Which weather station will transmit the furthest?

	In last month’s Newsletter we covered wireless transmission range and this month we want to see how far some of our most popular stations can transmit. We will be testing them in open air with no obstructions (perfect line of sight) to establish how far they can transmit beyond their maximum specified range. Read on to find out which station performed best!
Equipment IC6250AU – Vantage Vue Weather Station IC0348 - Wireless Weather Station with Touch Screen WS1516IT - Lacrosse Professional Weather Station IC00639 – Pro Digital Weather Center with Forecast, Temperature, Humidity and Wind speed IC7716 – Davis Tripod IC-I-LCA-D810 - Leica D810 Laser distance meter Tripod-02 – 1470mm Camera Tripod Method 1) All batteries were removed from the transmitters and consoles. 2) The IC6250 transmitter was then fitted to the IC7716 Tripod. Only the transmitters were fitted as this is what transmits the signal to the receivers. 3) Batteries were then fitted to the transmitter, and once they had powered up, batteries were placed in the console ensuring they were a minimum of 3m away from the transmitter. 4) The tripod with the transmitter was then placed on the pathway out the front of the Instrument Choice premises. 5) The Tripod-02 and Leica D810 were then setup at 300m (Maximum transmission distance of the IC6250AU) from the tripod housing the transmitter, the console was placed next to the Tripod-02 and D810 at the 300m distance. This was established by measuring 100m lengths using the D810. 6) The console and the D810 were continually moved further from the transmitter until it failed to display the current readings. The distance from the console to the previous 100m length was then measured to establish the distance. This was then added to the existing measurements and this was considered the maximum transmission range. 7) The procedure was repeated with the IC0348, WS1516IT, and IC00639, however the starting distance was reduced to 100m as this is their maximum transmission range. Figure 1: IC0348 dropping out at 122m, 22m past its maximum range 8) This information was then recorded and can be viewed below in the results section. Results Table 1: Table showing the transmission ranges of the various stations and how far beyond their maximum ranges they went Figure 2: The IC00639 Console still communicating at 198m Discussion The results show that surprisingly all of the stations transmitted beyond the maximum specified line of sight range detailed within their specifications. The WS1516IT and IC0348 performed almost identically with the WS1516IT transmitting 29m past the 100m specified, whilst the IC0348 went 22m past its 100m line of sight range before dropping out. The best performer of the bunch was the IC6250 transmitting to a whopping 248m past its maximum specified line of sight range of 300m. This was somewhat unexpected as the expected range is still significantly above that of the other stations and for it to transmit to 248m further than this came as a shock. The other suprise was the IC00639 which went to 98m beyond its specified range. This was unexpected due to the price point with respect to the IC6250. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant finding and allowed us to see what the station could do in ideal conditions. If you would like to discuss this experiment further please contact one of our friendly Scientists via email or phone on 1300 737 871.