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Discussion specific to Fine Offset and similar rebadged weather stations
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mikechristelow
Posts: 165
Joined: Wed 01 Feb 2012 9:33 pm
Weather Station: Watson W8681 (solar)
Operating System: Windows XP SP3
Location: Crewe, Cheshire
Contact:

Re: Cannot download data.

Post by mikechristelow »

Just as an afterthought, although the "manual" that came with the Watson describes the RF link as being 433MHz, the box in which the kit came shows the external sensors as communicating on 868MHz. A cursory check on the internet reveals this to be particularly susceptible to interference. So it might actually just be that, as others have suggested - purely interference of the RF link rather than faulty kit per se. I'm sure we've plenty of radio engineers on here who be able to add to that aspect of the discussion :-)
http://www.christelow.co.uk
“It's snowing still," said Eeyore gloomily.
"So it is."
"And freezing."
"Is it?"
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AllyCat
Posts: 1124
Joined: Sat 26 Feb 2011 1:58 pm
Weather Station: Fine Offset 1080/1 & 3080
Operating System: Windows XP SP3
Location: SE London

Re: Cannot download data.

Post by AllyCat »

Hi,
mikechristelow wrote: Watson W8681 Solar station
I think the model number is a clue. ;)

868 MHz is generally "better" than the now very heavily used 434 MHz band, but it has more difficulty getting through walls etc. and maybe interference from mobile phones and broadcast TV, etc.. FO stations rarely achieve their claimed 100 metre "open field" (taken literally) range; what "obstructions" do you have in your system path (transmitter to receiver)?

There will always be some "collisions" between messages from different systems using these radio bands (which are intended for "shared" use) so it makes sense for the FO Console screen to "hide" a few lost messages, and 7 (i.e. 6 minutes) may not be excessive since the default logging interval is 30 minutes !

However, instantly "reporting" lost contacts in the data memory can be useful if you are trying to test the performance of the system. Having to wait 7 minutes to see if some minor change to the antenna position/direction has made any difference can be very tedious (voice of experience). :(

Cheers, Alan.

PS: The Solar data is sent as a completely different data packet (with a 1 minute repetition time) to the other External data, so it is quite possible for one set of data to update and not the other. I suspect (but don't know) that the solar packets are not taken into account for the "lost contact" reporting.
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