Topic: My upper michigan weather station

[upweather]

Here is my weather station I realize it's not the best day for a picture but here it is.. In the background the 2 tall posts are for the snowmobile trail that passes close to the back yard.


new years day



first week of december you can see it better in this one

[Anthony]

Nice set up. Looks like you were getting hammered prety go at the time that photo was taken.

[SlowModem]

Here is my weather station I realize it's not the best day for a picture but here it is.. In the background the 2 tall posts are for the snowmobile trail that passes close to the back yard.

I just showed my wife the picture of your station (she grew up in Rochester, MI) and she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Hmmm, yeah"  like she'd seen it all before.   

[upweather]

Rochester eh? I had to look on the map to see where it was...once i saw it I said oh the banana belt of lower Michigan Plese dont tell her i called it that 

 

Here is my weather station I realize it's not the best day for a picture but here it is.. In the background the 2 tall posts are for the snowmobile trail that passes close to the back yard.

I just showed my wife the picture of your station (she grew up in Rochester, MI) and she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Hmmm, yeah"  like she'd seen it all before.   

[drew1021]

Gotta say I'm quite jelous of your ideal placement. Enjoy!

[prkguy]

Very nice set-up.    Im looking for a mast for my anemometer and I am considering buying from radio Shack.  Can I ask what your mast is made of and where you purchased it?      Mike

[scott71]

Very nice set up!!

How high is your mast set up? And curious to know also what it's made of?

[upweather]

it's 22 ft to the tip so just under 23 at the top of the anemometer. I got  3- 10ft sections of metal conduit from "lowes" 1.5" , 1.25", and 1in these are measured by the inside diameter. double check they are straight I found a few that were not.

First I dug a 3ft hole with a post hole digger about 18" around placed the 1.25 piece into the 1.5 piece around 36 inches drilled 3 -5/16 holes all the way through installed nylock nuts and bolts same thing with the next smaller 1 inch piece into the 1.25 piece however i used 1/4 bolts for that
The pieces had alittle slop in them So i used tightly wrapped electrical tape the shim them so to speak.
I also poured a cement mix down the 1.5 inch piece that was cemented into the ground.
Everything costed around $25 ...I have no guy wires and it's withstood several gust around 40 mph
The hardest part was marking the postition of true north so it took a few tries of removed the 2 upper pieces from the base piece..
Any other questions i'll be glad to help.

Jason

Very nice set up!!

How high is your mast set up? And curious to know also what it's made of?

[SlowModem]

I also poured a cement mix down the 1.5 inch piece that was cemented into the ground.
Everything costed around $25 ...I have no guy wires and it's withstood several gust around 40 mph
The hardest part was marking the postition of true north so it took a few tries of removed the 2 upper pieces from the base piece..

An alternative is to cement a mailbox post into the ground (with the long "arm" pointing north) and then mount the mast to the post.  That way you can drop the mast if you need to work on the anemometer.

[upweather]

The mast can still be dropped , i just use a 6ft ladder and remove 2 bolts.. It's not maybe as easy but it works.

[scott71]

Thanks upweather!! I like your ingenious idea of mating the 3 sections of conduit. Mine is set up now similar to slow modems with the mail box post. I just need to ground it before spring and those lightning storms. Now here comes the newbie question. When grounding the mast where is a good place to attach the copper wire on the top of the mast then running it down to the grounding rod?

[SlowModem]

Thanks upweather!! I like your ingenious idea of mating the 3 sections of conduit. Mine is set up now similar to slow modems with the mail box post. I just need to ground it before spring and those lightning storms. Now here comes the newbie question. When grounding the mast where is a good place to attach the copper wire on the top of the mast then running it down to the grounding rod?

There are some pictures of the "assembly" of my mast here.

You can get a copper grounding rod at Lowes for $8-12 and all the other accessories are there as well.  Hint:  Drive the grounding rod into the ground when the ground is soft.   
(I cheated and cut half of it off, and only had 4' in the ground).

[scott71]

Thanks upweather!! I like your ingenious idea of mating the 3 sections of conduit. Mine is set up now similar to slow modems with the mail box post. I just need to ground it before spring and those lightning storms. Now here comes the newbie question. When grounding the mast where is a good place to attach the copper wire on the top of the mast then running it down to the grounding rod?

There are some pictures of the "assembly" of my mast here.

You can get a copper grounding rod at Lowes for $8-12 and all the other accessories are there as well.  Hint:  Drive the grounding rod into the ground when the ground is soft.  
(I cheated and cut half of it off, and only had 4' in the ground).

Thanks slow modem. So you only have to connect the copper wire to the bottom of the mast then to the rod. Somehow I thought it had to run the length of the mast connecting to the top somewhere.

[upweather]

I have yet to ground mine  , I put it up in the fall . My previous station mast was on the roof. we dont receive much lightning here .
In spring I will be doing so for static relief. How slow modem had pics of thats similar to how i'd ground mine.

[SlowModem]

Thanks slow modem. So you only have to connect the copper wire to the bottom of the mast then to the rod. Somehow I thought it had to run the length of the mast connecting to the top somewhere.

I'm far from an expert but it seems to me that if the mast is conductive, all you need to do is connect it at the bottom.

[prkguy]

Jason thanks for the info on your mast set-up.  I think using the conduit from Lowes was a good idea and the price was right.

I went over to Radio Shack today and looked at their mast material and I think that is the route I will go because I will be mounting the mast on the side of a building along with a satelite dish bracket. 

I miss the winter snows of the U.P.  I lived up in Ahmeek for about 15 years.   Mike

[upweather]

Up in Copper country eh? even bigger snow there then here pretty much anyway the winds blows your getting snow , gotta love it.

Jason thanks for the info on your mast set-up.  I think using the conduit from Lowes was a good idea and the price was right.

I went over to Radio Shack today and looked at their mast material and I think that is the route I will go because I will be mounting the mast on the side of a building along with a satelite dish bracket. 

I miss the winter snows of the U.P.  I lived up in Ahmeek for about 15 years.   Mike

[Garth Bock]

Very nice setup !!!