Thanks Susan, FYI today I purchased the XC-0422 from Jaycar. I've already upgraded it to v2.3.3 of the Ambient software using the SD card.
I made a backup before I upgraded using the USB cable and was a bit surprised when I realised the unit runs on Windows Mobile (quite a blast from the past).
Your comment about Southern Hemisphere calibration prompted me to do some digging and I found this explanation on another thread:
"This wind direction issue is perhaps the main disadvantage for southern hemisphere residents at the moment. It is because the solar sensor has to face the sun to power the batteries, and the sensor assumes the solar sensor is facing south (rather than north as it has to in Australia etc)."
I assume that all we have to do is set the calibration for Wind Direction to 180 degrees and then we can mount the unit with the solar sensor facing north rather than south ?
I haven't got Weather Underground working yet because I am having problems activating my WU account (the account validation emails seem to get lost and they won't let you register a PWS until you validate your email address).
I've purchased a 1.8m J pole antenna mount (also from Jaycar) which I will use to mount the unit on the garage roof (making it sit roughly 4.5m off the ground.) It should be quite free of obstructions for wind speed readings I hope.
Anyway, so far so good. I'd like to also work out if I can upload data to WU as well as to my own website. Does anyone know if the WS-1001 can send data to multiple servers at once ?
cheers
Gary