NWS River monitoring stations

[AlaskaRadar]

Not sure if this is the right forum.. but does any one know what frequencies the River monitoring systems of the NWS run? Is it similar to the Raws stations that are satellite uplods or is the band in the VHF/UHF? I want to see if i can monitor the local station for spring thaw and flood watching. As it is not severe weather related in general, i thought here may be better. Thank you for looking.

 

[imonitorit]

It may be the GOES system that uplinks around 401 MHz and downlinks 1.6 GHz.

Meteorological Satellite Frequencies

USGS Water Data for the Nation

waterdata.usgs.gov

 

[ecps92]

I would also google iFlows too

Some of them were VHF and did piggy back off the Customs Repeaters in some regions.
Depending on the region, I have still seen VHF, UHF, Cellular and poss Sat beams at various locations

It may be the GOES system that uplinks around 401 MHz and downlinks 1.6 GHz.

Meteorological Satellite Frequencies

USGS Water Data for the Nation

waterdata.usgs.gov

 

[ecps92]

Additionally, many of the Local [City. County State] who also provide services to the networks are FCC
licensed vs NTIA and will show in an FCC Search

I would also google iFlows too

Some of them were VHF and did piggy back off the Customs Repeaters in some regions.
Depending on the region, I have still seen VHF, UHF, Cellular and poss Sat beams at various locations

 

[mmckenna]

We have one at a remote site at work. GOES uplink.

Not sure how you'd decode the info even if you could receive it. If you find a solution, we'd be interested.

 

[kruser]

I have a station here that monitors a storm water creek.
It's listed in the USGS database.

The site originally had a single yagi antenna (3 element) that aimed near due south with an upward tilt of about 45 degrees.
They recently (within the last 3 or 4 months) added another antenna that looks exactly like the one pictured in post 2 in this thread.
It's mounted maybe a foot away from the older yagi and appears to have the exact same azimuth and elevation tilt as the yagi. I didn't notice any new radio cabinets so I suspect the yagi was decommissioned in favor of the new antenna.
The creek's storm water flow rate data is kept current and updates several times a day to the USGS site so it's definitely an active monitoring site.
I've always wanted to sit at the site and record some raw data from it but I never have. It is fairly hidden from roadways and people so one could probably sit there for hours without drawing any attention.

Oh, the yagi does appear to be a 400 MHz yagi judging by its element lengths.

Maybe someday my curiosity will get the best of me and I'll take a walk to the sensor array and see what I can record.
I wish I knew its exact frequency as its very possible I could receive it at home. Maybe not with the new antenna but when the yagi was in use, I'd say it could have been very possible.

 

[Paysonscanner]

Daddy says that the NWS does not do any streamflow measuring. He says it is almost always the USGS. There is a lot of satellite links on the stations as many flow gauges are out of coverage area for electronic sites. This in the west anyway. He says if that antenna in the picture is pointed toward the south, it is likely a satellite antenna inside that cone. He also gave me a bunch of info about how the gauges work, how they are calibrated with hand measurements and that the gauges are most of the time a vertical culvert with a float in them. I won't share details, it's a lot of engineering stuff.

 

[kruser]

"it is almost always the USGS"

That is generally a correct statement!
I don't think I've ever seen the NWS do any stream monitoring other than for flood predictions if the USGS does not provide the data.
I've also seen EMA departments for counties run their own stream monitoring stations for their internal use. Mostly in areas prone to flooding or flash floods. Those locations mostly use ground based communications (you won't find a yagi aimed at the sky!) with a yagi aimed towards the counties EMA department.

 

[AlaskaRadar]

well i may just have to sit near it with a SDR and see what i see and hear.. I have one nearby but not close enough to my house to even scan it yet.. till i dermine the general freqs. I may do that on my weekend soon i hope.
Will let you know if/what i found.

 

[JoshuaHufford]

Do you have a scanner with close call?

 

[AlaskaRadar]

No scanner with close call. I drove past the site today and reconised the YAGI fro Goes uploads. I used to be with BLM and we serviced the RAWS stations that had UHF transmitters with the same antennas. So i expect that with my sdr, i may not be close enough to get a capture of the frequency but now that i know the band, may still see what i capture. I was driving and was not able to grab a photo. Maybe next time but i will see about keeping everyone in the loop.