Poll

What weather related instruments do you use?

Weather Station (i.e. Davis, Acurite, Oregon Scientific, LaCrosse, etc.)
Weather Station + CoCoRaHS
Weather Station + Solar Radiation
Weather Station + Lightning Detection (i.e. Blitzortung, Boltek, etc.)
Weather Station + Radar (i.e. Flightradar24, etc.)
Weather Station + Multiple (please specify in comments)

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Offline Skyview

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How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« on: August 01, 2015, 01:06:33 AM »
Wondering what types of instruments and data other users are collecting. If your answer is the last option please let us know what combination you have.

For everyone, let us know if you're happy with what you have or if you plan to add other instruments in the future and any good or bad experiences with what you have. Might help others (like me) make more informed decisions.

Online miraculon

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2015, 08:57:01 AM »
So I guess my answer would be Davis VP2 + Blitzortung + CocoRaHS.

Davis:

VP2 ISS with Solar and UV. DFARS and Gauge Heater.
Temp/Hum Station
3 anemometer transmitters, Universal Anemometer Interface with RM Young Wind Monitor Jr. The other one is configured as an ISS and is used with the NovaLynx rain gauge. I added a temperature probe for soil temp.
Two VP2 consoles, three VUE consoles. Envoy and Envoy 8x.


Nova Lynx 8 inch rain gauge.

CoCoRaHS rain gauge.

Hydreon rain "gauge".

Homebrew ultrasonic rangefinder snow depth rig.

Blitzortung lightning detectors (Green and Red)

Hobby-Boards One-Wire lighting detector.

AAG barometric pressure sensor. (legacy from my old station, but still works)

Too much... I get strange looks from the neighbors, but they seem to dig my web site....

As far as experiences go, there have been a few issues but basically I am satisfied with what I have.

Davis:
Humidity sensor replaced under warranty at about 8-9 months in service. Replacement has been fine ever since.
Had to replace DFARS fan at only 1 year old. This is a sore spot, especially if it is an annual ritual.

Rangefinder. The MaxBotix range finder works great and they have excellent tech support.

RM Young Wind: this is an excellent instrument. There was only one time where we had a freakish snow fall that was wet then it turned cold and froze the wind propeller. It thawed out and has been fine since. (every wind instrument that I have had, will eventually succumb to the snow or ice). The Young is way more responsive than the Davis for both direction and speed. The Young will be happily spinning in 1-2 mph winds that the Davis just sits there.

NovaLynx: too soon to tell, a recent addition.

Hydreon: It "works" but can't be relied upon as a primary measurement. The results are all over the place for rain amount.

Greg H.


Blitzortung Stations #706 and #1682
CoCoRaHS: MI-PI-1
CWOP: CW4114 and KE8DAF-13
WU: KMIROGER7
Amateur Radio Callsign: KE8DAF

Offline PaulMy

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2015, 09:57:19 AM »
I use:
Weather station - Davis, CoCoRaHS, B-L Sunrecorder, Blitzortung, webcam, and an Admiral Fitzroy's Storm Glass ;)
 
Enjoying,
Paul

Offline Skyview

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2015, 03:26:05 PM »
Wow...That's an impressive amount of equipment for a "hobby" like this. Thanks for sharing guys. I know my poll list is woefully inadequate in terms of options but thought it might serve as a starting point. I will be glad to consolidate responses received here and put them in the first post or spreadsheet. Sort of a list of SME's for particular areas of interest.

Too much... I get strange looks from the neighbors, but they seem to dig my web site....

That made me  :lol: So you're "that guy" in the neighborhood, huh? Yeah, I'm hoping folks around here enjoy mine as well once the word gets around a bit. Thinking about printing up a flyer and some other things. TV Meteorologists around here know about it and gave me thumbs up, so that's a start I guess.

Offline Jáchym

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2015, 06:00:42 PM »
Interesting topic, my answer probably wont be very interesting though :D

Weather station: old WH1080

for 50 bucks, which is now more and more often reporting either nothing or nonsense data, so lets just pray it will last for a bit longer, I must say though Ive had it for 4 yrs now and until a few months ago I didnt have a single problem with it and even today, thanks to the fact I have data verification mechanisms implemented in my template, there are no spikes in my data and I would say it is reporting OK in about 95% cases. For the price I still think it is great in terms of cost/value. It has a USB port which is most important for me because I can have realtime updates via Meteobridge and it also has a relatively good wireless, because there are so many wireless networks arround me interfering with it and I still receive the signal from the outdoor sensors quite well.


Offline SLOweather

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2015, 06:47:19 PM »
Davis VP2+ with 3 temp stations, 2 temp/hum stations, 1 soil station, 1 leaf wetness station and 2 repeaters, 4" Stratus Rain Gauge, 8" copper NWS Standard Gauge, Fitzroy Storm Glass, 3 Hydreon RG11s (It's Raining, Irrigation Control, and 0.0001 Tipping Bucket emulator), Boltek/NexStorm, Blitzortung, SkyScan personal lightning detector, Franklin AS3935 demo board detector, 2 wireless temp sensors, 1 wired temp sensor on the Mule...

Offline Skyview

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2015, 04:08:51 AM »
For those of you that have multiple stations (i.e. 2  or more complete PWS) is it just for backup/redundancy or some other use?

