General Information

Serial #

7D 1399

Part Number

1

Total Parts

5

AKA

microsonde

Patents

N/A

General Description

styrofoam casing/ synthetic and metal parts

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

26.2 cm

Width

16.8 cm

Height

N/A

Thickness

9.8 cm

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Meteorology

Category

Upper wind speed & direction measurement

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

VIZ

Country

United States of America

State/Province

Pennsylvania

City

Philadelphia

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

mid 1980's +

Canada

An example of a radiosonde of a type used by the Meteorological Service of Canada at its 31 upper air observing stations mostly across southern Canada. In the 1980's the (American) National Bureau of Standards types of radiosondes (such as 1987.0824, 1987.0826, 1991.0095, 1991.0100), which had been the main operational radiosonde in Canada for fifty years, began to disappear. Gradually starting in 1985 they were replaced by the Viz/Beukers Mark I/II (2004.0360, 2005.0043) and the Vaisala RS80 NAVAID radiosondes (2004.0358-0359, 2005.0041-0042) (Ref. 2). Part of a large collection of meteorological instruments acquired from the Meteorological Service of Canada (previously Atmospheric Environment Service) by the CSTM since 1967. MSC is the government agency responsible for collecting and disseminating meteorological data and forecasts in Canada. It was founded in 1871 in Toronto where it is still headquartered. The MSC was originally on the University of Toronto downtown campus but moved to Downsview in 1971 on land owned by UofT. The headquarters houses laboratories, research facilities and calibration and instrument maintenance facilities (now largely contracted out).

Function

A device lifted by balloon into the upper atmosphere to measure temperature, humidity, and air pressure and transmit the data to earth. Wind speed and direction can be determined by tracking the radiosonde.

Technical

A type of radiosonde which used signals from a system of navigational radio transmitters to determine the position of an ascending balloon (and thus wind velocity and direction), known as the Navaid method. A receiver in the sonde detected navigational signals which were sent to the ground station for positional determination from which the winds are calculated. This radiosonde is marked ‘Omega', indicating that it was used with the Omega navigation system. Omega was a global radio navigation system for aircraft, operated by the U.S. and six other nations. from 1971 to 1997 with eventually eight stations which transmitted VLF signals. Use of the Omega system declined during the 1990's due to the success of the Global Positioning System (GPS) which began operating in 1994, and it was shut down by the U.S. in 1997. The radiosonde ground station includes a UHF directional antenna to receive the 403 mHz signal from a distance of up to 200 km, a whip antenna with amplifier to monitor the Loran/VLF signals and a separate antenna to receive the GPS signals. These antennae are attached to a computer which receives and processes the radiosonde and navigational signals in real time. It converts the analogue PTU signal from the radiosonde into pressure, temperature, and relative humidity and calculates the winds from the navigational signals (Refs.1-3).

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

blue lettering on white and blue lettering on front reads 'VIZ-BEUKERS/ LOCATE (R) MICROSONDE (r)/ Model: 1524-511 OMEGA/ Serial Number: 7D 1399/ Produced by:/ VIZ Manufacturing Company/ Philadelphia. PA 19144-5782 USA/ Patents Pending'/ raised lettering on front reads 'LO-CATE/ MICROSONDE'/ black typed lettering on label on front reads 'CALIBRATION DATA/ THERMISTOR/ 13804/ HUMIDITY ELEMENT/ 10421/ BAROSWITCH 609-0699/ 02027-001-201'

Missing

appears complete

Finish

white casing/ white and green wire coverings/ white cord

Decoration

N/A