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6 APRS IN ACTION
TM-D710A/E CONTENTS 29
6.2 Base Station (Weather Station)
Weather observation equipment intended for use at home is becoming more common. Using this
equipment, you can observe and measure wind direction, wind velocity, air temperature, humidity,
rainfall, atmospheric pressure, etc. This information can be useful to others when the data is
gathered and transmitted in real time via APRS beacon transmissions.
These kinds of weather stations are installed in many parts of the world. Some stations transmit
NWS (National Weather Service) information that is dispatched and converted for beacon use.
Local important information, such as locations of nearby tornados as they are forming, which has
not been registered with central weather bureaus can be transmitted by APRS beacon.
Weather observation equipment can be connected to a TM-D710A/E or RC-D710 in place of a
GPS receiver via the GPS connector. The weather observation equipment transfers the
meteorological information with serial data and this data is transmitted via beacon transmissions
using the APRS weather format. Or you can monitor the meteorological data locally on the screen
of the TM-D710A/E or RC-D710. The TM-D710A/E and RC-D710 can display six different
meteorological measurements: rainfall, air temperature, wind direction, wind velocity, atmospheric
pressure and humidity.
6.2.1 Using Meteorological Equipment
Select Menu 602 (APRS - GPS PORT) and configure the GPS terminal settings.
• Baud Rate: 9600 bps (same as weather equipment being used)
• Input: WEATHER (Davis) or WEATHER (Peet Bros.)
•Output: OFF
Figure 6-11 Menu 602 (GPS PORT) used with Weather Equipment
Equipment that has been verified with our transceiver includes the following models.
6.2.1.1 Davis Instruments Corp.
The weather station, Vantage Pro2 from Davis Instruments (http://davisnet.com/weather/products/
vantage2.asp) can be used with TM-D710A/E or RC-D710.
“WeatherLink for Vantage Pro2, Windows, Serial Port” (Davis Part #.06510SER) or “WeatherLink
for APRS with Streaming Data Logger” (Davis Part #.06540) is required for TM-D710A/E and
RC-D710. Install the adaptor that comes with the above accessories to work with TM-D710A/E or
RC-D710.
To communicate with Vantage Pro2, configure the communication baud rate of Vantage Pro2 for
9600 bps using the panel keys and then configure the TM-D710A/E communication baud rate
(Menu 602) to 9600 bps as well.
Note: 4800 bps (06540/ 06510SER) or 2400 bps (06510SER) may work with TM-D710A/E but we recommend using 9600
bps for stable operation.