[Scan-DC] [OT] Weather Station Misery/Mystery

[Rick]

The roof is a great idea, and it would explain the 70 degree readings. You can also put the weather station in a cardboard box with one side open. Cover the box with aluminum foil, and practice turning the box until you get a signal or new temperature reading through the opening. It's a poor man's Direction Finder.  Take a reading from two or three different places and you should be able to find your sensor. The sensor only transmits every couple of minutes to save on batteries, so you'll probably have to be patient. 

Good luck!

Rick

-----Original Message-----
From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of lepine15
Sent: Monday, December 09, 2013 8:30 PM
To: lloydde at verizon.net; scan-dc at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] [OT] Weather Station Misery/Mystery

Did you check the roof?


Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone

-------- Original message --------
From: David Lloyd <lloydde at verizon.net>
Date: 12/09/2013  7:13 PM  (GMT-05:00)
To: Scan-DC <scan-dc at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [Scan-DC] [OT] Weather Station Misery/Mystery 
 
Hey Scan-DCers!  I figured I would try to ping the group on this one—since many of you are very familiar with working with radio waves.    Life is weird sometimes and this is a real humdinger of a mystery to me.  I need suggestions before I drive myself crazy and the battery dies.  In July, I bought an Acurite weather temperature with an outside broadcasting sensor.   I had it outside on my balcony and I'm pretty sure some kids decided to take it and hide it.

Now, I can't find it.  I've tried looking based on the sun movements--I know it's in the sun because it said it was 70 degrees this morning.   Maybe i should just replace the unit.  It is just a shame, since it's working nicely.   Maybe I'm just glutton for punishment or curious about how these things actually work. I’ve played around with my scanner to see if I could hear the data stream.  Short of having more sophisticated equipment, I doubt I”ll be able to find locate the transmitter. 

My question:  Is there a way to locate it via the remote's RF ping?  The documentation says it only transmits up to 100 feet, but chatter online seems to place it up to 300-odd feet and in the 433 MHz range.   I think it's a metric conversion issue.   My indoor unit does include a signal strength indicator, but that hasn't been very helpful--just when it looks dead, it is very strong again.   I guess it doesn’t help I live in an apartment community—lots of little nooks and crannies.  The lawn crew hasn’t chopped it up with their mowers—and it’s definitely outside somewhere.   Help?  

Thanks!!

David L. 
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