I Mounted My La Crosse Technology Wireless Forecast Station

You have just purchased or received as a gift your very own personal weather station.

Using a weather station pole mounting kit was my first step.

So first what you will want to do is learn how it operates, read the instruction pamphlet, and then figure out how you will be setting up the sensor suite. 

This will then ensure that I successfully use my La Crosse Technology wireless weather station.

So installing a weather station pole mounting kit is a big step. I needed to figure out for myself, where I would be happy to set up my new La Crosse V40 Pro on my property.

You can read my other two posts on the Lacrosse V40 Pro Wireless Weather Station by going to the posts, The Unboxing of the La Crosse V-40-Pro Weather Station-a Remote Monitoring Station, and also my review of the La Crosse V40-PRO Weather-a Complete Weather Station Review.

These two articles will help you see how these three posts are a complete story on how to buy, and set up your very own, La Crosse Technology wireless weather station

So I went outside and did a walk around to look at everything and to decide where I would get the most out of my gift.

The Site Survey For the Mounting of a Personal Weather Station

I was looking for a location that would be more out in the open, and would not be out of distance for the transmission of information back to the display unit in my office in my home.

Here’s a list of checkpoints that I use for a mounting site survey.

• No trees between the remote sensor and the receiver inside (the display is the receiver)
• Location no more than 300 feet from the receiver. Rated at 400 feet, I want the best reception
• Triplett remote sensor is out in the open. No trees and tree branches to impede collecting rainfall, or snowfall, and to get a good reading on wind speed and the wind direction
• The Thermal-Hygro sensor must be either on the north side or out of the direct sunlight. The sun through prolonged periods of time will bake the sensor and cause its readings to be very unreliable
• Should be at least 5 to 8 feet above the ground. This will ensure any rain splashback, and or animal interference. Also, lawn equipment and lawn related chemicals could interfere with the readings as well
• The location should not be on the sun side, that would be the south, southwest, and west sides of a roof. Any excessive exposure to the sun would not be good. You don’t want to fry your temperature sensor.
• The remote should not be set up on the other side of fences, or a shed, or a tree, etc. All of these scenarios would interfere with the transmission-reception signals. Do not make any transmissions have to go through a count of many barriers. The fewer the number of barriers the better.

Where I Decided To Set My Weather Station Pole Mounting Kit

I recorded three short videos as I walked my property to give you an idea of my mindset when doing my site walk-through for mounting my personal weather station.

I edited the three videos of my scouting tour into one three-minute video for you.

As you can see in the pictures, I believe I made a wise choice for mounting my La Crosse Technology wireless weather station.

So far a few days into the process, I am very pleased with all of the results of data being collected and transmitted to my cell phone as well as my office. I am really enjoying this so far.

What My Weather Station Pole Mounting Kit Is

So when I have done research online for a weather station mounting kit, I have found a specific kit to purchase.

What I have found is several different really interesting weather station mounting brackets, and you can choose a particular weather station mounting pole for your need as well.

So when I received this La Crosse wireless forecast station as a gift from my wife, I knew that this time I get to actually choose which weather station mounting pole I would buy.

CHANNEL MASTER Antenna Mast Steel Antenna Mast (5ft) (CM-1805)

My Decisions Were These Two Choices

1. The Mounting Pole
First I choose the CHANNEL MASTER Antenna Mast a Steel Antenna Mast, from Amazon.

I tried to purchase from a local hardware store such as Ace Hardware, and also tried local Best Buys, Home Depots, and Lowes.

None of these local large box stores has what I needed. So I looked no further. This is a great deal at the price I got it for.

One big thing that would like to point out is that the inside diameter of the bottom of the remote sensor suite needs to be measured out very carefully. The reason is that many of the TV antenna mast poles that are for sale are 1 1/2 inches in diameter or larger.

Find a pole that the sensor will set down over the top of and then you will be able to screw it onto the mounting pole. I didn’t find too many weather station mounting poles that were small enough for the La Crosse V40-Pro to be clamped tightly onto them.

Please measure the pole attachment on your sensor suite carefully. It is very important to match up the pole diameters, as one must be small enough to fit inside the other one.

The La Crosse remote sensor suite pole attachment needed a 1.3-inch diameter.

The Channel Master Mounting Pole is almost 5 feet long, it was the diameter I needed to set the remote sensor suite onto, and it is strong steel to withhold the high winds and cold we get at times.

