Cumulus Support

Can anyone suggest the best place to put the rain guage? After recording an outstanding 144inches I can only come to conclusion that feathered unwelcome friends are having a nice ol perch on the guage which is currently mounted low on a very secure mast and wind has not been a problem with readings which is why I can only assume it is a bird. Am wondering where everyone else places their rain guage, the rest of my kit is on the apex at the rear of our house.

That sounds more like RFI if the gauge is mounted securely, particularly if it came within a very short period of time. Fine Offset stations can 'invent' rainfall occasionally, even without the buckets tipping.

so frustrating. I may have to learn to live with it, clearing the dat proved to be another mammoth task, thankfully my computer savy husband has it down pat now as it happened a couple fo days ago but the guage was mounted much higher on the mast.

If it is Radio Frequency Interference it might be worth locating the console closer to the station transmitter for a while to see if things improve.

Would RFI only affect the rain readings though All other readings seem to be ok.

I'm calling it RFI, but to be honest I don't know what causes it. What I know from looking at logs is that the rain counter can suddenly jump up when it's pretty clear that the gauge itself hasn't been disturbed.

Going to try a few things tomorrow I am not sure if there is a way to "bird proof" a rain guage but there is always a first.

Then...there is always the idea of setting up a web cam and seeing if anything is indeed playing around with my guage.... a nice project for the husband

Both barrels from the 8 gauge would do it

One thing can cause problems with Fine Offset rain gauges is wind, even if they're securely mounted. Mine is fixed firmly to the side of my Stevenson Screen, but when it's windy and dry, the rain total goes up rapidly.

It has been noticed by myself and at least one other that reed switch rain guages are very prone to 'static' - proven by being too close (4m / 12ft) to a low power electric cattle fence.

I suspect induced emf in the gold contacts is enough to affect the normal magnetic bias.

No amount of sheilding / earthing made any appreciable difference (I even put it in an enclosed, earthed steel box [for testing])

Try changing it's location .......

I have mine mounted on a solid stand at the base of my mast. There is a picture of it under "sensors" on my web site (link below)

To date I haven't had any false readings with the possible exception of .1mm today, however I'm hoping that might have just been a nearly full bucket from rain we received yesterday finally tipping. I hope its not RFI, but surely if it was I would have experienced it previously.