Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

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NZ Thunderstorm Soc
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

Can't wait until they start building the one on Otago Peninsula, once that the BOP one comes into operation. :eek: :crazy: [-X

...then there are others. Queenstown for example ?

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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by tgsnoopy »

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:Can't wait until they start building the one on Otago Peninsula, once that the BOP one comes into operation. :eek: :crazy: [-X

...then there are others. Queenstown for example ?
Do you know something we don't? ;P

I know about Westland and Northland... I'm not aware of any more after those two though.

Are you sponsoring it ;) (I'm open to helping you dispose of your lotto winnings.) :-w
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by arthurhh »

A few more shots here

http://picasaweb.google.com/collector.N ... darMAmaku#

Interesting to discover it is only 25km from Tokoroa in a straight line.
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by ricky »

Thanks Arthurhh, fantastic pics! Very nice looking gear :) I Like the way the MDAs are on the moving yoke.. Are the dual waveguide feeds for sep polarisations or tx / rx ?
Where is the microwave link to from there? hope the link is better than the Auckland one has been! though they seem to have it quite reliable now..
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

tgsnoopy wrote:
Do you know something we don't? ;P

There aren't, just speculating there, sadly. :cute:


Are you sponsoring it ;) (I'm open to helping you dispose of your lotto winnings.) :-w
If I won lotto I would put money to restoring Kb 968, then the radars at those 2 locoations.

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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by tgsnoopy »

ricky wrote:Are the dual waveguide feeds for sep polarisations or tx / rx ?
They use vertical and horizontal on the circular waveguide through the centre rotating spindle for the Tx and Rx signals.
ricky wrote:Where is the microwave link to from there? hope the link is better than the Auckland one has been! though they seem to have it quite reliable now..
All the rain radar's in NZ now have back up path's using IPStar satellite. The main link is via a Telecom digital line. The Auckland radar uses a Microwave link to a Telecom Line connection from Maungaturoto. Prior to the IPStar backup it fell off if the Telecom line went down.
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by TokWW »

Ricky - pretty sure it is Tx-Rx, some nice devices through the pivot axis and rotary panning joint...

Welds on the French sourced dish were average MIG but should have been TIG. Being under cover and painted is probably ok. It was a pity they hadn't used SS bolts on the F/Glass radome segments, only shiny zinc plated.

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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by kaimaikid »

Pity they didn't paint some dimples on the dome... ;-)

Great stuff with the photos, gives the rest of us some idea of what it looks like both in and outside.

Can't wait to see it online \:D/
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by TokWW »

Signals were going to Wellington on Friday, (so the manager said...) so they have to calibrate and manage the data first, and then blend it to the rest. Perhaps they are still commissioning it. So that was one week to the day of assembly!! Fantastic for all the technical work to get done so efficiently and quickly. Yes it will be good for BOP and some of Waikato to get more accurate data.

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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by Tornado Tim »

This radar will be very interesting to see when storm season starts officially :)
Storms will have a far better radar representation now and will be far more accurate because the beam wont be looking as high as the auckland/np ones do.

I honestly cant wait until Waikato turns on the storms. :mrgreen:
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by iomkiwi »

TokWW wrote:... Yes it will be good for .. some of Waikato to get more accurate data.

G
you mean that area already covered by four other radar sites? :mrgreen:

Time to spread them around a bit I think.
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by tgsnoopy »

iomkiwi wrote:already covered by four other radar sites?
Hmm, do you know something we don't?

One could perhaps argue there were three, but they all are looking very high over us and miss a lot of the action here. Where is this fourth one you mention?

As someone who has been affected by flooding more than once in the last 10 years they can't get it going fast enough for me.

Your one is coming, but it may be two to three years away.
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by NZstorm »

Yes, this new radar will fill a radar gap in a region where there is a large population.
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by NZ Thunderstorm Soc »

NZstorm wrote:Yes, this new radar will fill a radar gap in a region where there is a large population.