Channel Master 3079 Antenna Mount Kit – 2 Pack

2. The Mounting Pole Brackets
For the weather station mounting brackets that I needed I purchased the Channel Master 3079 Antenna Mount Kit – 2 Pack. This I also purchased from Amazon.com again.

This was for the same reason as the purchase of the weather station mounting pole I mentioned I was purchasing as well. So my choices are these two products from online at Amazon.

These brackets are heavy-duty, they are very strong, and many people have used them to strongly hold and support their poles. I have found these brackets to be extremely easy to set up and to use.

Here is a collage of pictures to help you see how everything came together outside in my weather station mounting pole kit.

My Completed Weather Station Pole Mounting Kit

The process of using the brackets, and the weather station mounting pole was an easy process.

We (my son and I) needed to pre-drill a couple of holes for the Channel Master Antenna Brackets.

We used a level to make sure the bracket would be level once we screwed it into the peak of the wooden tool shed.

Next we had to screw the remote sensor suite down over the end of the Channel Master Mounting Pole, and once it was in place we used to screws to tighten the suite onto the top of the remote sensor unit.

The process was more time-consuming just getting the tools around that we needed than it was to actually do the work of setting it up.

Some Tips For You

• I would recommend setting the weather station sensor suite onto the pole inside before you then take it outside to fasten it to the tool shed.
• When set up you will need to have it level. Remember you will also need to have the rain gauge level with the ground.
• You may use the small bubble level on top of the sensor suite to help you level it up. This is very important in the correct operation of the rain gauge.

Completed Pole Mounting Kit on Video

So I thought I would give you a completed project tour of what the finished use of a weather station mounting pole kit looks like. It was a learning experience as well as fun to do this project with my son.

I hope this helps you with using your personal weather station the best you can so that you will get as much enjoyment from yours as I am from mine.

Read More About The La Crosse V40-Pro-View Related Posts Below

The Unboxing of the La Crosse V-40-Pro
What will you find in the unboxing of the La Crosse V-40-Pro weather station is gone over step by step.

La Crosse V40-PRO Weather Review
A detailed list of features and Pro and Cons are provided. This review will give you a personal owner’s view of what I have found to be true for me

Here’s Why Weather Station Mounting Pole Is the Best Way to Mount a Personal Weather Station

When you are purchasing your weather station you fast realize that you are in need of a place to set up your weather sensor unit.

Whether your unit is a small remote unit like a La Crosse sensor, an AcuRite sensor, or a much larger professional multifaceted sensor unit like this one from Davis Instruments.

As an example, if you have an AcuRite Weather station like the newest AcuRite 01007M Atlas Weather Station. You then will have a need to buy some pole mounting sections. 

This is a newly released product that we recently reviewed. With this unit, an RCA MAST Extension Mounting pole can be used for good AcuRite weather station mounting.

The remote sensor unit for any of the remote suite sensors like for An Acurite (see our review of the AcuRite 02064 Pro Weather Station) or if you own a Davis Instruments (our review is at Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2).

Both of these reviewed units have sensor suites and they need to be attached to a pole which is then fastened to the surface area you have decided works best for getting the best readings you can get.

So as you can see you will need to be set them onto a pole attachment to secure the sensor to ready it for use.

Use a Mounting Pole-Every Product Will Need One

All of the remote sensor units from AcuRite, Davis Instruments, Ambient, and Oregon Scientific use a pole to attach to them.

They all have the pole attachment ring which easily slips over a pole mast. This is much easier to use than to try some other way to hook your station in place on either your roof, your chimney, or your fence.

Remember as I have written these quite extensively in the post What You Should Know About Weather Station Mounting Systems. There are different types of mountings that you may find the most beneficial to your situation.

They are using a tripod for an open field setting, a chimney strap, and a pole arrangement for mounting on a roof.

Or you may just need to mount your remote sensor unit alongside your house above your roof using a long pole.

Let’s Look at Actual Weather Station Pole Mounting

So as I just mentioned one set up of a sensor involves using a section of a pole attached to your chimney. This is depicted in this photo.

What you see in this photo to the left is a TV antenna on a full mast pole mount and the Davis Vue Weather station mounted from a pole fastened in place by using chimney straps. These chimney straps are easily purchased at Amazon.

They look like this. This is what we used when my brother-in-law set up his weather station above his roof.

He found he has been getting great results for over two years now with this type of mounting. It was very easy to set up for him.

