Nicholas C. Kaufman's 10 reasons for not buying Belfort Instrument Digi AWOS:
Mark IV
1) no FAA Approved or FAA Certifed wind speed
2) no FAA Approved or FAA Certifed wind direction
3) no FAA Approved or FAA Certifed temperature
4) no FAA Approved or FAA Certifed dewpoint
5) no FAA Approved or FAA Certifed density altitude
6) no FAA Approved or FAA Certifed visibility
7) no FAA Approved or FAA Certifed precipitation measurement
8) no FAA Approved or FAA Certifed precipitation discriminator
9) no FAA Approved or FAA Certifed ceiling measurement (ceilometer)
10) no FAA Approved or FAA Certifed lightning detection
Then you can always check out the reliability of a Digiwx:
Check it out yourself:
http://www.digiwx-n27.com - CURRENT DATA NOT AVAILABLE
http://www.digiwx-2m8.com - CURRENT DATA NOT AVAILABLE
http://www.digiwx-ambergriscayairport.com - CURRENT DATA NOT AVAILABLE
It's been this way for months!
Not hours, not days, not weeks, but months!
How many more examples of unreliable Digiwx stations do you need?
The United States had 546 commercial service airports as of 2001.
See:
http://www.bts.gov/publications/national_transportation_statistics/20..
You won't find a single Digiwx AWOS in use at any of these commercial
service airports where passengers are being transported. When you
consider that Digiwx AWOS is nothing more than a FAA Approved
barometer and visibility sensor, now you know why!
Why would you put your family at risk to a small airport that has a
Digiwx AWOS in use? Do you have a death wish for your family?
Here are some other relaible AWOS alternatives that you will find in
use at U.S. commercial service airports including:
http://www.vaisala.com
http://www.allweatherinc.com
http://www.superunicom.com
About Belfort Instrument Company:
Belfort used to be a leading provider of weather instruments to the
government, professional meteorology and aviation markets. Key
ords: "use to be." They never provided any wind sensors to the Wright
Brothers despite their fantastic assertion that they did! Historical
archives available at the U.S. Air Force National Museum (1100 Spaatz
Street, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433) tells a very different story
and specifically mentions a "Richards" anemometer which Wilbur Wright
held as pictured
at: "http://wings.avkids.com/Book/Wright/history1_19012.html". The
Belfort aerovane wind system on U.S. Naval aircraft carriers are
currently being replaced with ultrasonic wind sensors from QPI (11207
Single Oak Road, Fredericksburg, VA 22407) which just won a $94
million dollar contract for the Moriah Wind System. Belfort wind speed
and direction anemometers found on the ASOS platform are now being
replaced with ultrasonic sensors from the Vaisala Group. Belfort
Instruments Model 6000 visibility sensor will no longer be a part of
the U.S. Air Force's OS-21/FSB program come early 2007. And despite a
$500,000 U.S. government grant from NASA's Small Aircraft
Transportation System (SATS) program in 2004 to build a low-cost
ceilometer, Belfort didn't possess the technical smarts nor the
engineering know-how to accomplish the task. So now they're importing
the Eliasson CBME 80A laser ceilometer from Muir Matheson. As one can
readily see, Belfort is no longer setting any standards of measurement
in the weather instrumentation world. And now Belfort is propagating
lie after lie about their fabled company history while trying to steal
thunder from the accomplishments of the Wright Brothers. According to
the National Museum of American History (12th Street and Constitution
Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20560), Belfort founder Julian Friez
never made it to Baltimore to set up shop until sometime in the 1890s
even though Belfort officials fradulently claim the company was
founded in 1876. Thus, there was no 125th anniversary for Belfort to
celebrate in 2001 even though they hosted a party to which no one
came! Belfort's proclamation that it is the "Oldest Weather Company in
the World" is simply yet another Belfort lie as Thomas Romney Robinson
invented the first wind anemometer in 1846, six years before Julian
Friez was born in 1852. Belfort doesn't even know it's own company
history so they just make it up! You should wonder what other crap
(eg. Digiwx AWOS) they also make up! For more information about
Belfort Instrument and DigiWx, visit dogsh*t.com