Weather stations, who has them.

[Bill Huber]

I am kind of a weather nut and like to watch it, I know there is noting I can do about it but I still like to watch it.

I installed a weather station little over a year ago and love it, anyone else have them?

I just have a little Davis Vantage Vue. http://www.vantagevue.com/

Here is a link to mine on weather underground.

http://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KTXHASLE10

[Jason Roehl]

You're killing me, Bill. I've been wanting something like that for years, but it's not in the budget.

Can you access your data on your computer without going online? In other words, do you have a data collection program of some sort on your computer?

[Bill Huber]

You're killing me, Bill. I've been wanting something like that for years, but it's not in the budget.

I bought mine from my change jar, it took me awhile but I got it.

Can you access your data on your computer without going online? In other words, do you have a data collection program of some sort on your computer?

Yes all the data is there in a CSV file that you can pull into Excel but it is not formatted very well and I just use the online data to look up history.

This is the window I have on the computer of the station, you can set it up in a bunch of different ways.

300158

[Bruce Page]

That's pretty cool Bill. I have always wanted one too.

[Ryan Mooney]

Bill,

That looks like a nice easy to install compact unit.

Some years back I had a collection of WX200 installations (Oregon Scientific at the time, maybe? still sold by Radio Shack not sure) which were a bit more of a pain to install since there were a bunch of parts and wires between them and the base station. The main advantage is that we could put the various parts where they'd operate best. The purpose of the installs (and why I had a half dozen or so) was for gathering rain fade data on some experimental radio links (so I had months of correlated data to parse and ended up writing some tools - one of the EE's saw me doing that and said "just use excel" .. "heheh go ahead and try it" was my response).

[Michael Dedon]

About ten years ago I had a weather setup on my small place in Kentucky. I used a Davis, forget the model, for the standard rain, humidity, temp, dew point, wind, etc, with a wireless connection that was downloaded twice daily as a CSV and converted to Excel for historical data. I also added a Boltek lightning sensor and mapping for real time storm tracking. There was a separate receiver used for downloading polar orbiting satellite data (POES) which was mapped four times daily and could be printed. That came in handy watching hurricane Katrina come on shore where my family was living.

I had all of that operational for about three years but dismantled it when we moved back to Louisiana. Some got broke during the move and some got lost. Never set any of it back up. It took some tweaking to get everything setup and synced to download and some Excel macros to push data into their proper places but after that was done it was nice to be look back at certain things.

One year I remember wondering why it seemed like a good spring but after mowing and bailing hay the yield was down. It really wasn't as wet as the previous year. And that data was specific to my acreage, not county wide.

[Curt Harms]

You're killing me, Bill. I've been wanting something like that for years, but it's not in the budget.

Can you access your data on your computer without going online? In other words, do you have a data collection program of some sort on your computer?

We have a LaCrosse Technologies setup. It'll store a few days' data and the data can be downloaded. We live in a townhouse development and the wireless link uses the 433 Mhz band. We sometimes lose connectivity for a few minutes and yesterday was missing for most of the day. I'm guessing there's some sort of interference. One thing with using wireless - it uses 'snapshots' taken 3 times per minute of wind speed and direction. The direction data is of some use but speed? It can be a pretty gusty day and the wind speed readout says nearly calm. The wind mechanism is several years old so the plastic 'bearings' might be getting sticky. We mostly care about temp and precip so don't really worry about it.

[Ole Anderson]

I have a simple inexpensive wireless stand alone station (no computer interface) with the readout in the bathroom next to the medicine cabinet that I check out every morning. Probably got it at HD. Has a simple graphic for trend in pressure, wind or temp. Roof mount on a 5' pole, but I still feel the cup style anemometer reads low. I have a separate rain gage that seems quite accurate. Pressure seems right on with the nearby (5 miles) NWS. With yours, I presume the computer must be on all the time and you obviously use a continuous internet link.

Your pressure is reading 30.64, that seems very high, but then we do have an unusual weather pattern going on.

[Bill Huber]

Bill,

That looks like a nice easy to install compact unit.

Some years back I had a collection of WX200 installations (Oregon Scientific at the time, maybe? still sold by Radio Shack not sure) which were a bit more of a pain to install since there were a bunch of parts and wires between them and the base station. The main advantage is that we could put the various parts where they'd operate best. The purpose of the installs (and why I had a half dozen or so) was for gathering rain fade data on some experimental radio links (so I had months of correlated data to parse and ended up writing some tools - one of the EE's saw me doing that and said "just use excel" .. "heheh go ahead and try it" was my response).

That is one of the big things, this was so easy to set up. Put up a pole attach it to the pole and that is about it, I did have to put the batteries in it and a few parts that just snapped on but that was it.

[Bill Huber]

It took some tweaking to get everything setup and synced to download and some Excel macros to push data into their proper places but after that was done it was nice to be look back at certain things.



The manual that came with the software has the layout of the CSV file but the problem is what they show and and what is there are 2 different things. I just have not taken the time to get it all set up, I have the online data which is much easier to look at and I don't have to do anything.

[DOUG ANGEL]

I can give you a long winded explanation of why I don't own a weather station, but I'll just say that my 8+ years as a Meteorological Equipment Tech in the Air Force leads to several important questions. That is how are these stations sited, calibrated and maintained?

[Bill Huber]

I have a simple inexpensive wireless stand alone station (no computer interface) with the readout in the bathroom next to the medicine cabinet that I check out every morning. Probably got it at HD. Has a simple graphic for trend in pressure, wind or temp. Roof mount on a 5' pole, but I still feel the cup style anemometer reads low. I have a separate rain gage that seems quite accurate. Pressure seems right on with the nearby (5 miles) NWS. With yours, I presume the computer must be on all the time and you obviously use a continuous internet link.

Your pressure is reading 30.64, that seems very high, but then we do have an unusual weather pattern going on.

I have check with a bunch of different weather stations and then on the TV and the BP is right. We are under a real high pressure right now and the temps are really low for this time of the year.

If you go to weather underground for your city and on the right side of the screen pick the WunderMap tab.
Then on the WunderMap page at the top on the right is a check box for weather stations, check it and it will show you all the stations in your area.

[Bill Huber]

That is how are these stations sited, calibrated and maintained?

These are just backyard stations and I am sure the accuracy of them is not the best but it is better then nothing.

[Michael Dedon]

The manual that came with the software has the layout of the CSV file but the problem is what they show and and what is there are 2 different things. I just have not taken the time to get it all set up, I have the online data which is much easier to look at and I don't have to do anything.

I ran into the same issue. My background included dealing with data and some reverse engineering so it took a little playing with and the Excel was just another tool.

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

I have check with a bunch of different weather stations and then on the TV and the BP is right. We are under a real high pressure right now and the temps are really low for this time of the year.


If you go to weather underground for your city and on the right side of the screen pick the WunderMap tab.
Then on the WunderMap page at the top on the right is a check box for weather stations, check it and it will show you all the stations in your area.

Thanks for sharing the link of what you are using. We have been waiting to find a new home before we purchase a weather station. We've been wanting to do it for years. Weather Underground is great. We look at it with the knowledge that many of the stations will not be reporting as accurate as they should be, but at least it gives us a good idea what the weather is like in other areas. We even have the WU app on our iphones and like that app much better than the one that comes with the phone.