Hi everyone,
I'm a newbie to the forum and have spent the last couple of weeks pouring over manuals from the various manufactures studying and comparing specifications of many weather stations as I determine which system will be my see-if-I'm-interested-enough-to-spend-way-more-later station. I'm an avid amateur telescope maker (a geek through and through
) and just completed my dream telescope, a 20 inch Dobsonian which in the end cost me about that of a small car. As such, while I'm very aware that Davis is probably the most reputable and reliable station, I do have a strict budget on this one....around $200.....but I do want to get into the world of personal weather observation. I am an amateur radio operator and trained SKYWARN spotter as well, so this next step makes a lot of sense.....ok, so maybe geek is too gentle, I could be bordering on nerd....but don't tell my family!
The system I am zeroing in on is the OS WMR968 and it seems to have some pretty good reviews on this forum, lest some technical issues from time to time with some of the sensors and data connections. I'm OK with tinkering and trouble-shooting, I'm a database and web programmer, I HAVE to be. OK, here is my question......On all of the specifications for the various stations I've paid close attention to the transmission intervals of the sensors, most aptly the WIND sensors. I've seen intervals from 2.5 seconds (Davis) to as much as 128 seconds (Zephyr's) and was wondering if anyone could clear up the following for me. The OS WMR968 has an anemometer transmission interval of 14 seconds, I assume that means the sensor sends both a point reading (for the console to display) AND the continuous readings for that ENTIRE 14 seconds to be stored for download to a PC which allows for daily GUST values and so on. Is my assumption correct? In other words, even though the transmission intervals can be long (for power concerns), I would still have the continuous data from the entire day?
OK, I hope this makes sense and I look forward to hearing from anyone with some insight, your time would be greatly appreciated.
Kevin.