFR, turbulence, icing, and mountain-obscuration AIRMETs. | On |
| Show storm motion arrows | Arrows showing where tracked storm cells are heading. | On |
| Show past-12-hour weather trend panel | The weather trend panel for your home airport. | On |
| Show home airport diagram + live wind | The runway diagram and wind arrows on the home airport card. | On |
| Show NOTAM panel | The scrolling NOTAM list at bottom-left. | On |
Fleet highlighting
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Fleet Aircraft | Tail numbers of your own aircraft, comma-separated, up to 50. Each is 2 to 10 letters, numbers, or hyphens (for example N172SP). They are shown in bright pink on the map. | None |
Flight school: student-solo GO / NO-GO
Turn on Show student-solo GO/NO-GO badge and the limit fields appear. Leave a field blank to skip that check. This badge is a convenience display only; the decision to send a student solo stays with the instructor.
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Show student-solo badge | Shows or hides the GO / NO-GO badge on the home airport card. | Off |
| Max wind (kt) | Sustained wind limit. | 15 |
| Max gust (kt) | Gust limit. | 20 |
| Max crosswind (kt) | Crosswind limit. | 10 |
| Min ceiling (ft) | Lowest allowed cloud ceiling. | 3000 |
| Min visibility (sm) | Lowest allowed visibility, in statute miles. | 5 |
Advanced
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Allow support access | Lets METARBoard support connect to your display to help with a problem. Turn it on only when support asks you to. It switches itself off automatically after 8 hours, and you can turn it off sooner. The page shows "applying" for a moment while it takes effect. | Off |
| Debug mode | A system-statistics overlay used during hardware bring-up. Leave it off. | Off |
Press Save after making changes. You'll see "Saved - the display will refresh shortly."
Software updates
- Updates are automatic. The display checks for new software about once a day and installs it overnight. You don't need to do anything.
- Safe by design. Updates are signed and checked after installing. If an update doesn't start up cleanly, the display rolls back to the previous version on its own.
- Check now. The Software Updates section of the admin page shows your current version and the last check. Press Check for Updates to look right away; it reports "You're already on the latest release" or installs the update.
Troubleshooting
The screen says "Weather feed unreachable - showing last-known conditions"
The display can't reach the weather data right now, usually because the internet or WiFi is down or the weather source is briefly unavailable. The map keeps showing the last information it had. It recovers on its own when the connection returns, so no action is needed for a short outage. If it stays for a long time, check that your WiFi and internet are working.
The weather looks old
The home airport card shows how long ago the report was observed. If a report is 75 minutes old or more, it is shown as stale. After 3 hours with no update, it is treated as "no data" and the student-solo badge reads SOLO: NO DATA. Check your internet connection; the display refreshes weather about every 8 minutes when it is online.
I can't open the admin page
- Make sure your phone or computer is on the same WiFi network as the display. Guest networks that keep devices apart from each other will block it.
- If the
.localaddress doesn't load, use the display's IP address, shown at the bottom of the home airport card (see Opening the admin page). If the IP address changed, read it off the display again. - A "Too many attempts" message means too many wrong passwords. Wait a few minutes and try again.
The Save button doesn't work
Saving is disabled until an admin password has been set. Use the Set an Admin Password box on the admin page.
The map zoomed or moved to the wrong place
The display remembers where it was last panned and zoomed. Changing Default Zoom in the admin page clears that remembered view and returns the map to your home airport.
The display went dark or restarted after a power interruption
METARBoard is built to come back on its own after power is restored and go straight back to the map. Give it a couple of minutes. If it doesn't, contact support.
I forgot my admin password
There is no self-service reset. Email support@metarboard.io and we'll help you get back in.
I changed my WiFi network or moved the display
The setup network only appears on a display that has never been set up, and the admin page doesn't have a WiFi section. Email support@metarboard.io and we'll walk you through reconnecting it.
Support & disclaimer
Still stuck, or something here doesn't match what you see? Email support@metarboard.io. Include your display's name or address and a short description of what you're seeing. For questions about orders, write to sales@metarboard.io.