Topic: Be considerate and Ham call sign station question

[ArmySlowRdr]

So we have a station here at a home out in the really nice residential area on Stillhouse Lake.

The station has been reporting a wind bearing of 0 degrees and a temp of 80 degress F for months.

I finally was able to contact the owner through the Gladstone site and through the local HAM club.

The response is oh I allowed my friend to put it up on my roof and it was hit by lightning. He never replaced it and I have no idea how to get it off line.  Then he said somethiong about the data being reported by his unit as a wx station and do I know how to change it back to DIGI....  Said he would try and contact his friend who installed it in the 1st place.

Now I suppose DIGI has something to do with amateur radio as he has an amateur radio call sign.......so if someone could please advise ....??  Much appreciate.

The main point being though my gosh if you allow someone to have a wx station or you have a wx station and something goes kafloeey with it AT LEAST MAKE SURE IT QUITS REPORTING TO THE WORLD !!

Really I think MESOWest/MADIS et al should have some arbitrary time range to cut a station off. Say a month would even be excessive....  but better than what we have right now which is a station is allowed to be reporting forever with obviously not just somewhat deviant data but data that is invalid. Even weather underground does better..lol.

[Beaudog]

If that guy has an amateur license and he does not know how to unplug it or turn it off he must have bought his license.

[ArmySlowRdr]

And that could be----lol  he does have a very well known and "historical" last name of significance here in town.  No it is not Bell for Bell County.

[Beaudog]

Have not lived there for 20 plus years. I used to live in Lampassas county and lots of relatives from Gatesville.

But the bad reporting drives me crazy also. The second closest station to me has been sending barometer off by over 10 millibars for over  a year and appears not to care.   There is red all over his quality control page.

I have to bite my fingers to keep from sending him a nasty gram.

[nincehelser]

So we have a station here at a home out in the really nice residential area on Stillhouse Lake.

The station has been reporting a wind bearing of 0 degrees and a temp of 80 degress F for months.

I finally was able to contact the owner through the Gladstone site and through the local HAM club.

The response is oh I allowed my friend to put it up on my roof and it was hit by lightning. He never replaced it and I have no idea how to get it off line.  Then he said somethiong about the data being reported by his unit as a wx station and do I know how to change it back to DIGI....  Said he would try and contact his friend who installed it in the 1st place.

Now I suppose DIGI has something to do with amateur radio as he has an amateur radio call sign.......so if someone could please advise ....??  Much appreciate.

It sounds like the weather station might be reporting via APRS (i.e. packet radio).  He might be talking about changing the SSID so that it doesn't look like a wx station.

Here's some info about APRS SSIDs:  http://aprs.org/aprs11/SSIDs.txt

73
K5GDN

[ArmySlowRdr]

Great; I passed that on to him.

[W3DRM]

He is reporting his weather via a Kantronics KPC-3 which feeds the weather data to the CWOP network via APRS and a digipeater. That explains his comment about a DIGI.

It does not appear that any of his data goes to WeatherUnderground. At least I can't find it with his call-sign or CWOP ID (AU468). His data feed shows a constant temp of 81 degrees F. All other data is also constant.

He is an Amateur Extra class operator and has been licensed since 2008. It takes some skill and knowledge to get an Extra class license so he must be fairly sharp. All he needs to do is to turn-off his equipment that the weather station feeds. That should be as simple as unplugging the power cord to the unit. At the very least, he should contact the person who he allowed to install the equipment on his roof and have him remove it and deinstall the hardware.

The other option is for you to contact Philip Gladstone and request that he disable the feeds they are getting from that particular station (AU468). Be nice but explain to him what the ham has told you about his equipment being hit by lightning. You should also have Philip verify that the station id I named above is actually the one in question. Philip's email address is shown at the bottom of the CWOP Quality chart page (http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/site/AU468).

Good luck!

[DaleReid]

W3DRM,
you commented that to become an advanced or extra class amateur the operator needs to be pretty sharp.

Used to be.  When I got my license 40 years ago it was indeed a journey in learning, reading, experimenting and practice of code (we can argue if that is of value any more or not.)

Nonetheless, I've seen some really dumb people with zero ideas or inquisitiveness on how things work come out with their Extra, which they wave about and tell everyone within earshot or wherever they can wiggle an electron that they have an Extra.  On the other hand ask them about some problem with radio or antenna theory you are having and you get a deer-in-the-headlights look.  Some have no idea of how to radiate a clean signal.  Some are like the wild CBers of old who couldn't get an amateur license because of stricter requirements back then, and gave all CBers a bad name with their habits and violations of rules.

It is sort of like golf, (which I cannot play and don't have the time).... The fundamental quality of a respectable amateur is honor, integrity and abiding by the rules, which in general were established for a reason, all done even if there is no chance of getting caught breaking the rules or no one is looking. 

I am proud to know a whole heap of 'real' generals, advanced and extra class operators here.  They help people down the street clear up noise on their TVs even if the ham is not causing it.  They frequently know the answer to a question that they've dealt with before with circuits, best grounding techniques, etc.

And then there are the 'new wave' of those who do not have this basic knowledge and some who clearly, due to no fault of their own, haven't been blessed with the innate ability to learn and understand the subtleties of electromagnetic theory.  In this day and age, that is not a barrier to getting the Extra rating. I don't think this is right. Not everyone who goes to college gets a PhD, either.

