[aprssig] OT: Any Smart Home "Geeks" still here?

[Bob Bruninga]

>> ...>for only a little more [than a WX station], you 
>> might buy a wind generator that can produce up to 
>> 400W for under $550 (the model AIR-X).
>
>Bob... Will you really be getting true wind speed from 
>the wind  generator? 

No, and you are entirely correct that it is not a substitute for a WX station.  But I guess after I bought my first Peet Bros WX station back in 1995 to add WX to APRS, and after the squirrels ate through all the cables, I have not had that much interest in WX.  My wife has cats and they are pretty useless anyway,  So I use them to tell the weather.

THeir length is proportional to temperature.  If they are wet it is raining.  I enjoy tossing them out the door to measure the snow depth too.

So my coments were only towards the gadget and experimental part of the hobby which to me is satisfied by playing with alternative energy where I can.  I do thank the surrounding APRS WX stations, however, for letting my analyze the wind conditions in my area.  I have driven by their houses to see where their annemometer is located, and then use the FINDU info to get an idea of the general wind in this area.

Again, I do want to standardize where possible on an application of the KPC-3+ telemetry to read home alternative energy production.  This way, FINDU can have a CGI so that we can instanly see the APRS contribution to alternative energy.  Lets see...

Ch1 - System volts
Ch2 - Wind AMPS
Ch3 - Solar Amps
ch4 - user defined (maybe inddor temp)
Ch5 - User defined (maybe outdoor temp)?

This way, the first three could always be interpreted as alternative energy power production. ?

Bob, WB4APR