The Peet Bros Ultimeter 2000 weather station installed on W1AW. The wind speed/direction (anemometer), temperature/humidity sensor (with solar shield) and rain gauge are visible. [ARRL Photo]
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The Peet Bros Ultimeter 2000 weather station installed on W1AW. The wind speed/direction (anemometer), temperature/humidity sensor (with solar shield) and rain gauge are visible. [ARRL Photo] |
NEWINGTON, CT, Nov 11, 2000--Maxim Memorial Station W1AW at ARRL Headquarters now is "weather-ready," thanks to the donation of weather-monitoring equipment. W1AW Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, says the addition of the Ultimeter 2000 weather station means W1AW can participate in weather-spotting nets. The weather reporting system is being used as part of the W1AW Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS).
Peet Bros of St Cloud, Florida, donated the Ultimeter 2000 weather station to the League earlier this year. It was installed in October. "We have the capabilities to measure wind speed and direction, rain/snow totals, barometric pressure, humidity and dew point," said Carcia. He said W1AW beacons its current weather data every 10 minutes via APRS.
A screen shot from WinAPRS displaying the weather as reported from W1AW. The numbers around the W1AW icon show (from top to bottom) current temperature low/high wind speed current daily rain total (in inches) barometric pressure (in mb) and age of data. |
"We're now registered with W4EHW at the National Hurricane Center as a volunteer observer," Carcia said. "In times of hurricanes or other severe weather that might threaten our area, we would send in reports on changing winds, temperatures and barometric conditions via the Internet to the NHC in Miami. Forecasters use weather data from Hurricane Watch Net and SKYWARN participants to further improve their knowledge of severe weather activity.
Carcia says that, with APRS, weather stations also can set alarms. If there's an approaching storm, W1AW can set APRS to alarm when there's a significant drop in parametric pressure indicating that a storm was near.
"Amateurs running APRS can click on our station icon, and they can see what the weather is here," Carcia explained. "They can also ask APRS for a chart of local weather conditions."
W1AW acknowledged the tax-deductible gift from Peet Bros in October "with deepest appreciation."
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