Skeptoid is putting together a Secret Project. A very special piece of hardware is needed, one that I hope some friend or colleague can help with. It is a remote weather station, capable of operating unattended in extreme environments, and daily transmitting its data via some kind of satellite link. It needs:
- An anemometer (wind need only be sampled at a few intervals during the day).
- A thermometer (temperature should be sampled about once per hour, round the clock).
- A webcam (a few pictures a day would suffice, at predefined times).
- Operate unattended for 30 days.
- Transmit all data somehow at least once per day. There is no cell connection or wired connection of any kind available.
- Location (my secret for now) will be remote and difficult to access. It should not need to remain on station more than a month or so. There will be cold, wind, and rain.
The budget is limited, so I’m hoping to be able to borrow something. I can buy or rent to some degree. I don’t have the time or the skilz to build, but would gratefully accept help if someone else does.
Time frame? Pretty short. Need by February 14, 2013.
Any suggestions, anyone?
At last! Brian’s Big Corruption Masters are putting their evil plans into place! We will finally see the fruits of your constant disinformation schemes as your so-called Remote Weather Station gains sentience and heralds the arrival of our robot overlords!
I for one welcome our robot overlords.
Using a weather station for “technically not legal” purposes…. I am intrigued enough to wish I had one!
I’m guessing the “technically not legal” part involves trespassing, presumably on public property like a national park or something. (The number of illegal uses one can put a weather station through is rather limited.) Question though: will the results of this super secret project be made public? The stupidest thing that most law-breakers do is to provide evidence of their activities, like recording it. Would hate to see one of my favorite podcasters get into legal hot water over this!
Oh, and to repeat what someone on Facebook asked, does it need to be a satellite uplink, or could it simply record the data for later retrieval? (Again I do not have one myself, just asking for the sake of any who might.)
As described, it requires daily data transmissions. It’s much too remote to access in person and the updated data is needed daily. The location will remain a secret until all is revealed.
You mean broadcasting the data isn’t legal? If you hooked it up to a sat phone instead of ham radio it would be, though I guess that would up the price by $500-$1500.
I’m guessing you want to check on your moving rocks.
Is it true you want to check on curiosity?
Brian,
You could try asking on this web forum.
http://www.wxforum.net/index.php
I’ve no connection with them so can’t say what will happen but they may have someone who can help you.
Hey Brian,
With the right amount of pizza and coffee you can achieve anything.
Actually, very much do-able with off-the-shelf components. Your BOM will still be ~$250 – $500+ depending on the satellite network you use (different coverage maps). On top of that your main expense will probably be the data bill – images eat bandwidth, and that’s not cheap with any of the sat comm networks.
I’ll take the beer and pizza though…
I should take another look at your Pilotfish project where you described your uplink setup. Thanks.
Can you use a cellphone data connection ?
If so, a Davis weather station will do the trick.