The mast poles were attached to the chimney with two chimney straps. The Davis Vue remote weather sensory unit sits on top of the pole mast unit.

It is now stable and has been stable during high winds, very bad snowstorms, and lots of wind and rain.

It does get very windy where this is located. It is on the outer western edge of the snow belt area east of Lake Erie.

Buffalo, NY, and its famous lake effect snows have been experienced a few times the last two winter seasons.

Your Choices For Weather Station Pole Mounting

• Chimney mount on a rooftop
• Top of a fence mounting
• Freestanding tripod mounting on the ground
• The cementing of a tripod on a rooftop or on the ground
• Mounting on a Pitched Roof
• Mounting on an Eaves

As you can observe you have multiple choices available for you to choose from. The question is that you need to do a thorough inspection of your property to figure out where you will be able to get the very best use of your weather station.

Your Weather Station Mounting Pole Choices

CL4682-4 1/2′ Mast Mount Extension for Antenna

I have found three-pole sources that should more than take care of your needs for correctly setting up your personal weather station. Two of the three products I am suggesting are cut into 5-foot sections.

The third choice is an 18-inch long pole which could be used for a rooftop situation or could be attached

With the RCA outdoor antenna mast, you will find the following features that you should be aware of.

First, the sections are sold in 4.5 feet sections. Secondly, there is an RCA provided lifetime warranty provided on the product. The mast is lightweight (it is 12.3 ounces for the 4.5 ft length) and made of heavy-duty steel. It is listed on Amazon as

CL4682-4 1/2′ Mast Mount Extension for Antenna

Solid Signal Heavy Duty Grade 1.25 Inch TV Antenna Mast (SSMAST)Check PriceThe second suggestion would be this heavy pole mast listed on Amazon as

Solid Signal Heavy Duty Grade 1.25 Inch TV Antenna Mast

These pole mount sections come in 5 foot long sections. They are made of galvanized steel and fit into each other just fine.

Their edges are what they call swedged ends which makes for connecting pieces much easier.

They are manufactured with 18 gauge galvanized steel, which makes for many years of great use. They will rust very slowly.

They come with an outer diameter of 1.25 inches. This is for standard antennas and will work just fine with the remote sensor suites attachment.

Wilson 901117 Pole Mount for Antenna

The next suggestion is listed on Amazon as

Wilson 901117 Pole Mount for Antenna

The Wilson Pole Mount for antennas is available from Amazon.com. This is a well-built 10-inch long pole mount piece. It is 1.5 inches in diameter as well as 10 inches long as I mentioned.

It will work well for a wall mount. The wall could be the top of a section of your house, or it could be fastened to the top of a wooden fence. Or maybe the top of a wall of a shed.

Or you could mount it on the top of a wooden post that has been post-driven into the ground on your property.

It will do the job of being used as a base for inserting other mounting posts into this 10-inch piece. It comes with an included U-bracket assembly and wall mount bracket.

It is manufactured by WeBoost a Wilson Electronics Brand located at
3301 E. Deseret Drive
St. George, Utah 84790

3 Feet Tripod Mount With 2-Inch Outside Diameter Mast

As a bonus suggestion, I thought that I would talk about using a Tripod Stand that a pole mast extension may be set in.

This tripod stand may be anchored into the ground, or it can be set into cement to anchor it or I could even be anchored on a flat roof of your home or business as well.

It is listed on Amazon as 3 Feet Tripod Mount With 2-Inch Outside Diameter Mast

Here are some features you will receive if you purchase this product.

You will find that it is super sturdy, and is made of 18 gauge steel. It also has a 28 long center universal support pole that you may use. It extends out to this height.

It has sturdiness because the outside diameter is 2.0 inches and the telescoped other end has a dimension of 1 5/8 inches. This makes for a flexible mounting base for a personal weather station.

Whether it would be for an AcuRite mounting pole or a La Crosse mounting pole. It can be used for any collection of weather instruments that you are setting up the solidarity for.

So take a look at this tripod if it matches up with where your mounting needs are on your property.

Read More About Weather Station Mounting-View Related Posts Below

What You Should Know About Weather Station Mounting Systems
You will find it including ideas like mounting on a flat roof and mounting your personal weather station on a house eave.

Tips For Mounting A Personal Weather Station

How to best mount your personal weather station, this is a post about how you can do this at your home.

When you purchase a weather station, it will also include a component called the outdoor sensor suite.