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #7 on: August 28, 2015, 09:34:57 AM »
Davis Vantage Vue: VWS, Weatherlink IP, Fling, VwsAPRS
Blitzortung RED-E&H,
CoCoRaHS ETo + Precip,
6 Weather Cams:  3 Logitech C920, 3 Hikvision DS-2CD2032-1 4mm, Webcam 7 Pro
FlightRadar24: NooElec R820T, RTL1090
WxRadio: Midland WR-300  - BroadWave server
   some assorted handheld devices etc...
 


Offline kcidwx

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #8 on: August 28, 2015, 10:14:34 AM »
Currently in use:
  • Nimbus Ultra Thermometer
  • RM Young 05103 Wind Monitor w/ 06201 Wind Tracker (33 ft)
  • Princo 453XBI Mercury Barometer
  • ASI DBX1 Barometer
  • Viasala HB-1A Barometer
  • HSE Standard 8" Rain Gauge
  • Boltek LD-350 Lightning Detection
  • OSI OWI-430 Present Weather and Visibility Sensor
  • Belfort 5-800A Microbarograph
  • Kollsman Altimeter Setting Indicator
  • Kessler Min/Max Thermometers
  • Belfort 566 Psychrometer
« Last Edit: September 02, 2015, 11:47:15 AM by kcidwx »
Meteorological Technician
NWS Certified Aviation Weather Observer
B.S. Meteorology

Offline Skyview

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #9 on: August 28, 2015, 01:40:35 PM »
Thanks for the responses guys. Keep'em coming. Wow, some of you really have a lot of hardware in your setup. I am definitely in the minority here as I am in the top category. Possible that's due to the recent nature of getting my first PWS...and the disease will spread from there  :lol:

Offline moehoward4

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #10 on: August 28, 2015, 04:23:00 PM »
 #1 VP2 with solar sensor, 24hr fan, heated bucket, two T/H stations, 1 Temp. station and a loaded 6345.     #2 VP2 has solar and DFARS(too far away for electricity).     #3 is a Weather Monitor II with T/H, a 24hr fan and heated bucket(some of this stuff is almost 20 years old). And a box full of spare parts in case something goes south.   ALL have data loggers.   And somewhere out there is a 4" CoCoRaHS gauge.
« Last Edit: August 28, 2015, 04:25:51 PM by moehoward4 »
3 Davis set-ups...which one ya wanna talk about? And I got ALL my manuals....

Offline WX4GPS

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #11 on: April 07, 2019, 11:43:30 AM »
My primary is my Campbell Scientific CR1000X with RM Young 05305 anemometer, I have a Thermometrics PRT used by the Kentucky Mesonet, Met 076B fan aspirated shield, RM Young shield with Vaisala HMP-35 for humidity and backup temperature,  TB-4 siphoning rain gauge, and Li-Cor 200x Pyrometer, and Vaisala PTB101 pressure mounted on a 10m tower 150 feet from house along dairy farm.

Recent purchase was a mint Heath ID-4001 for the mantle, was attached to this back in High School in our Earth Science class, I also have a Texas Weather Report WR-25 (owned since like 1992), a 8" SRG, and a 4" CoCoRaHS gauge. These sensors are close to house, and wind booms on these ra eon a tri-pod mount 10 feet above roof.
<B>North Elkhorn Creek Weather Station</B><P>
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Offline vreihen

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2019, 12:14:23 PM »
For those of you that have multiple stations (i.e. 2  or more complete PWS) is it just for backup/redundancy or some other use?

With a disclaimer that there is a fine line between hobby and mental illness, having multiple stations just means that we now have the additional challenge of determining which instrument is most "right" at any given time!  :lol:

My daily comparison between WeatherFlow and Davis VP2 on the same mast (offline while I clone the boot SD card as I write this):

http://ae3.homelinux.net:845/weewx/compare.html

As an "other" in the survey...or more like an "all of the above" answer:

AcuRite 5-in-1

Davis VP2

3 x WeatherFlow stations w/lightning and UV/solar
(one lightning sensor oriented N/S, the second E/W, and the third vertical)

4" Stratus/CoCoRaHS manual bucket

Rainwise 111 tipping bucket

DIY UV/solar sensor

DIY snow board (under construction)

DIY tipping bucket

On the Blitzortung waiting list for two years

ADS-B feeding FlightRadar24

APRS feed of weather data via 2 meter RF

Oh, and as soon as Uncle Sam starts surplussing WSR-88D weather radar units, I'll have one of those as well.....  :twisted:
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol:

Offline ocala

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #13 on: April 07, 2019, 01:02:50 PM »
I think it might be a code violation to plant one of those 88D's in your back yard. :-)
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Offline vreihen

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Re: How Many Weather Instruments Do You Use?
« Reply #14 on: April 07, 2019, 01:19:10 PM »
I think it might be a code violation to plant one of those 88D's in your back yard. :-)

I'm the third generation in my family with a hobby of annoying unsuspecting code-enforcement officers with antenna structures, and it is sort of like a sport to see how much we can get away with right under their noses.  Don't think that the concrete mounting pads haven't already been poured in the middle of the night.....  :lol:
WU Gold Stars for everyone! :lol: