How To Select the Ideal Home Weather Station
by: Graham McClung
Have you ever considered buying your very own home weather station? Not that I'm selling them, but I believe I may be able to help you decide what to look for.
There are certainly many good reasons for having a modern weather station set up and working in your home.
Not the least of these is that they have never before been so easy to install and use, never had so many useful features, and certainly never been such good value.
How Your Own Home Weather Station Will Benefit You
The overall benefits of a home weather station are huge.
Modern home weather stations bring the outdoors inside to you, as outside weather sensors frequently and regularly transmit weather information to an attractively designed receiver/display unit, which can be set up almost anywhere in your home.
Home weather stations can provide crucial information about approaching bad weather, as well as giving you valuable data you can use to help maintain your garden, greenhouse, pond or aviary, or even to decide what to wear when you venture outside.
But best of all, they provide a painless way of understanding the weather, and what drives it. After all, weather provides the background to all our outdoor hobbies, sport and recreation. And many people have found that a strong appreciation of weather has led in many unexpected and enjoyable directions.
So there could be any number of reasons why you first considered a weather station as a possible addition to your home, including just a general interest in weather.
Let's think about what the ideal home weather station might be.
The Ideal Home Weather Station
Firstly, it should be a wireless weather station - no worries about where the cables go. And it certainly will be able to record temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind strength and direction, and rainfall.
Next, the radio's range must be great enough so that you have no problems with installing the sensors in the best place to obtain realistic weather data for your location - no problems with trees or buildings affecting your results because your best position was out of radio range. No problem about the room the receiver goes in because the ideal transmitter can handle a wall or two. And it should be able to operate free of any governmental restrictions on radio frequency, allowing fast and reliable data updates. Most of the likely problems are overcome with a radio range of 300 feet (91m) or more
Thirdly, your temperature sensor is shielded so your readings are not affected by direct heat from the sun.
Fourthly it should be easy to install. A purpose built stand would be nice.
So far so good. You'd be up and running in no time at all, and you'd be able to place the receiver in a location that suits you rather than the radio link.
Now you have a couple of concerns about temperature and wind strength, as it affects your garden. A few programmable warnings would be nice.
And so would a charting facility so you could review changing patterns over the last few hours, or days, or months, for almost any variable.
In fact, you can see a few good reasons for linking your weather station to your computer, where some well designed software allows you to follow up a whole range of thoughts and trends.
You've noticed that there are a number of private weather stations on the net, reporting online data just like you are getting from your set up. But there's a gap in information in your area, and you feel like you'd like to join the network - maybe even become a volunteer weather station in your area. And after a little bit of research, you find that it's no problem at all.
Even better, you've just found a large group of interesting people with similar interests to yourself, scattered over the country, even the world.
All of these features can be found in quite a number of home weather stations, ranging in price from less than $150.00, if you are prepared to look around. However, like most things in life, you tend to get what you pay for, and the better models start around the $450.00 mark. Keep the name "Davis" in the back of your mind.
This doesn't mean that the lower priced home weather stations should be disregarded, particularly if your budget is tight. It just means that your weather station will work better and last longer if you take some care in setting it up and maintaining it, including early preventative maintenance.
To find out more about the better weather stations, where to find the best prices, and how to set them up to give long and trouble free service, make sure you visit http://www.home-weather-stations-guide.com. There's more information in the box just below.
About The Author
©2005, Graham McClung. A retired geologist, Graham McClung has had a lifelong interest in the outdoors. And where there's outdoors there's weather. He is the editor of http://www.home-weather-stations-guide.com where you can find reviews and advice to help you choose and use your own home weather station. You can email him at information@home-weather-stations-guide.com.
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