The location in which you choose to install your weather station is of the utmost importance because the right location will improve the accuracy of your weather station.

There are many choices of weather station mounting systems and it can be hard to determine which one you should use.

Fortunately, you can read our guide below to learn about some of the more popular mounting solutions.

Mounting on the Ground

Ambient Weather EZ-48 Weather Station Tripod and Mast Assembly

For those who happen to have a large yard or open land, this may be the best location for you to install your weather system.

You could mount the system using a tripod and fix it according to the mounting stipulations. You can use a mounting pole or a tripod with stakes to improve stability.

Pros:

1. This method allows you to mount the weather station by yourself if need be.
2. You’ll be able to access the sensor unit easily for regular maintenance.

Cons:

1. The ease of access to the weather station could make it a target for trespassers.
2. This installation requires lots of space with no obstructions.
3. The sensor cannot be mounted in a shady location.

Concrete Mounting on the Ground or Roof

If you have an outdoor area with a large concrete space on the ground or have a flat concrete roof, this may be a good option for you.

For this method, you will need one of the weather station mounting systems that have a non-penetrating mount. As I featured in the previous section on this page.

A couple of things you may want to add for thought would be if, the ground doesn’t have concrete and the roof doesn’t have concrete, but they rather would be simply dirt and a tarred roof, or shingled roof then you would very much want to consider adding these two accessory items to either of your situations. To have the mount anchored in place is very important.

These mounts are created especially for use on flat roofs. Almost every non-penetrating mount will include a cinder block platform.

&

Ambient Weather EZ-245-SK 24Ambient Weather EZ-46-3 Tar Pad Kit for Roof Tripod Installation

Pros:
It’s easy to install since no penetration is necessary.
It’s easy to care for and can be quickly relocated if needed.
You can install the entire weather station yourself.
Cons:
High winds and severe weather can cause damage or alter the station’s positioning.
It can be difficult to add more mast if you have a system with individual units.

Mounting on a Pitched Roof

Ambient Weather WEATHERMOUNT2 Weather Station Mount

If you don’t have a ton of space or a flat concrete roof, then you may want to consider pitched roof mounting. Simply drill some holes into the tar pads first, then mount the sensor suit’s stand.

Pros:
It will be harder for anyone to access the weather station since it is permanently mounted to a high roof.
The weather station will not be easily damaged by high winds or severe weather.

Cons:
Installing the unit with this type of mounting system takes more time.
Unless you are an expert, you will require some professional assistance.
It can be difficult to access the system for maintenance.
You’ll need to make sure to reseal the holes you create in the roof during installation. If not, you may experience water leakage when it rains.

This is a type of mounting system that will take extra time for you to deal with. We have a great suggestion for a pitched roof mount that could serve this purpose for you and your pitched roof. You can take a look at this mount now.

Mounting on Eaves

Ambient Weather EZ-30-12-100 Stable Mounting Kit with Mast For AcuRite Weather Stations, 1.00

Most people choose to mount their weather systems on eaves. There are some sensors that even work best when they are mounted on an eave.

So, if you don’t have a lot of space and are unable to use pitched-roof mounting for any reason, eave mounting can be a great idea.

Eave mounting requires a special type of sensor suit stand that includes a horizontal offset that will allow you to install the unit correctly.

Pros:
Doesn’t require much space.
Ideal location for sensitive sensors.
Works great for weather stations that have a low transmission distance.

Cons:
You may need professional help with the installation.
You must use a sturdy mount and install it correctly.
The overhang and gutters may be blocked by stands that have smaller offsets.

Mounting on a Chimney

Ambient Weather EZ-29-24 Chimney Mounting Kit with Mast

Lots of people opt to install their weather station onto their chimney. This is a viable option for those who have a weather station with a high transmission distance because it will reduce any interference from nearby obstacles.

You’ll need to use a chimney mounting pole for this installation. There are some poles that are meant to be permanently mounted to the chimney by directly drilling into them, while others implement straps that attach the poles to the chimney’s vent.

Here’s a suggestion for a good mount you can use as a Chimney Mount.

Pros:
There are fewer obstacles when the system is placed in this location, so the data is likely to be more accurate.
It will be difficult for anyone to tamper with the unit.
This method does not require a lot of space.
Cons:
You may need professional help with this installation.
If this is a working chimney, the heat from a fire could melt parts or at the very least the heat on the parts could skewer the effectiveness of these finely tuned weather instruments. Your weather station will be affected in its ability to collect accurate data.
It will be hard for you to reach the system to perform maintenance.
These are just a few of the weather station mounting systems available. Be sure to do your research to find the right one for you.

