"Todd W. Deckard" wrote in message
...

It may be expensive ($15 per pilot contact) but it is still seems
necessary for me personally.


Are you willing to pay the full cost of a telephone weather briefing?



My destinations in the airplane are to out of the way places (including
2P2 just north of you Steve).

I am getting all my WX information over a rotary dial phone, and in some
cases using a void time clearance to depart.
I don't have any form of weather downlink (yet) so I am relying on regular
radio contacts with an AFSS station to
derive a weather picture while aloft. With a tattered laminated copy of
the reporting stations, and a patient briefer
I can derive a very good picture of the current and forecast conditions.


I get current conditions by listening to the various ASOS/AWOS/ATIS
broadcasts from sites ahead of me.



Even when I am not flying in the stone age, in Door County, or rural
Indiana; I used to appreciate talking to a weather specialist to confirm
my appraisal of forecast already derived via DUATS. In the old days,
you could even ask to speak
with the staff meterologist. Now it may have been a hoot to have Todd
Spam-Can challenge the current models based
on his trusty E6B and the winds aloft; but I am convinced the exchanges
augmented my personal safety when operating on the practical limits.

With weather (or perhaps the incapacity to deal with it) being a frequent
component in fatal aviation accidents;
I don't understand the logic in effectively retiring one of our weather
tools.


If there's sufficient demand for service as you like it someone will likely
offer it. I object to being taxed to pay for services I don't use.