West Carleton Amateur Radio Club
Weather and Environmental Monitoring
With the great increase in interest and participation by radio amateurs in APRS ( the Automatic Position Reporting System radio network ) and the expansion of Canwarn into Eastern Ontario in the summer of 2000, several club members have decided to put up weather monitoring stations.  In my case, in addition to the weather at home, I want to be able to remotely check on certain physical conditions at my cottage (humidity and temperature in several places, inside and outside).  

Whatever your reason might be, an automated weather station is a neat thing to make and operate, don't you think ?

Making weather data available to Environment Canada and the Canwarn Project from many points in the Eastern Ontario region ( or to Skywarn in the United States ) will be very useful, especially during periods of nasty or even dangerous conditions.  You may think it doesn't happen here, but we had a small tornado in the Ottawa area in August, 2000.  My wife and daughter happened to be within meters of it.  And, remember the winter ice storm of 1998.

 

You may be  interested in my applications - for the weather station I'm working on for home, and the monitoring and security installation planned for my cottage.  You can access diagrams of these systems from the 
Links and Notes - Sensors page.

Do you want to learn more about weather characteristics and forecasting ?  The on-line Meteorology Guide at the University of Illinois in the USA provides basic instructional modules in the atmospheric sciences.  These include Light and Optics, Clouds and Precipitation, Forces and Winds, Air Masses and Fronts, Weather Forecasting, Severe Storms, etc., etc.

Also, you might have a look at the Meteorology FAQs which include notes on some unusual or puzzling questions related to Meteorology.

This site will attempt to provide general information, links and jumping-off points for those considering weather monitoring, and is being broadened to include other environmental and physical conditions besides weather.  

What can you monitor or measure ?  

Well. lots of things - for example:
Temperature, inside (something) and outside - air, soil, water, etc. Barometric Pressure, other pressures
Wind Speed and Direction Humidity
Wind Gust Speed Rainfall
Water Flow Lightning Strikes
Ambient Light Cloud Cover
Seismological Activity Continental Drift (!)
Intrusions, and the state of security sensors
The state of pumps, fans, lights and other circuits
... and so on.  Then, there is the opportunity to control things, based on the monitored conditions.

While quite a few members of the West Carleton ARC have expressed interest in weather stations, this effort never coalesced into a club 'project'.  Some members are going their own way on monitoring with the Dallas Semiconductor 1-Wire or other approaches, some have purchased commercial stations, and a number have deferred action for the present. What started out as a potential club 'Weather Station Project' has not come together in any manner as a group effort.  However, there is a lot of interest in weather stations and environmental monitoring, and in sensors for this purpose.  These files can be a resource for those who may wish to look into weather and other measurements and perhaps control functions  (for whatever reasons).  If there continues to be interest, I will add to these files as useful information and links come to hand and as I make progress with my own system.  Obviously, these files are not intended for meteorologists, digital electronics engineers or for software experts, but you may find them of interest and some value as a starting point.

A companion web site that relates to data communication is being developed, with information on using low-power transmitter and receiver modules, antennas and related areas.  This is the 'WCARC 902-928 MHz Band Project' site.  If you like to build and test circuits or plan to assemble  your own sensors and monitoring station, the 'Development' file on the 902 site may be of interest to you.

See the Links and Notes - Stations  page for information and notes on commercial and kit  Weather Stations. 

The Links and Notes - Sensors page covers a variety of sensors you can purchase or construct, including references to microcontrollers and related things to form the basis of a station to meet your needs.  Sites linked from this page show various designs and approaches that can be taken.

If you are interested in the Dallas Semiconductor approach, see the DALLAS 1-WIRE page.  This will point you to resources on using the 1-Wire technology.

  Graham Ide   VE3BYT

1KM