Where To Start-Best Tips for Mounting a Personal Weather Station for You

So obviously you need to take a good look at your newly purchased personal weather station. It outside sensor or sensor suite will determine, how you will need to consider hanging it up for using it.

Please Remember where you install it, will be in direct response to the kind of results it will give to you.

If you mount it poorly, you know a bad location your readings will be tainted. The temperature may be elevated if it is in direct sunlight a lot, and if it is sheltered your precipitation amount will be short of what is really happening.

So location does matter in the results you will get.

So get into your manual and instructions you received and find out the size of a post you will need to attach your sensor suite to, or if its a small sensor, how you are able to attach it to your picked location.

Weather Station Mounting Preparation

The next thing to do is, if you don’t own the property where you are living, you might need to consult the owner or management agency to obtain permission before mounting a personal weather station.

But if you own the property and the house, you will need to scope out your surroundings to find the spot for your mounting exercise.

Out in the open for best precipitation collection, but not too sunny, too much, the sun will have a tendency to burn your thermometer into giving you an inaccurate reading much of the time.

The wind, you should not have it sheltered, where it will not be affected by the wind, but you also will need it to be located where you get a good common flow of air current.

So in consideration of all of these situations, you will pick out your best location.

You may also read our best interpretations of all of the things you need to think of by reading our article, What’s Involved in Weather Station Mounting, a comprehensive study of what you are going to be doing in the mounting process.

Location Is Everything For Your Mounting

Just like real estate, location is everything when it comes to the installation of your PWS. Each piece of equipment needs to be placed in an ideal area, or at least not in a bad one.

Failing to pay attention to the specific elements each sensor requires will result in poor measurements.

Whether you want to join a community that compiles data from a personal weather station or are mounting the unit just for yourself, accuracy is essential or your money has been wasted.

To begin with, the placement of your station must be in line with all of the sensors that you are going to use. If obstructed by buildings, greenery, or other items, your readings might be inaccurate.

When mounting a personal weather station you must choose brackets, screws, and related mounting supplies that are designed for the manufacturer and model you own.

You have various potential placement choices, including fence posts and flag poles. The roof or middle of an open field might work as well.

No matter where you choose, it should be placed at least five feet above the surface. Before you make a final determination, make sure that you have an appropriate location chosen for all of your sensors that will allow communication from this location. Otherwise, you might have to move it later on.

You can choose a wireless or cable model for your weather station. If you opt for the cable model you will need to determine how you will connect everything while protecting vulnerable cables from rodents and other potential hazards.

An electrical conduit can help. Additional sensors and location choices are a couple of the benefits associated with a wireless model.

Wind Sensors Are Important Too

In order to ensure accurate wind direction, you will need to find true north, rather than magnetic north. Similarly, you will need to calibrate the barometric pressure in your system.

A National Weather Station or visiting Weather Underground can help you with this. Failure to do these two things will distort your data collection efforts.

Rain Gauge Thoughts

Ambient Weather SRS100LX Temperature and Humidity Solar Radiation ShieldThe rain gauge needs to have plenty of open space around it for accurate readings. First of all, you need to keep it at least five feet away from one-story buildings. Additionally, adjust the distance if there are larger buildings on or around your property.

Make sure that the object never obstructs rainfall around the gauge in any way, no matter the direction or strength of the winds.

As for the humidity sensor, keep it fifty feet or more away from bodies of water and trees. Your anemometer should be thirty-three feet above ground level and at least seven above surrounding buildings and trees to ensure accurate wind readings.

Choose the placement for your thermometer to keep it out of direct sunlight and with plenty of ventilation. A radiation shield can increase your placement options by protecting the thermometer even in direct sun; a ventilating fan option makes it even better.

It should be at least five feet above the surface and fifty feet from any paved areas.

The most important aspect of successful personal weather station installation is choosing the right location for your sensors. These tips should help you when putting together the PWS for your own property.

Don’t passively accept inaccurate weather reports from your local television station. Instead, take charge and install your own system!

Your Adventure Begins With A PWS (Personal Weather Station)

So remember all of this begins with your love for weather. Whether it be the interest you have in watching the weather closer than most people, or if you are keenly interested in historical weather fact gathering, you start with having your own PWS (Personal Weather Station).

