![]() In a crisis or disaster when cell towers are down and the internet is interrupted, the airwaves will still be there. A common tagline for hams is WAEF, or ‘When All Else Fails’. But hams (another term for amateur radio operators, HAM radio operators) don’t actually need the internet to communicate data. With any of these software clients, the user would take an AcuRite weather station out of the box and hook it up to the computer and automatically transmit data over the internet. There are many different client software versions for monitoring and contributing to the APRS network. Now we report to national weather organizations on current weather conditions using software developed specifically for amateur radio operators called APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System). Traditionally, US radio volunteers would get a call or an email from NOAA or the NWS asking for a severe weather report from our grid square. Solar power and radio transmission makes it possible to drop completely self-contained weather sensors on unattended and wireless sites, allowing for a dense set of sample measurements to be collected.We amateur radio operators are big into weather! The amateur radio connection makes it inexpensive and simple for an individual to install consumer-level weather sensors at a point of interest, connect them to a radio transmitter via a simple APRS modem, and start sharing weather reports with forecasters worldwide. ![]() From MADIS, CWOP data is also re-distributed to other users such as Mesowest. Incoming data are subjected to temporal and spatial consistency checks, and quality flags are stored with the data, to enable users to access the most trustworthy data possible. The Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System ( MADIS) integrates weather observations from numerous different sources, including CWOP via FindU, and drives a number of different weather forecasting products. APRS messages may also originate directly from computers on the Internet without being broadcast on the radio waves. Weather observations may be polled directly from FindU, and the data is forwarded to MADIS for ingest. Numerous IGates (Internet Gateways) receive broadcast amateur radio Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) packets containing position and short messages (including telemetry such weather observations), and forward the data to the FindU servers via APRS-IS on the Internet. The FindU database is a set of privately operated Internet servers, run by Steve Dimse, (amateur radio callsign K4HG). The Citizen Weather Observer Program is a program to collect surface weather observations from thousands of privately operated weather stations, into the FindU database, and forward it to the Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System ( MADIS), operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As of October 2017, more than 13,000 stations worldwide report regularly to the network. The CWOP was originally set up by amateur radio operators experimenting with packet radio, but now includes Internet-only connected stations, as well as amateur radio Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) stations. Observations are also redistributed to the public. This data is then used by the Rapid Refresh (RAP) forecast model to produce short term forecasts (3 to 12 hours into the future) of conditions across the contiguous United States. Network participation allows volunteers with computerized weather stations to send automated surface weather observations to the National Weather Service (NWS) by way of the Meteorological Assimilation Data Ingest System (MADIS). The Citizen Weather Observer Program ( CWOP) is a network of privately owned electronic weather stations concentrated in the United States but also located in over 150 countries. ![]() The mast supports a wind vane and anemometer, while the rain gauge and other sensors are installed near ground level. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |