I've had an Ambient WS-1090 fine offset station running for about the last four months now. Recently, I was noticing that I was receiving my high temperature reports around 5:30 p.m., which seemed a little late to me considering my latitude (about 38 degrees N). I started checking the station graphs by day and was noticing about a five - seven degree spike in temperature during that time frame because the sun was hitting it.
The WS-1090 to me is a nice station for the price - no Davis or any flagship - but a good starter. But one thing it does lack is much of a solar radiation shield. I mean it's as thin as an eggshell practically, and I knew then and there that I was going to have to do something.
I work at a news station as the morning producer, so the money isn't great to where I could build or buy a Stevenson screen, but I did see that Ambient sells their own add-on solar radiation shield. So I gave it a shot.
This shield is huge! It is about the size of a basketball, and the sensor itself is about the size of a thermos, so you can imagine the surprise when I saw how big it was. After assembling it and attaching to my pole, I have given it a few days to see if it improved the data accuracy any, and I can say for sure that it does.
Now, I see usually no more than a degree increase as a result of sun, which for this station is doing pretty well. Eventually, I'll move up the ranks to a Davis or perhaps something else, but times are different for now.
![8-)]( "Cool")
So if there is anybody using a fine offset out there with a similar issue, I would say the solar shield is definitely worth the $40 tag.
![8-)]( "Cool")