Keeping that in mind, here is a small glimpse into what got me started. It all started for me back in the 1950s.

Here’s how I tell it, “for a while people relied on radio and television to find out about the weather rather than taking their own readings. When I grew up on a dairy farm, my dad always had a barometer, and a rain gauge.

He kept track of the barometric pressure daily, so he would have a heads up on any weather changes, and then the rain gauge helping in knowing how much rain we had. This was so he could tell if the fields were too muddy to drive into, to do work.

Other heads up from this could be if the bales of hay needed to be turned so they could dry out, before mowing them.”

Return To Relying on Personal Weather Data

La Crosse Technology 308-1412S Color LCD Wireless Weather Station with USB Charging Port

However, an increasing number of people are returning to some of the old ways rather than rely on meteorological reports, which are often inaccurate. By mounting a personal weather station (PWS) these folks can monitor it for themselves.

You can join the thousands of people doing so, even sharing the data online at a site that aggregates the data for anyone wanting to see what the real weather is like!

Here is one of my current weather stations that I own and use. It is the La Crosse Technology 308-1412S Color LCD Wireless Weather Station, and It has been a consistent day in, and day out companion, of mine.

It is reliable and has been error free for over a year and as half. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good starting weather station. You can read my complete thorough review by going here to La Crosse Technology 308-1412S Color LCD Wireless Weather Station Review

Read More About Weather Station Mounting-View Related Posts Below

What You Should Know About Weather Station Mounting Systems
This is a weather station mounting systems discussion. You will find it including ideas like mounting on a flat roof

Top Weather Station Mounting Ideas
Mounting a weather station is a challenge. This is a guide to teach you about the top weather station mounting ideas.

How To Get the Best From Your Proper Weather Station Mounting

Let’s discuss what you can do to be the best at this. Just what do you need to know and plan out, just what you need to know to get the best location?

I will break this down by instrument and discuss how to get the best readings from this instrument.

I am going to discuss the four main weather data collection and reading instrument readings.

These are the readings that you will need to get the most from your weather watching.

The Temperature Reading

Probably the easiest thing to screw up is the thermometer readings. Where you locate the thermometer will make a significant difference in how accurate your temperature readings really are.

As a meteorologist-of sort, you can look at the temperature as the correct reading made in shade with plenty of ventilation. When deciding your mounting location, place your weather station with the following things in mind.

• Make sure the thermometer sensor isn’t ever in direct sunlight
• See to it that the thermometer gets plenty of open airflows and that it isn’t being blocked by the wind
• Be positively sure that the thermometer is placed at least five feet above the grass line
• If the thermometer is set up on a roof-top, it should be at least 5 feet above the roof’s surface-level surface
• Check to see that the thermometer is at least 50 feet from the nearest paved surface. Pavement and sidewalks have a way of collecting solar energy, which will lead to much higher (inaccurate) readings.
• Please note that you could use a radiation shield to guard against the excessive heat build-up

The Rain Collector (Rain Gauge)

• You want the Rain Gauge to receive rainfall as if it were in the middle of a large field. Imagine if you will, nearby buildings create “shadows”.
• Every building has a shadow, with this in mind, imagine if there’s a building nearby (to the west), and it is raining with a west wind. In such an event, your station’s rain collector is bound to miss a lot of falling rain because of the “shadow” cast by the building.

      As a rule of thumb guide, you can use the following suggestions
A. a rain collector should be placed with at least 5 feet horizontal clearance from the nearest obstruction
B.  If a nearby obstruction is over 5 feet away, that obstruction should be no more than 10 feet tall

Humidity

Humidity measurements should reflect the humidity of the general atmosphere in your location. Your placement of the humidity sensor should incorporate some of the following in your planning process.

Please note being near plants (who are breathing) and being close to bodies of water will influence your humidity measurements.

With this in mind please, make sure you locate a humidity sensor at least 50 feet away from the nearest tree or body of water.

Wind Speed & Direction

The anemometer should reflect the wind patterns as if the instrument was placed in a large field. This is just like your planning was for the Rain Gauge.

Try to place the anemometer as high as is possible for you. A meteorologic standard (in the outside elements industry) calls for the wind reading to be taken at least 10 meters above the ground.

Since this is over 33 feet in the air, you may want to try your best to find a nice roof to install your anemometer on.

