Need help deciding on weather station/anemometer

[Aaron Hamilton]

Hello. There isn't a local Skywarn club here in Eastern Iowa, wish there was. I used to belong to the Mid Iowa Skywarn Association but I can't reach any of those repeaters from here. They are with the Johnston NWS and over here, we have the Quad Cities NWS. There is a ham station there but Iwas told that there usually isn't anyone there when we have sever weather since its far away and their repeater can't get into the Cedar Rapids Repeater. There aren't any repeaters linked over here like there is in central Iowa, too bad, such a good thing. We do have the Linn County ARES that we report to and they report directly to the QC NWS. I went to the local ham club (Cedar Valley Amateur Radio Club) last week and plan on joining. Next month, I plan on going to the Linn County ARES meeting.

 

[Aaron Hamilton]

Any one know of any single weather vanes such as the one in this picture? I can't find any info on the one in this picture. I'm thinking that if I go the Inspeed way, I'd really like to have wind direction also. I really wish Inspeed made an anemometer with the directional vane too.

I'm not looking to spend much, just something simple. Not sure if there are any others made besides the one in the picture.

 

[Aaron Hamilton]

If I go with a weather station, I had two in mind. The Davis Vantage Pro as I've heard good things about this one. And the other one is the Ultimeter 2100. The Davis seems to be pretty reliable and transmits at a decent rate. The only reason I'd go with a weather station rather than the inspeed is to have accurate rain fall measurements. When I used to do this, I was never good at guestimating rain fall per hour. I haven't heard much about the Ultimeter 2100 but it seems like a pretty good one. The unique thing about the Ultimeter is that the rain gauge isn't one of those tipping bucket ones that all the other companies use. Yes, they do have that verson also but the the Ultimeter Pro rain gauge has no moving parts and operates on a drop-counting principle. That would be perfect for mobile use. I just need to call the company and find out about data transmissions and stuff like that.

 

[B Ozanne]

If I go with a weather station, I had two in mind. The Davis Vantage Pro as I've heard good things about this one. And the other one is the Ultimeter 2100. The Davis seems to be pretty reliable and transmits at a decent rate. The only reason I'd go with a weather station rather than the inspeed is to have accurate rain fall measurements. When I used to do this, I was never good at guestimating rain fall per hour. I haven't heard much about the Ultimeter 2100 but it seems like a pretty good one. The unique thing about the Ultimeter is that the rain gauge isn't one of those tipping bucket ones that all the other companies use. Yes, they do have that verson also but the the Ultimeter Pro rain gauge has no moving parts and operates on a drop-counting principle. That would be perfect for mobile use. I just need to call the company and find out about data transmissions and stuff like that.

Are you planning on putting a rain gauge on top of your car? Honestly, it's not gonna help you catch tornadoes and it's probably not going to work. The tipping bucket styles are very sensitive. If you shook the car too much the bucket would tip. Also, they are notoriously bad at measuring high rain rates.

 

[Andrew Herron]

I am the Assistant Emergency Coodinator for Wayne County, MI Skywarn, if you need any help or materials in getting something going locally, just let me know. I'm going to the NWS in about 2 weeks for a Skywarn EC meeting and if you need/want any materials to get you going, let me know and I'll see what I can get to you.

Hello. There isn't a local Skywarn club here in Eastern Iowa, wish there was. I used to belong to the Mid Iowa Skywarn Association but I can't reach any of those repeaters from here. They are with the Johnston NWS and over here, we have the Quad Cities NWS. There is a ham station there but Iwas told that there usually isn't anyone there when we have sever weather since its far away and their repeater can't get into the Cedar Rapids Repeater. There aren't any repeaters linked over here like there is in central Iowa, too bad, such a good thing. We do have the Linn County ARES that we report to and they report directly to the QC NWS. I went to the local ham club (Cedar Valley Amateur Radio Club) last week and plan on joining. Next month, I plan on going to the Linn County ARES meeting.

 

[Aaron Hamilton]

from B Ozanne "Are you planning on putting a rain gauge on top of your car? Honestly, it's not gonna help you catch tornadoes and it's probably not going to work. The tipping bucket styles are very sensitive. If you shook the car too much the bucket would tip. Also, they are notoriously bad at measuring high rain rates."

My goal isn't to catch a tornado since I spot and don't really chase. Back when I was a skywarn spotter, we were to report rain fall in inches per hour to the NWS along with the other information such as wind speed/direction. I remember, in the skywarn classes, they gave us an idea on how to tell how much rain was falling but I was never really good at that. The electronic rain gauge that is made by Peet Brothers does not use the tipping bucket rain gauge. From the Peet Brothers website.
"Operating on a drop-counting principle, the PRO Rain Gauge senses every one-thousandth inch of rain and reports each one-hundredth inch back to the ULTIMETER Weather Station. In spite of its amazing resolution, the PRO gauge can handle "world record" class rain rates of more than 10 inches per hour!"
No tipping bucket and no moving parts. It just counts the water droplets. To me, that sounds great for mobile use. I probably don't "need" this but just thought it would be handy. I suppose I could probablly get by for now with just wind speed and direction. I'm just trying to learn as much as I can and see what others have to say about all this before I buy something which probably won't be for a few months yet.

 

[Jason Castine]

I like the Davis stuff. It's a little pricey but your friend is eBay. I've found some that were great and I've rarely seen them go over $200. That is unless you are looking at that Vantage stuff, then yeah, look for a lot. I think the Weather Wizard III would be the best for you and those will go for 100 or a little more. Just my 2 cents!

Jason