New Weather Station at Aeroden!!

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nealet
Thinking of flying
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:26 pm

New Weather Station at Aeroden!!

Postby nealet » Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:00 am

Hi All
At long last the weather station at Aeroden is up and running!!
It has been installed at the top of the unused windsock at Aeroden on runway 36/18. The station respond to SMS’s sent to a fixed number (36010) with a short text string ( AD). The following information
is sent back, of which the following is an actual message, some explanations alongside:

-----SMS Text -----
Aeroden Airf
22 Jul 19:43
Wind:SSW T213 4-6kph,2-3kts - wind is SSW or specifically at a True heading of 213degrees, between 4 & 6 kmh which is 2 to 3 Knots
Temp:21C
Hum:17% - Hum = Humidty
QNH:1027mb RIS - RIS = Rising & FAL = Falling
Dewpoint:-5C
CU Height:10656ft -This is the estimated cloud base height
D.Alt:4815ft -Density Altitude
Sunrise-06:53
Sunset-17:38


Since I covered the cost of the station myself the charge is R5 per SMS. This service makes it potentially useful to pilots to use on an as needed basis, to give some insight as to whether to make the trip out to the field to fly or not depending on how hard and from which direction the wind is blowing. The R5 (the bulk of which goes to the service providers of which there are at least three!) would hopefully keep the station at least breaking even if not making some small contribution to the R10,000 odd cost of the station.

As a legal requirement, I am required to be quite clear about the commercial aspects when advertising the costs of the service; The following MUST be included in any communication or to any advert about the weather station.
To get the latest Wind speed & direction from Aeroden
Simply SMS the code AD to 36010
All SMS cost R5. NO Free SMS



Another nice feature is that flying anywhere that Aeroden is on route, one will be able to determine the conditions at the Northern ridge. Specifically pilots from anywhere can use it such as from , Kroon, Brits, FAAP, Crosswinds, Orient, RBurg, etc. as an easy way of finding out the conditions either on route to a destination, or to Aeroden itself.
Regards
Neale
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pietmeyer
Pilot in Command
Pilot in Command
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Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:41 pm
Location: Ingwe Airfield, Centurion

Re: New Weather Station at Aeroden!!

Postby pietmeyer » Mon Jul 25, 2011 6:47 am

I just gave it a try and it works great. Thanks. We will definitely make use of it.

(^^) (^^) (^^) (^^) (^^) (^^) (^^) (^^)
Piet Meyer
Jabi J400 ZU-DUU (Wonderboom)
nealet
Thinking of flying
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:26 pm

Important Update to existing Weather Station at Aeroden!!

Postby nealet » Tue Oct 08, 2013 7:41 pm

Dear All
Some of you may have received sms's to the effect of a price increase per sms on the Aeroden Weather station. I am afraid that it is true. A couple of years ago I funded the purchased of the weather station myself to the tune of about R10,000 and got it all set up at Aeroden. Over the last few years, the station has functioned reasonably reliably for the relatively cheap price of R5 per sms. The station has never made any money, not even to pay for itself, but that was not the intention of putting it up. I intended it as a hopefully self supporting service to myself and fellow pilots. Unfortunately the cost of keeping the station up has now started to exceed the small "break even" income that it makes. I am now in a situation where I must either increase the price, or pull the plug. Unfortunately the next price break for this service is R10 and not something inbetween that is more manageable like R7-50. So I am afraid that it has to be R10 since there are no other options in between price wise. I can't tell you how bad I feel about this, but I have no other choice. I thank you all for supporting it thus far, and I hope that you will see the value to continue as such.
In order to use the site;
SMS the code AD to 38020
All sms cost R10 no free sms.

NB! PLEASE DO NOT USE THE PREVIOUS NUMBER OF 36010, you will not get any weather information and will also suffer a cost as well! You should however get a message telling you use the 38020 number though!
Again Thankyou for your support, and my sincere apologies for the price increase.
Regards Nealet

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