Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Hola and 73 de W3EMA

¡Hola, amigos que éste es mi blog de radioaficionado y el clima en San Miguel de Allende, México!

Hola, from W3EMA in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. I am a semi-retired journalist, ham radio operator, weather station operator and a firefighter.

Recently, my brother, Bob, W3BIG from Philadelphia, visited us and helped install a Davis VantagePro 2 weather station. The station atop our condo in El Encanto now broadcasts on the Weatherunderground web site (http://www.wunderground.com/).

On the pull down menu select personal weather stations and enter IGTOSANM2. This is the ID for the station.

The measurements are metric which is what we have down here Mexico way. (As they say, do the math) and updated every 20 minutes or so. This is a work in progress--so changes will be made --and a solar sensor will be added with perhaps other sensors.

Thisd station is the second -- the was first Davis station is on an excellent SMA site and is located about 6 km from my station.

Our physical location is:

Lat:
N 20 ° 53 ' 30 '' ( 20.892 ° )
Lon: W 100 ° 45 ' 21 '' ( -100.756 ° )
Elevation (ft): 6324

We are located in Lejona near Mega past the glorieta on the way to Celaya. Using both stations you can get an idea of the clima in the area.

The station on the other side of town is displayed on an excellent site that has an interactive maps (info on various things in SMA) and the data for the Davis station. (They have a UV sensor which is a key for watching sunburn)

Its address is http://smamap.com/SanMiguelDeAllendeWeather/SanMiguelWeather.php

Their physical location is:
outside San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico
Latitude: 20° 58' 13" N
Longitude: 100° 47' 30" W
Elevation: 6266 feet (1910 meters)

And as their site mentions -- and the locals like those of us living here full-time -- know that because of the many mountains and valleys the conditions vary greatly.

Enough on weather other than a plug for the site and a plug for Carol Schmidt's site www.fallinginlovewithsanmiguel.com -- a wealth of info on SMA and Mexico. Watch for their second book (with her partner Norma Hair and another expat writer) due soon.

As for hams, well there are about a half a dozens of us in town and some have XE licenses and other like me are applying for them. My station is in final stages as the radios are here; antennas ready to go up and just the hard roof work. I actually have been on my wonderful flat roof a few times and have the locations planned.

First licensed in the 1980s and a SWL radio listener since 1960, I also plan to operated HF from my Jeep.

In my spare time I volunteer on the copy desk of Atención (El periódico Atención) and also give time to fire and emergency services here in town.

Fellow hams in town visiting of new residents please contact me and join us at our breakfasts and gatherings. This goes also for comments on weather as well as astronomy.

That's all for now and as we say in ham radio --73 -- that's best wishes.

Bill "Memo" Wilson
W3EMA