What does large population have to do with it?
If 6 million people lived in the Atacama Desert in Chile, would they install a rain-radar there :smile: ;)

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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by tgsnoopy »

NZ Thunderstorm Soc wrote:What does large population have to do with it?
If 6 million people lived in the Atacama Desert in Chile, would they install a rain-radar there :smile: ;)
Well there is a large population base. History of floods in the region, four busy airports, two of which take scheduled international flights. Sounds fairly good reasoning to me.

Note that aside from us 4 weather enthusiasts the other 2 visitors were from Environment BOP where they were flooded just last week in Whakatane.
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by Weather Watcher »

The new Bay of Plenty radar has been producing imagery for the last couple of days now, and it looks very good. There is still a little more fine-tuning to do, then we should see it added to the NZ radar composite in 2 or 3 days time. From what I have seen so far, the coverage over Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Taupo is superb!
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by iomkiwi »

tgsnoopy wrote:
iomkiwi wrote:already covered by four other radar sites?
Hmm, do you know something we don't?

One could perhaps argue there were three, but they all are looking very high over us and miss a lot of the action here. Where is this fourth one you mention?

As someone who has been affected by flooding more than once in the last 10 years they can't get it going fast enough for me.

Your one is coming, but it may be two to three years away.
To my (maybe slightly envious and so biased) eye the Wellington radar covers 'some of Waikato'.

I know exactly what it is like to live in an area affected by flooding, I can recall four significant events since early 2007, two of which closed roads between work and home - and threatened to flood NZ's oldest buildings.

I agree that the new radars can't come fast enough - we are only 'covered' by one of those inaccurate ones you mention.
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by tgsnoopy »

iomkiwi wrote:I know exactly what it is like to live in an area affected by flooding, I can recall four significant events since early 2007, two of which closed roads between work and home - and threatened to flood NZ's oldest buildings.
Sorry to hear that, I can certainly relate to it. After several events (a couple of very significant ones for us) we made changes to our topography and sealed off the upstream side of the house. Have been ok since the second very significant event in May 05. The council has also done a lot of work and continues to slowly improve the drainage. I probably should add that I ended up eventually getting the Mayor to visit and after he did, some minor local changes affecting our neighbors and ourselves happened very quickly.
iomkiwi wrote:I agree that the new radars can't come fast enough - we are only 'covered' by one of those inaccurate ones you mention.
Perhaps lobby your local MP, I expect Metservice could put them in a lot quicker if they got the money sooner. As I understand it the government has only committed to installing two more. One in Westland (Hokitika?) towards the end of next year and then the final one planned at this stage which will follow it in Northland the year after.
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by TokWW »

Weather Watcher wrote:The new Bay of Plenty radar has been producing imagery for the last couple of days now, and it looks very good. There is still a little more fine-tuning to do, then we should see it added to the NZ radar composite in 2 or 3 days time. From what I have seen so far, the coverage over Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Taupo is superb!
Thank you for the added confidence in this new data stream!! I am a farmer's son so have always acknowledged the weather, and I cycle the 25mins to and from work every day - I am out in the weather a lot and it is comforting to know sometimes, that I might leave the bike under cover and get a lift home - just a minor issue but it all goes to show that good data is a help to all those who may need it, whether a high risk activity or not!! :) Yes 4 major airports in this region and Taupo has the highest throughput (landings) of any airport in NZ!

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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by jamie »

Weather Watcher wrote:The new Bay of Plenty radar has been producing imagery for the last couple of days now, and it looks very good. There is still a little more fine-tuning to do, then we should see it added to the NZ radar composite in 2 or 3 days time. From what I have seen so far, the coverage over Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Taupo is superb!
Fantastic! Cant wait to get to see the coverage for myself

Well done MS =D>
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by Vertigo »

Could we perhaps get a sneak peak at the radar data?
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by jamie »

dam! i was really hoping it would be online by today when i got home from work.
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by Tornado Tim »

M/S is now under maintenance, i think they are adding the Mamaku Radar now.....
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by tgsnoopy »

Tornado Tim wrote:M/S is now under maintenance, i think they are adding the Mamaku Radar now.....
Shh, don't jinx it! :)
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Re: Bay of Plenty Rain Radar

Unread post by jamie »

nope wasnt that! must have been something else.
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