Water Station Transmitters - What Are They?

[emsflyer84]

Hey guys, just curious on this more then anything. I was driving around the other day and saw a small wooden hut next to a creek on the side of the road with a state sign on it that said something like "Water Station ________". There was what looked like a directional Yagi antenna attached to the roof of the hut. The hut wasn't even big enough for a person to go inside, more like a wooden box.

I'm in Central NH. Just curious what this might be, and what kind of information they might be transmitting, and to who? Thanks guys! I'll try to grab a picture when I go by.

 

[MTS2000des]

SCADA radios used by those agencies who monitor water levels, water quality, etc.

 

[wbloss]

WHat direction was the yagi pointing?
There are some that point upwards to satellites which gather stream data.

 

[emsflyer84]

Thanks. This one was pointed up like at a 45 degree angle, facing south east. It might be angled up because it sits very low down off the side of the road.

 

[wbloss]

Thanks. This one was pointed up like at a 45 degree angle, facing south east. It might be angled up because it sits very low down off the side of the road.

It is hitting a satellite with flow rate and depth info. It transmits "blind" every few minutes, seems like in the ~400MHz range (406?)
Need to look that up!
FInd it here: USGS Surface-Water Data for the Nation

 

[nd5y]

They are somewhere in the 400-406 MHz band and the downlink from the sat is a different band. 2 or 3 GHz if I remember. I saw an article about that a while back. Somebody with as SDR was able to decode the satellite downlink passband.

 

[gtaman]

Could be SCADA or a GOES link.

 

[iMONITOR]

It is hitting a satellite with flow rate and depth info. It transmits "blind" every few minutes, seems like in the ~400MHz range (406?)
Need to look that up!
FInd it here: USGS Surface-Water Data for the Nation

I wondered what those were. I see several of those around where I live. Always mounted near bridges on small rivers/streams. They look similar to this:

 

[ecps92]

Where was this, might be able to tell more from google earth

As others said, SCADA or a GOES, central NH, likely river reporting for the USACoE

Reservoir Control Center

NAE Reservoir Regulation Section

reservoircontrol.usace.army.mil

Hey guys, just curious on this more then anything. I was driving around the other day and saw a small wooden hut next to a creek on the side of the road with a state sign on it that said something like "Water Station ________". There was what looked like a directional Yagi antenna attached to the roof of the hut. The hut wasn't even big enough for a person to go inside, more like a wooden box.

I'm in Central NH. Just curious what this might be, and what kind of information they might be transmitting, and to who? Thanks guys! I'll try to grab a picture when I go by.

 

[mmckenna]

Yeah, crossed UHF yagi's pointed up at the sky would be GOES.

If it's not pointed up at the sky, then it's something terrestrial. Maxon makes small data radios often used for this purpose. The radio is about the size of a couple decks of cards. Run up to 5 watts, have an DB-9 connector on the side. You can stuff those in a small box with a battery/solar panel and stream slow speed data out.

 

[iMONITOR]

Where was this, might be able to tell more from google earth

As others said, SCADA or a GOES, central NH, likely river reporting for the USACoE

Reservoir Control Center

NAE Reservoir Regulation Section

reservoircontrol.usace.army.mil

The picture in my post #8 was a stock photo from Google Images.

This one below is about a half mile from where I live:

 

[ecps92]

my queston/reply was to the OP in NH

The picture in my post #8 was a stock photo from Google Images.

This one below is about a half mile from where I live: