VE6AB Mobile Ops
APRS Weather Forecasting
I recently made up new mount assemblies that include both wind speed and wind direction sensors as well as the rain collector that I use on my mobile with my APRS weather station package mounted in the cargo bay.
The reason for that is the fact that my weather station sensors were sharing the same mount that I use with my HF antenna, and that lead to a conflict of interest when I wanted to use both my APRS weather station and one of my HF antennas at the same time.
I went scrounging in my shop and came up with a couple of magnets in the 2" (50mm) size range with metal housings and along with some aluminum bar stock and a double ended ball mount, I fabricated a new dedicated mount for my wind sensor array as seen in the photo.
The sensor assembly is fully adjustable through 360 degrees as well as on the vertical axis to compensate for the direction that my mobile may be positioned in, as well as the slope that I may be parked on.
Positioning is crucial, as the anemometer/wind direction sensor assembly has to be set on a east/west heading with the anemometer positioned on the west end of the boom for the recorded information on the wind speed and wind direction to be correct when a weather packet is beaconed and placed on aprs.fi.
When I am done with forcasting the weather, its as simple as reaching up and removing the assembly from the roof and storing it in the cargo bay.
If it is raining as it was on this windy rain filled day, the rain collector with its self-emptying tipping-bucket is also positioned on the roof as rain gauges should be placed at the highest position possible that is clear of any obstacles (especially trees near a dwelling that houses a weather station) located within 20 feet of the rain gauge.
This is a necessary requirement when the wind is blowing for the rain gauge to capture and record as accurately as possible.
If there are obstructions within 20 feet of your rain gauge (again trees) that are higher than the rain gauge, the wind being re-directed around these obstacles will cause inaccuracies with the rain gauge.
I have a weather station at my home, and I have the 8" self dumping wireless rain bucket mounted on the roof of my house where very precise measurement's are made and recorded by my indoor monitoring weather station.
Click on the photo for a closer look.....
Here is a look at my VE6AB-8 aprs weather station mounted in the cargo bay.....
http://www.jerryclement.ca/HamRadio/HamRadio/i-Kr7jtXm
