Author Topic: Budget wireless station, ~250 ft. line of sight transmission?  (Read 2145 times)

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Offline prairillon

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Hi!  I've been reading and searching with interest and I can see that most of y'all are pretty danged serious about your weather stations.  We're coming from the other side of things -- our little $40 wireless rain gauge bit the dust and I thought maybe we'd upgrade to something with some wind data.  We have all the space in the world, and, from reading the guide on sensor placement, the best spot to put an integrated sensor mount would be about 250 feet, easily visible, from the kitchen windowsill, which is where we had the display from the rain gauge, and it was very convenient.  I see a couple of manufacturers talking about a "maximum" of 100 meters -- 330 feet -- and LaCrosse makes a big deal out of their IT-915 technology, although I know many on here dislike LaCrosse rather a lot. 

Is anything in the <$200 range going to reliably reach 250 feet?  My concern with the Vantage Vue is that it is seriously over-budget when I add in mounting options, plus we could then get sucked into logging and reporting and we need another "interest" around here like we need another hole in our heads...

Thank you!

--Kristi, in Iowa, where only giddy optimists need a rain gauge these days...

Offline chief-david

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Offline DanS

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Re: Budget wireless station, ~250 ft. line of sight transmission?
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2012, 06:52:15 PM »
Hi Kristi and welcome to the forum!  Also with the Acu-rite stations, as Chief-David pointed out, there is a WXforum member, "rhino", who's on here frequently that works with the Acu-rite company. Big help if you have any issues with the system.

Offline prairillon

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Re: Budget wireless station, ~250 ft. line of sight transmission?
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2012, 08:02:29 PM »
I like it!  Thanks boatloads!  And it's great to know where to find tech support on the hoof.

Quote from: chief-david link=topic=16007.msg154971#msg154971

Hi from Minneapolis, Minnesota from a former Iowan.

Go Hawkeyes?
[/quote

By all means Go Hawkeyes!  Already looking forward to that traditional last-of-the season freeze your [insert beloved anatomy here] off with the Golden Gophers!   :shock:

Offline prairillon

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Re: Budget wireless station -- thank you! Now, the mounting questions...
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2012, 04:24:08 PM »
 \:D/ Thanks very much for your recommendations.  I received the AcuRite 01025 today at about 2:30p CDT and at 3:10 CDT it appears to be transmitting data from out in the hot, dry yard to me in the nice cool house.  That really couldn't have been easier!  

My install thus far is a true kludge because I have to admit that I never thought I would get a signal at 250 feet through (my fave) double glazing.  However, it says 4 bars AND it doesn't seem to just be making it up.  So I need to replace the zip ties and duct tape here shortly.   :oops:

Thank you again!

« Last Edit: July 17, 2012, 04:43:14 PM by prairillon »