[TowerTalk] weather station on tower?

[Larry McDavid]

I've had a Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 wireless weather station for 5 
years and it has been flawless. I have two receiving console display 
units and have never had any RFI susceptibility or emission problems 
with this system. However, the sensor suite transmits on 902 - 928 MHz 
in Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum mode, not at 430 MHz as stated below.

Since the system uses FHSS RF mode, you are unlikely to *ever* detect it 
on any ham receiver.

The sensor suite is powered by a solar cell which charges a super 
capacitor for overnight operation. If several days without sunshine are 
encountered, the unit includes a Li primary cell as battery backup. My 
system includes a 24-hour fan-aspirated radiation shield powered by its 
own solar panel and NiCd cells.

These systems do require at least annual maintenance so they should be 
accessible for service. In particular, the tipping-bucket rain gage 
needs its conical collector and the buckets cleaned as they accumulate 
dust and dirt. There is a recent version of the collector funnel that 
has a better filter at the bottom and has bird-repellent spikes. Since 
my aspiration fan runs 24/7, the plastic louvers that make up the 
radiation shield also need cleaning once a year.

I had a previous wired Davis system for 25 years so I now have some 30 
years of accumulated weather data stored on the connected computer. I 
never had any RF problems with either of these Davis Instruments 
systems; both performed flawlessly!

Now, granted, some will say we don't have "weather" here in Los Angeles 
(I live near Disneyland). Historically, though, we do get *some* rain 
and often have wind with gusts to 70 MPH where I live. I've seen 
relative humidity values as low as 5 % during a "Santa Ana Wind."

Larry W6FUB


On 8/31/2015 9:45 PM, Bill Parry wrote:
> I have a La Crosse that is mounted on the tower (wireless) and have had no
> RF problems.  Works just fine.
>
> Bill W5VX
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Lew
> Sayre
> Sent: Monday, August 31, 2015 10:58 PM
> To: Ken
> Cc: Towertalk Reflector
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] weather station on tower?
>
> I've had the Davis Vantage Pro II wireless for the past 3 years. Very
> reliable and rf quiet. It Tx around 430Mz but I've never heard it or
> recognized it on hf or vhf..
...

-- 
Best wishes,

Larry McDavid W6FUB
Anaheim, California  (SE of Los Angeles, near Disneyland)