MCHGA has maintained a windtalker on Mt Tam's middle peak for many years. And whenever a wind storm would blow through, it would break cups off of our anemometer. This became a nuisance to maintain. So, in 2007, the club purchased a new, high-tech, ultra-sound anemometer. This device measures wind direction and velocity with no moving parts. Designed for the harshest environments, we thought this instrument would never need to be serviced.
Unfortunately, our avian friends had other ideas. When our first ultra-sound anemometer was mysteriously destroyed, we installed another one, only to suffer a repeat performance. Finally, the manufacturer admitted that birds have been known to peck the sensors off of their equipment. And they provided us with a ring of spikes designed to thwart this avian vandalism.
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| New bird-proofing | Ultra-sound anemomether with bird-proofing added |
Thus armed with new equipment, we were able to persuade Paris Williams to climb the pole, and install it. Many thanks to Paris for a great job on a difficult project.
Paris on the pole
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| Removing the old anemometer | Installing the new anemometer |
Tracy Allen of EME Systems provides software and technical support for the instrument