Try to make the anemometer the highest object around. Try to place it 7 feet or more above any surrounding obstructions, this is the best placement possible.

Setting Up the Remote Sensors

You should perform a site survey. This survey will help you to determine the transmission distance. You need to determine, any obstacles to the transmission’s success. It could be distance, and it could be types of building materials as well, that cause the problems for you.

Another thing you need to look at is whether you’re dealing with wireless or cabled transmissions. Wireless is far easier to install than cabled element stations.

Davis Instruments Mounting Tripod

You may see a variety of areas other weather station owners have set up their climate units by going to our post: Top Weather Station Mounting Ideas.

Please consider an Integrated Sensor Suite where all of the sensors are integrated together in one package. I believe you will find most station units will come with this type of sensor unit.

Also, consider a tripod mounting kit. We have found that most stations include U-Bolt mounting hardware to connect to a mast or pole.

A large faux pas would be to install a wireless climate station in a structure with an aluminum siding or roof. You will find out that metal or aluminum makes a great transmission-blocking agent.

Transmitting through earth or soil, through water, or other physical barriers such as trees may majorly limit your transmission.

Suggestions Before Final Installation

Let’s list some things to test out before you do the final installation of your remote sensor package. Make sure all of your transmissions are working, from where you are planning to mount the unit. Try each and every sensor to ensure all are working properly.

• • Make sure you are getting a good solid, dependable wind speed reading. Make sure there are no trees or buildings inhibiting a good reading.

• Test out the rain gauge with some real rain. Don’t assume it is going to work properly.
• All temperature readings should be tripled checked for accuracy. Not too low to the ground, and no interference in keeping or preventing excessive heat build-up. If you are using an aspirating fan just make plenty sure it is doing its job.
• For a ground installation, there is a rule of thumb that many manufacturers suggest you go by. It is called the 4 to 1 rule. If your house is 18 ft. tall, then move out 72 feet in a direction to make up for the tallness factor. This will ad to the accuracy of the readings, by cutting down on any interference there may be.
• As an added example I found this excellent example of the 4 to 1 rule on the Davis Instruments mounting instructions. Let’s say for an example, your building is 25 feet tall, and your anemometer is 5 feet off the ground, install the weather station at a distance of 80 feet, or: Distance = 4 x (Obstruction Height – Anemometer Installed Height)
  Distance = 4 x (25′ – 5′) = 80′. I hope this will suffice in helping you to understand this rather smart way of ensuring better sensor readings.

Lightning

MFJ-270 Lightning arrester DC-1GHz, UHF-F/F 400W by MFJSome areas are more prone to direct or indirect lightning strikes. Often these will damage your personal station.

This can happen even if you have a type of lightning arrester (like the MFJ-270 Lightning arrester) installed on your station.

You may even want to invest the money into paying an electrician to set up a lightning rod protection system on your weather station.

This could probably be done inexpensively and would be worth your investment.

Just realizing this may happen, can help you in being better prepared.

Wireless systems need protection, but cabled weather stations can result in even more damage, as in your home is damaged significantly if the path of least resistance in a lightning strike is into your house, and through your weather station’s display console.

Birds and Rodents

For wired installations, it is recommended you run the cables in an electrical conduit, to protect against rodents chewing into your wiring. They can cause major problems with your system by doing this.

Birds will excrement and nest in your rain gauge. It is a great idea to mount your rain gauge in an open area.

You may need to install a decoy owl. Many people have said the owl decoys do the work of totally scaring any bird activity in your weather sensor suite.

Another idea would be you could use a spike strip around the rain gauge area, this too can be very effective for you in keeping this irritating thing from happening to you.

An ounce of prevention is always worth a pound of cure as the saying goes.

&

Dalen OW6 Gardeneer Scarecrow Great Horned OwlCat and Bird Repellent Spikes 20pk [20ft]

One last thing to be aware of, wind direction must be calibrated to true North. A compass or GPS is required to calibrate the wind direction.

You may consider a digital compass or GPS for even greater improved accuracy.

Weather Station Mounting In Summation

As you expand your hobby, hopes, and dreams into reality, be aware of how wonderful owning your own weather station can be.

The daily climate forecasts, the data transmissions that help you establish a solid history of collected instrument data, and how much fun using this station will be for you.

Because you set up the unit in the best possible way, you will maximize the pleasure from it as well as get the greatest results possible.

Planning and setting up according to your initial plan will make your weather experience even better than what you ever imagined.