Weather Radar Case Mod

Bill Kendrick writes "What do you get when you take a laptop LCD, a Mini-ITX case and an old marine weather radar? A self contained wireless weather radar PC appliance!" And No, it's not just squeezing a motherboard into an object smaller than that motherboard -- this is a functional weather-watching device.

Comments

Mirror Link

[pyrrhonist]

Here's the nyud.net anit-slashdot-effect link:

My Personal Weather Radar Project

Gag. APCMA

[wowbagger]

Gag. Another Pointless Case Mod Article.

Here I was, thinking that maybe this guy had done something truly nifty, like interfacing the marine radar to the computer and having it serve the radar images.

Here in Tornado Alley, such a thing would be pretty damn interesting - I know a couple of storm spotters who might just be persuaded to add that to their chase vehicles.

But no - all this guy did was put a PC in a Radar case, and use the PC to look at radar data from the Internet.

Now, had he fabricated a fake radar unit from sheet metal, that would have been somewhat interesting.

Had he gone whole-hog like the guy who did the HalfLife case mods - that would have been interesting.

But this?

Can I have the seconds of my life back I spent looking at the article?

May I suggest that /. create another section, pointlesscasemods.slashdot.org, and put these sort of things there?

Or at least a "Pointless Case Mod" icon?

I mean really - computers are getting to be like digital clock modules were in the 1980's - "Let's put them into everything! Here - let's put one in this banana!"

Re:Gag. APCMA

[TheHawke]

Besides, Why would anyone want to be in front of a microwave emitter dishing out 100+ watts of radiation?

Unless the jerk wants to have FLKs (Funny Looking Kids).

Re:Slick + full mirror

[DAldredge]

Why in the hell does it matter?

Funny Looking Eyeballs, actually

[wsanders]

The first noticeable effect if you stand too close to the radar is it will cause localized RF burns (very painful) and possibly turn your eyes into poached egg whites (cataracts). Long before it turns your nuts into raisins. Besides the vehicle roof is a pretty good shield. These radars are frequently installed on not-terribly-tall poles on boats.

More usefully, it's a waste of money since you'll get better data via the internet. Marine radars - at least the sub-multi-$thousand ones, just aren't that good at picking up details of precipitation at ranges of more than a mile or two. The whole point of having a marine radar is to see through precipitation!

And if I was considering traveling to Tornado Alley to ride in a tornado chase vehicle I'd doubt the wisdom and sanity of anyone with a marine radar on their car. Some of these guys are pretty loony.