Putting the Hill online

Last Summer, I took on a project to get Harris Hill weather online. The Hill has a microclimate due to its position up on top and the fact that the nearby Elmira airport is down in the valley. The direction of the wind and the velocity is very often quite different from what's going on down below.

In addition, some members complained that they lived an hour or more away and could not easily tell when the winds were favorable or not. Also, I noted that the National Soaring Museum (NSM) although it has internet, doesn't have a presence online at places like Wunderground.com. That just plain seems wrong.

So, I decided to take some spare computer parts I had and donate them plus a Davis Vantage Pro II weather station. I asked members if they'd be willing to donate for the data logger that was needed to get the station data to the computer and promised I'd figure out the rest. They came through with the donations and now it's up to me to make it happen.

I've solved all of the problems and issues and the weather data is being uploaded to the Harris Hill web site (check it out here) with this up to the network issue. The NSM has internet access. Our flight center, about 1,500 feet away, doesn't. The weather station has a console that displays history and so forth and is useful for pilots who frequent the flight center. Thus, the console goes in the flight center, which means the computer goes there too.

But, to upload to the internet so everyone can see the data, you have to have a net connection. I've found what I hope is the solution - I'm going to build a 'cantenna' which focuses the WiFi signal from a router in the direction of the flight center. That should solve the 'last mile' problem and get us online. I hope.

Beyond that, I'm building personalized web pages with weather data on them including one for mobile phones. I've added the NSM weather station to www.wunderground.com personal weather stations and even have a web cam. My main concern is that it will run reliably so it's there when we need it.