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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.
Cool!
All I can say is some people have a lot more free time on their hands than I do.
Full mirror here.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
My Personal Weather Radar Project
Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
And No, it's not just squeezing a motherboard into an object smaller than that motherboard (emphasis mine)
And how would one do that, exactly (and ensure the board still worked)?
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
The forecast for today: Fiery hot.
Another one bites the dust
The fun of watching every shmuck with a radar detector slam on their brakes as they speed past your house?
An radar machine didn't see the storm of slashdot coming.
http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/rma0061l.jpg
Gag. Another Pointless Case Mod Article.
/. create another section, pointlesscasemods.slashdot.org, and put these sort of things there?
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
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!"
www.eFax.com are spammers
What do you get when you take a laptop LCD, a Mini-ITX case and an old marine weather radar?
A slashdotted web server?
This same exact thing found its way onto hackaday.com, and I swear a few other things featured on slashdot were there first also. Just thought it seemed strange...
He's using the radar terminal from the marine radar system as a case for a PC that downloads National Weather Service radar data from the internet, so he can display it cool fashion. That is to say, he's not actually using a marine radar.
(And yes, I believe marine radars can detect weather, however, their use on land is illegal)
We now power the thing on and... damn... I just made myself sterile.
IANAL, but I've seen actors play them on TV
Arrested and prosecuted by the owners of The Wacky PC and Seafaring Supplies Warehouse?
Oh no, wait, this is /., I know this one...
"Horny at the possibilities."
You may not be aware, but non-doppler radar is quite capable of detecting precipitation, just not velocity.
Previous to the introduction of the WSR-88D, all NWS radar sites(excepting research stations) were non-doppler and were quite often modified surplus military air search radars.
And yes, even a cheap marine radar can detect rain.
Pyramid
~Any apparent grammatical or typographic errors are caused by defects in your display device.
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.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Cut it in half and solder wires between the areas where you cut the traces. I've seen it done to fit a mobo into a case smaller (in all dimensions) than the board would fit into uncut. It worked. I wouldn't want to try it myself, but it's possible to do it as long as you pick where you cut carefully.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.