Author Topic: Long-range wireless anemometer  (Read 11596 times)

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Offline KeithBC

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Long-range wireless anemometer
« on: October 01, 2011, 10:13:16 PM »
Does anyone know of a wireless anemometer that has a range of maybe half a mile through trees?

Because of my location in a forest, there is no possibility of getting an accurate wind speed or direction measurement here.  I have thought about putting one up on the neighbourhood cell tower.  Obviously, I would need permission and access, but there's no point in even approaching the phone company unless the idea is feasible.  The tower is 1300 feet straight-line distance from my house.  More than half that distance is through trees.

I have seen so-called "long range" wireless units that are good for 1000 feet, clear line of sight.  Obviously, I need more than that.  Any suggestions?  Putting up my own tower here is not an option.

Offline SlowModem

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Re: Long-range wireless anemometer
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2011, 10:18:10 PM »
Does anyone know of a wireless anemometer that has a range of maybe half a mile through trees?

Davis makes a repeater that could be used between the wireless anemometer transmitter and the station.  You could add as many as it takes to get there, I suppose.

http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/weather_product.asp?pnum=07627
« Last Edit: October 01, 2011, 10:20:07 PM by Slow Modem »
Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA

Offline Flag

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Re: Long-range wireless anemometer
« Reply #2 on: October 01, 2011, 10:43:48 PM »
The trick is to keep the number of repeaters to a minimum, one (1) being a good number and something like the solar powered long range repeater might be the better option? Antenna selection would depend on where it could be installed with the possibility of going around the trees?

Dipole - Omni 1580 feet (bit short?)
Omni - Omni 2500 feet (probably minimum antenna combination?)
Dipole - Yagi 3160 feet (should be more than enough?)


http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/weather_product.asp?pnum=07654

« Last Edit: October 01, 2011, 10:46:49 PM by Flag »

Offline KeithBC

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Re: Long-range wireless anemometer
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2011, 12:12:03 AM »
Thanks, guys.  With the long range repeater and a couple of external antennas, the range is anywhere up to 2 miles.  That should handle 1/4 mile through trees, you'd think.  Pricey, though: over $1000 for the full setup.  Good to know the options, though.

Offline Garth Bock

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Re: Long-range wireless anemometer
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2011, 01:27:15 PM »
I thought I saw somewhere the max number of repeaters is 5. That could be the short range ones.

Offline SomeCallMeTim

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Re: Long-range wireless anemometer
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2012, 10:49:32 PM »
Keith, this is an old topic and I don’t know if you’ve since arrived at a solution, but if you don't mind a tiny bit of soldering on your console, I expect you could use a standard Davis VP2 with just a Yagi added to the receiver and the stock omni antenna on the anemometer transmitter.
 
I'm able to receive my neighbor's Vantage Vue through light trees and a wall from ~600’ with standard antennas, so something like this cheap Yagi (claims 14dBi) should make a huge difference in range.
http://www.l-com.com/item.aspx?id=25507

And if you REALLY want maximum receive sensitivity you could add a low-noise preamp like this mounted at the antenna.
http://www.advancedreceiver.com/page4.html

You could probably get away with really good quality RG-6 coax for a short run to the antenna, but something like LMR600 would be lots better (and more expensive) for a long run. That's a big advantage to using a preamp, as with 19db of gain at the antenna you can afford to use a very lossy, cheap feedline. Looks like you're in a fairly rural area, so with luck there are no excessively strong interfering 915MHz signals to overload a preamp.

If using a preamp be sure the console’s “Retransmit” function is turned off, though!

Of course, you could also add a higher gain antenna to the transmitter, but this would invalidate the FCC (or Industry Canada) certification if that's a concern.

Even a lovely GaAsFET preamp, good coax, and a Yagi should be appreciably cheaper than the Davis approved solution.

 

anything