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

[Robert Kirk]

At 12:49 PM 1/7/2007, Robert Bruninga wrote:
>Im not sure what the price for a WX station is these days, but
>for only a little more, you might buy a wind generator that can
>produce up to 400W for under $550 (the model AIR-X).  I need to
>add a direction sensor to mine, and then I'll get wind speed and
>direction and get a few pennies a day to boot.

Bob... Will you really be getting true wind speed from the wind  generator? 
A regular anemometer is designed to have near zero bearing friction so the 
cup speed measures wind only. In the windmill case, you are using the wind 
force to turn the load on the generator and so the blades are presumably 
slowed. I suppose you have a calibration chart of windmill rpm versus wind 
speed all owing for the generator friction, but it doesn't seem to be as 
good as a more direct measurement.

Bob Kirk
N3OZB