Benmore Peak station online Monday.

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Fri 04/03/2005 15:54

That's assuming the replacement WLAN antennae arrive safely. Like the Omarama station, it'll be updating every minute.

It has an unobstructed 360Â° outlook at approx 1,894m/6,200' asl.

The link is:

http://www.observatory.org.nz/weather/benmore

There's only a dummy 'sample' page there at the moment, so don't waste your time clicking until Monday!

Andy · Unread post by **Andy** » Fri 04/03/2005 16:04

Nice. It will be good to have a mountain weather station online

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Thu 10/03/2005 10:26

Just an update: the WLAN antennae and other replacement parts finally arrived this morning, but weather conditions on the mountain are too severe to risk installing them right now. Oh, the irony...

Andy · Unread post by **Andy** » Mon 14/03/2005 18:44

Hey Gary

Is the site up and running?

I get a password required when i open the link...

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Wed 16/03/2005 10:33

Andy wrote:Hey Gary

Is the site up and running?

I get a password required when i open the link...

Gah! The solar-panel supplier just revised their ETA from two days to two WEEKS!

Since I've upgraded damn near everything in the station, it needs the higher capacity panels and regulator to ensure it stays running for long periods of inclement weather...I've added extra deep cycle batteries and they require more watts and amps to maintain.

I'm off to Japan again on the 24th and won't be back until April, so don't expect to see it online before then, dammit!

Andy · Unread post by **Andy** » Thu 17/03/2005 17:29

Sorry to hear Gary

Enjoy your time in Japan

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Fri 18/03/2005 10:35

Andy wrote:Sorry to hear Gary

I have to say that I'm becoming more than a little peeved with what appears to be blatant and outright false advertising on the part of many operators. They list components and products as being in-stock, will take your order (and payment), then only tell you that it's NOT in stock when you contact them to find out where the hell your order's gone.

In this case, the solar supplier gave me an estimate of two days. He said it was at another branch. When I later contacted them, a different person said, "Oh, I don't know why they told you that! It usually takes at least two to three weeks to get those in from our (overseas) supplier!"

Another company assured me they had plenty of the components I needed in stock, but would not send them until paid. So I paid. Afterwards they told me that, "Oosp, sorry, our mistake...you'll have to wait 1-2 weeks until we can source it. Tough."

Meanwhile, these (usually large) businesses now have your cash in the bank and are earning the interest you could be getting. As a dirt-poor not-for-profit, it really bugs the hell out of me. Time to contact the Consumers Institute, methinks!

Enjoy your time in Japan

Cheers. I'll try!

Manukau heads obs · Fri 18/03/2005 11:41

gary:
http://www.nurcac.org/wx/
that data is from a ultimeter station at a remote site, with the data from the weather station going directly to a short wave radio transmitter (kenwood i think) (ie no computer at all), then via repeaters and the APRS system, it ends upat findu.com,where my software can then get the data evia the internet
just thought you might be interested

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Fri 18/03/2005 12:03

Thanks Brian, but not really interested. Our station work fine. We've been thrashing them for a couple of years now. They are fairly well proven. The computers are the cheapest component, and very reliable, so it's a lot easier to just run the low-overhead Linux software locally and upload it direct from the station. I just uprated the transmission output and decided to upgrade the power systems, which mean new batteries, regulators and PV panels...and that's lead to the delay due to the dealer's lack of stock.

Manukau heads obs · Fri 18/03/2005 12:32

it was described by the person who set this up as very exciting.
a remote weather staton, with data that can be accessed by anyone via the internet, where that data is broadcast via short wave radio initialy, and no PC required at the site....just a short radio transmitter and the station

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Fri 18/03/2005 12:40

Manukau heads observer wrote:it was described by the person who set this up as very exciting.
a remote weather staton, with data that can be accessed by anyone via the internet, where that data is broadcast via short wave radio initialy, and no PC required at the site....just a short radio transmitter and the station

Uhuh. Yes, it's interesting to those of us who like this kind of thing, but the only real difference I see is the lack of a computer, and the presence of a radio.

Otherwise it's essentially the same deal as our own: a remote, solar-powered weather station uploading data to a webpage.

Do you know what the daily power consumption (in A/hrs) of the radio is by any chance?

Manukau heads obs · Fri 18/03/2005 13:40

the thing is, you dont need internet connection at the site
it uses short wave radio

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Fri 18/03/2005 15:07

Manukau heads observer wrote:the thing is, you dont need internet connection at the site
it uses short wave radio

In our case that's irrelevent since we have an existing Internet connection at our site for other purposes besides weather data collection.

Also, is a radio licence required for short-wave broadcasting?

Manukau heads obs · Fri 18/03/2005 15:12

it is based on your ham call sign if you have one...(to get the data to findu.com via any aprs repeaters), but you could also use a CWOP number too , but, like alot of things, I am only guessing
anyway, just thought you might be interested in the whole thing
we will leave it at that

Gary Roberts · Unread post by **Gary Roberts** » Fri 18/03/2005 15:18

Manukau heads observer wrote:it is based on your ham call sign if you have one...(to get the data to findu.com via any aprs repeaters), but you could also use a CWOP number too , but, like alot of things, I am only guessing
anyway, just thought you might be interested in the whole thing
we will leave it at that

So an operating licence is required then? That'd be just another added expense for us.

Anyway, as I said, our stations work well for us as they are, and have the added benefit of being usable as emergency Internet terminals if need be.