I have a vantage pro plus cable and the reception averages about 97%.
I have notice that when wd is turned off it goes to 100% for many hours. So
why does wd interfer with my reception? By the way, today at 7:30am I had the worse
reception of 83%.
Any suggestions or help is always appreciated.
Is this the reception as displayed on the VP console, or the reception as reported by WD?
Do you mean that just WD is off, or that the PC is off too?
A very good question. I assume there is a trend in the US like the UK to have PCs with their guts exposed full of fancy LEDs or with weirdly shaped moulded panels to make your PC look like ET or a yeti?
Having a non-metal case or metal case with large holes in it will allow a lot of interference out of the PC box that would be better kept inside it. I think the VP transmits at around 800MHz, so if you’re running an 800MHz CPU in an ‘open’ box then I could imagine you might have some interesting problems. There are probably many other CPU frequencies that could cause problems…especially with a 400MHz FSB CPU.
If the problem only occurs when WD is running then it could be something to do with the frequency patterns generated by the WD code, or due to some kind of RF being radiated by the serial cable connecting the PC to the VP. In the latter case make sure you have your signal and case grounds connected appropriately and maybe watch out for earth loops as well.
Sorry for posting to the wrong area.
The reception is reported by the Vantage Pro console and the PC is still on.
You have a wired/not wireless VP - right? Are the station and the PC on different electrical circuits?
If it’s interference on the serial cable between the PC and console, then try getting a couple of ferrite rings and wind each end of the cable round a rings a few times. This can cut out some types of interference. I’m not sure where you’d get an optical isolator for a serial port which is the way to go if the ferrite rings don’t work. If you have another serial cable it might be worth trying that just in case your current one is faulty.
I assumed it was wireless…does a wired VP have any concept of ‘reception’?
Sure, I think it does all the same package count analysis (which is what is reported as reception) as the wired version. Davis sells isolators http://www.davisnet.com/weather/products/weather_product.asp?pnum=7764 but I would sure try the ferrite alternative first.
Radio Shack http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=273-104 http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=273-105
Yes it is wired.
See the Radio Shack links I posted above. You can make a few turns of the wire from the PC to the weatherlink through the hole and it reduces the amount of high frequency noise that passes from the PC to the console. You can do the same on the wire from the ISS (close to the console) and it will catch any interference picked up on that wire. Worth a try for a few $ before spending the money for the Davis isolator.
Pricey little thing at $80US.
I don’t think I would spend $80 for another 3% reception.
If reception is not 100% are you missing data?
It’s sending fresh data each 2.5 seconds, most of the parameters aren’t updated that often so you can afford to lose quite a few packets without significant degradation. The only thing you might miss would a short duration peak wind reading.
Just ordered a Vp station so this stuff is becoming more important to me now 
Did you get wired or wireless?
6163 wireless
Davis has all the manuals on line if ya just can’t wait
Ah… it could be simpler than this.
Let me get this. When WD is shut down, you get better reception? Hmmm Seems this way… WD is accessing the logger and when it is updating, the VP tends to stop receiving packets as the datalogger is being polled. Hence you drop from 100 to 97% average. Just about all the weather software out there does the same thing. When the datalogger is being accessed, you lose some packets. The percentage you see is the average reception throughout the archive interval. Try this… Choose a longer archive interval. However, save you data before you clear the archive, that is download to the program then change the archive so you don’t lose the data.
IF you want to buy the other stuff, go for it, it won’t change much if anything.