Hi
I am thinking of making a rain sensor to detect light rain as the BOM radar is often not accurate at measuring light rain in my local area. I have an Internet weather station linked to
I heard some wireless transmissions can be affected greatly by rain so if I set up a transmitter and receiver, the signal would get weaker in the rain and the strength of it could be measured. The distance between the transmitter and receiver could be experimented with. Perhaps I could set up one for the very local area where the distance between the transmitter and receiver is only about 50 or 100 meters. However, another one could be set up so that it spans a distance of a kilometer or more. The signal could extend between my house and someone else's place in the direction where the prevailing weather comes from. This would alert us when rain is about to arrive.
It would be good if the sensor detected even light drizzle. Ideally it would be nice to see or measure the signal reduce as the drizzle or rain became heavier between the transmitter and receiver.
Is there a simple way to do this, such as by using an infa red transmitter and receiver? The receiver could be housed in a pipe to block out as much background interference as possible and so it only received signals from the direction of the transmitter.
Another alternative could be a low cost radar if one is suitable.
What sort of transmitters and receivers could be used and would the setup be affordable? How accurate would the system be?
Your help is appreciated, Regards Richard.