Sorry about the rant, not all new hams are like this, but I've been so disappointed by the influx of those who can just memorize the published test answers and walk in to a test and come out with their paper, and have not traveled the road that allows them to actually understand what they are doing, which was the whole reason for an Extra rating in the past.  Both radio clubs in town here are 10% real hams and 90% socialites.  Sad to see.  A passing of an era I guess. 

You must be more of my generation based on your comment that Extras or Advanced hams are 'sharp.'

[ArmySlowRdr]

Yes...that is the right station. He mentioned contacting a person named Joe who installed the weather station to help him with the matter. I will give it a week or so before contacting Philip.

Thanks !

..........
The other option is for you to contact Philip Gladstone and request that he disable the feeds they are getting from that particular station (AU468). Be nice but explain to him what the ham has told you about his equipment being hit by lightning. You should also have Philip verify that the station id I named above is actually the one in question. Philip's email address is shown at the bottom of the CWOP Quality chart page (http://weather.gladstonefamily.net/site/AU468).

Good luck!

[W3DRM]

W3DRM,
you commented that to become an advanced or extra class amateur the operator needs to be pretty sharp.

Used to be.  When I got my license 40 years ago it was indeed a journey in learning, reading, experimenting and practice of code (we can argue if that is of value any more or not.)

Nonetheless, I've seen some really dumb people with zero ideas or inquisitiveness on how things work come out with their Extra, which they wave about and tell everyone within earshot or wherever they can wiggle an electron that they have an Extra.  On the other hand ask them about some problem with radio or antenna theory you are having and you get a deer-in-the-headlights look.  Some have no idea of how to radiate a clean signal.  Some are like the wild CBers of old who couldn't get an amateur license because of stricter requirements back then, and gave all CBers a bad name with their habits and violations of rules.

It is sort of like golf, (which I cannot play and don't have the time).... The fundamental quality of a respectable amateur is honor, integrity and abiding by the rules, which in general were established for a reason, all done even if there is no chance of getting caught breaking the rules or no one is looking. 

I am proud to know a whole heap of 'real' generals, advanced and extra class operators here.  They help people down the street clear up noise on their TVs even if the ham is not causing it.  They frequently know the answer to a question that they've dealt with before with circuits, best grounding techniques, etc.

And then there are the 'new wave' of those who do not have this basic knowledge and some who clearly, due to no fault of their own, haven't been blessed with the innate ability to learn and understand the subtleties of electromagnetic theory.  In this day and age, that is not a barrier to getting the Extra rating. I don't think this is right. Not everyone who goes to college gets a PhD, either.

Sorry about the rant, not all new hams are like this, but I've been so disappointed by the influx of those who can just memorize the published test answers and walk in to a test and come out with their paper, and have not traveled the road that allows them to actually understand what they are doing, which was the whole reason for an Extra rating in the past.  Both radio clubs in town here are 10% real hams and 90% socialites.  Sad to see.  A passing of an era I guess. 

You must be more of my generation based on your comment that Extras or Advanced hams are 'sharp.'

Dale - Yes I am an "old" ham but have only been licensed since 2001 and am studying for my Extra. I did grow up around electronics and radios from an infant. My dad was an old-timer ham operator. He got his license before they assigned call-signs in the early 1900's. They made up their own call signs in those days. I do understand your frustration with some of the newer hams but a majority of those getting their licenses today are just following the rules and really don't have much of a background or understanding of the perception of "the good old days of ham radio". Times have changed and will continue to do so. I believe it is up to everyone to keep up-to-date with the new technologies and to apply that knowledge in their operating practices. Code did and still does serve a purpose - no doubt about it. However, I believe there is a lot more to Amateur Radio than learning code. The real purpose of amateur radio is to further the realm of electronic experimentation. Many new technologies have originated as the result of amateur's experimenting with new ideas.

To keep this on topic, I would have to admit that I can't understand why someone would allow someone else to install any kind of equipment on their radio equipment without knowing exactly what was going on or how it operated. Blind faith is one thing but this is just a poor way of operating anything. It may even fall into the category of running your station without adequate operator controls which is a violation of FCC rules.

[Beaudog]

I am begging to think that the wx station may not be at this guys house at all but is using his digapeater.  That would explain why he has no idea how turn it off. 

This may be a case of an old guy who has never used anything but HF and has no clue about packet operations or even what APRS is.

Sad if true but you would still think he would know how to stop it.  I don't know if you can block individual callsigns using your digapeater or not but I think that you can.

[ArmySlowRdr]

Well he said the station was on his roof top and got struck by lightning and his friend removed the equipment. But obviously whatever device and/or software is still reporting the last known valid data it had over and over. Yes you'd think the guy would know how to take the data reporting off line.  In most our cases we'd simply as far as I know need to shut down our weather software program or blank the settings in the configuration panel. I guess his situation is more complicated as he evidently has no clue as to how Joe had things set up.

I am begging to think that the wx station may not be at this guys house at all but is using his digapeater.  That would explain why he has no idea how turn it off. 

This may be a case of an old guy who has never used anything but HF and has no clue about packet operations or even what APRS is.

Sad if true but you would still think he would know how to stop it.  I don't know if you can block individual callsigns using your digapeater or not but I think that you can.

[ArmySlowRdr]

Heard back from Ms Cheatwood today and the station has been marked inactive.