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Palomar WX Station rev2

8/20/2017

Palomar Launch Weather Station Stands Tall Dressed in Blue

The Palomar Launch weather station mast has been raised by 10ft to now stand at ~ 23ft tall. The wind sensor is now orientated to the west for less potential mast turbulence. With these modifications, the station should now have a more true wind speed and direction readings. As a finishing touch, the mast has been painted to a sky blue color to blend in a bit better.

For More detailed information on the station, see Related Post: http://www.sdhgpa.com/minutes-news--articles/sdhgpa-weather-stations-update

Before - White Saguaro Cactus proof of concept mast

After - Taller blue mast with sensor oriented into prevailing wind direction

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SDHGPA Weather Stations Update

8/8/2017

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The Great White Saguaro Cactus on Palomar Launch

The 1st SDHGPA weather station of several that we have have planned was installed yesterday at the Palomar Main Launch and is up and running!

Installation was after a period of testing at Jeff's House so that we could work out the details of set-up and plan for what would be required for installation. We also took this time to layout out Web module interfaces.

What is that white saguaro cactus doing at the Main Palomar Launch?

Over the next several months we will be fine tuning this prototype installation design and raising the station mast to get cleaner air flow. Once we are comfortable with the overall System, we will be using our lessons learned to install one to two additional stations at other sites this year.

Data from the Palomar Launch station is live and is working well sofar.

Palomar Launch
(Live - updates every 2 min)

About the Palomar Launch Station

The station is solar powered with an appropriately sized battery pack and sends data over a cellular network connection. For this 1st station, we chose an ultrasonic wind sensor that has no moving parts. Data is then sent to the Holfuy Data hosting site and WEB based data visualization.

The Weather Station data can be viewed in several ways:

On our SDHGPA Weather Station page under Whats Happening menu.
On the Palomar Site Guide Page
On Several Holfuy.com Station interface pages : SDHGPA Station Data Page, Map Page . . .
Using the Holfuy App that is available for iOS & Android

Solar powered cell based system with ultrasonic wind sensor

Some features of this installation include: Ultrasonic wind sensor (offering higher accuracy with no moving parts calling less attention to it along with requiring less service); Lightning Strike Grounding protection; low impact & semi portable installation for relocation if required; easy serviceability without ladders or mast climbing; Ability to lower mast and have mast break away if a glider gets tangled up in it.

A big thank you goes out to Jeff Brown & Bob Barry for taking the time out getting all this work done on the station!

Enjoy!

P.S. Don't mess with it !! If you think it needs adjustment or gets hit by a glider, please contact Jeff Brown or Steve Rohrbaugh.

Thanks.

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Palomar WX Station rev2

SDHGPA Weather Stations Update

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