Topic: I need help chosing a weather station for a RC flying field

[Devil_Inside]

Hi guys,

I belong to a RC flying club in Massachusetts and I am trying to gather information for a weather station solution for our field. Let me start by saying that I am a complete newbie when it comes to weather station hardware and I don't even know where to begin, but at least I can give you a quick description of what we are trying to accomplish. We are mostly interested in measuring wind speed, including gusts, and wind direction. Everything else like temperature, humidity, precipitation, etc would be icing on the cake - if the weather station can do it great, otherwise we probably wouldn't want to spend the extra money to buy additional sensors. The field does not have any power facilities so an alternative power supply, like a solar panel, is a must. Unfortunately we also do not have a WiFi Internet connection so I guess we would have to use some sort of a cellular modem. Last, but not least, we would like to be able to "interface" the data from the weather station to our club's website or create a dedicated web site for it. Here is a link to another club's weather station as an example:

http://cvawx.info/airfield.html
 
Unfortunately their model costs several thousands of dollars and that is something that we simply cannot afford. As a non-profit organization we have very little money leftover in the budget after covering all the expenses for the maintenance of the field, so whatever solution we chose has to be affordable. Unfortunately we've recently had several cases of vandalism, including a single occurrence of people discharging firearms at our signs and benches, which is the other reason why we cannot risk hanging an expensive weather station.

If you can at least point me in the correct direction to get me started that would be great!

[Bushman]

Define "affordable".  Being a bit of an RC guy myself I think I can get you  going in the right direction once I know what $$ you have.  FWIW, what you are asking for is not going to be cheap.

[Devil_Inside]

Bushman,

I do not have an exact dollar amount. I am just taking the first step so see how much a system like that would cost and then we will have to decide whether or not it is doable. In this particular case the cheaper the better.

[Bushman]

Something like a Davis Vantage Vue with a cell modem will run you about $1500 or so.  The vandalism part worries me.  A trail cam (discretely hidden) migth at least  get photo proff of the vandals.  Not much you can do to stop someone shooting the wx station.

[Devil_Inside]

Are there any cheaper alternatives out there?   As I said I am a complete newbie, but when I looked at the Davis model it looks like a full blown weather station that does a lot more than measure wind speed, which is essentially what we are interested in. I am also not sure what we could possibly do with the wireless station if we are going with a cellular modem...

[SLOweather]

You are asking quite a lot for little money. The actual weather/wind measurement is a fairly minor component of a solar powered, remote, cellular connected, web site system.

Before I saw your latest post, I was preparing a cost breakdown of a complete system similar to one I have installed on a local mountain top. It was about $2,000, with weather station, solar panel, battery, charge controller, interface hub, battery, cell router, and  enclosure.

http://www.weatherelement.com/condorlookout

I doubt you will find anything suitable for less than the stated prices for such a system, "off-the-shelf". Don't forget that any cellular/PCS based connection is also going to incur some sort of monthly fee, of at least $10-$40.

Of course, you can always roll your own with some off the shelf parts, hardware, programming, etc. You might get the hardware cost under $1000, but the time spent in engineering and assembly will far outweigh any $$ savings.

[DaculaWeather]

There's a brand new Vue for sell here on the forum for $200 including shipping.

[SLOweather]

There is another alternative, IF a club member is also an amateur radio operator, and IF there is an active APRS digipeater or Igate in range of the field.

Build an APRS weather station. Davis has a WeatherLink for APRS. With that, I think you'd need a TNC, small 2 meter transmitter and antenna. The solar power system is still pricey, but there's no cellular charge and the web site is free, just look it up by the station's call sign on findu.com.

Here's my home station, KD6DSI.

One thing about APRS is that to avoid congestion on the channel, the path for a fixed station should be carefully chosen, and the transmit time limited to no more than every 5 or 10 minutes. Your local APRS-active amateur radio operators will be able to give you better guidance if you go this route.

[Bushman]

A solar/xmitter will cost at least $600:  http://www.microdaq.com/upward_innovations/solarstream/index.php  as an example.  You could add wind speed/dir only for about another 400.  Even if you roll your own you would be looking at at least a grand.  Sorry.

[SLOweather]

And it still requires a $10/month plan...

A solar/xmitter will cost at least $600:  http://www.microdaq.com/upward_innovations/solarstream/index.php  as an example.  You could add wind speed/dir only for about another 400.  Even if you roll your own you would be looking at at least a grand.  Sorry.

[Devil_Inside]

Thank you guys, this should be enough to get me started. So the bottom line is that I am looking at at least $1500 + the monthly internet access fees. I will discuss this at our next BOD meeting and if it gets approved I will be back so that you can help me pick the right components. By the looks of it the Davis Instruments weather station comes highly recommended so I will be using it as a baseline. Once again thank for all the help!

[RainmanWeather]

If you are going Davis, your should look into the soon to be released Vantage Connect also. It meets all of your requirements and should much simplify the installation. Coupled with a Vue should come in right around $1000. (current listed retail $850 but undoubtedly will be available for less from retailers).. you will still need a monthly cell plan though, no way around that but Davis is sweetening the deal there too with plans as low as $9.95 for 60 minute uploads to $19.95 for uploads every 5 minutes (per month, annual agreement required).