A WARM WELCOME TO MY WEBSITE!
Site last updated on September 2nd 2010 @ 2200 UTC
The site has been up and running since June 2005, and the prime purpose is to provide comprehensive 'Near
Real Time' weather data for the village of Portpatrick in SW Scotland.
I have added some useful links
to sites of local interest, and links that provide Tidal information for Portpatrick, the 'live' monitoring of shipping
in the North Channel and beyond!
There is a MOUNTAIN of archived local weather information available to those
who may be interested on pages 1 to 5.
Travel information is available on pages
10 & 12.
Some snaps of our Crandchildren and pets can be viewed on page 14
Site
statistics [updated each month] can be viewed on page 15.
The annual running
costs for the site [assuming no equipment failures] is approximately £222, which is made up from the Internet costs
of £144 p.a, £57 p.a for Domain Name on the Internet, depreciation of equipment costs [dedicated
PC and Modem] £100. A recent transmitter failure cost me just under £200, and sensor failures have cost another
£200 since the site was established in June 2005.
There are two LARGE Ferry Companies operating locally, and BOTH
access this site MANY times daily for up
to the minute information on weather conditions in the North Channel,
or the latest position of their vessels enroute to Larne/Cairnryan or Stranraer/Belfast, and vice versa!
To date, NEITHER Company
has responded to my request for some sponsorship of this site, and I work for one
of them!
So,
if any of you feel that you have benefited from using the site, and would like to contribute to its upkeep, then
PLEASE CONTACT ME! [Just
like TESCO ... Every little helps!]
I particularly wish to thank Joe & Margo Farrell, Graeme Young [Electrical Services], Portpatrick [Dunskey] Golf Club & Gavin and Angie Morrison for their very generous donations to help with
the running costs of this site, which is currently around £222 a year [as long as everything
keeps working!]
The system is a Davis Instruments Wireless 'Vantage Pro2' weather station, with all sensors
wirelessly connected to the main console. This in turn transfers data to a dedicated Dell laptop 'Inspiron' PC, which
archives all data at 1 minute intervals, then uploads the data to several sites via the Internet.
These include :-
NOAA
[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] in the USA,
Weather
Underground, also based in the USA, but is where the data from this station {and countless others!} can be accessed
& downloaded.
Detailed Historical data for this station is available on this site from June 2005, when this station started
uploading via a 'dial up' connection! Things improved somewhat in October 2005, when a reliable 'broadband'
connection was established here!
MADIS [Meteorological Assimilation
Data Ingest System] ... also based in the USA!
CWOP [The Citizen's
Weather Observers Programme] and....
APRS [Automatic
Packet Reporting System], used by the World's Radio Amateurs]
Other interests, and past 'life-forms' are...
THE RNLI
AMATEUR RADIO
My personal history is somewhat varied!
When I left school, I got involved
in hotel work during the summer holidays before I started at Radio College.
After qualifying as a Ships' Radio Officer, I
continued with my work in Hotel Management, becoming Assistant Manager initially of the Beach Hotel in Trearddur
Bay, Anglesey, then after a break involving Yacht Deliveries in Europe & the Caribbean, I became Assistant
Manager of the Northern Hotel in Aberdeen, and later, 'Relief Manager' for Usher/Vaux hotels in the NE of
Scotland, including the Palace Hotel in Peterhead, the Station Hotel in Fraserburgh, The Staging Post in Bucksburn, and others
in the City centre of Aberdeen that I'd rather forget!
In 1967, shortly after meeting Patricia, [now my wife for the
last 42+ years!] I moved from Aberdeen to London [and Bournemouth], to train in Air Traffic Control.
After several courses in the
ATC College at Hurn Airport, I worked at both London's Heathrow Airport and the London Air Traffic Control Centre
[which in those days was located at West Drayton in Middlesex]
I married PAT in October 1968 up in Aberdeen , and
later in 1969 moved from ATC to a career in the British Coast Radio Station Service.
After induction training at Portishead
Radio/GKA, I was posted to Portpatrick/GPK, where I served initially as a Radio Officer .
I am privileged to have visited
[and worked] at several of the other UK Coast Radio Stations during my time with BT's 'Aeronautical & Maritime
Services', including GNF/North Foreland in Kent, GNI /Niton on the Isle of Wight, GLV / Anglesey, N. Wales, GND / Stonehaven
and GCC/ Cullercoats, Near Newcastle on Tyne, Humber Radio/GKZ, and the Long Range Station GKA /Portishead Radio in Highbridge,
Somerset.
In
1972 I attended College in Southampton, for a 'Crash Course' to upgrade my Maritime Radio Qualifications.
Then
from 1980 I was the Acting Station Manager, at Portpatrick/GPK, until the closure of this station on 31st March 1999,
and for the last 18 months until closure, I was the only person left.
After a brief spell between April 1999 and September '99 when I
worked voluntarily at the Citizen's Advice Bureau in Stranraer, I managed to secure another full time job in P &
O's busy Freight Department in Cairnryan, and despite all odds [Senility, deafness etc.] .... I'm still there!
In 1970, my wife Pat gave birth to our first born ~ 'DEBBIE' in a Snow Storm! Debbie, who is now 40, subsequently married a GREAT guy [DUNCAN]
and have since produced two WONDERFUL grand children for Pat and myself ERIN
& EUAN! [See the link to the left!]
In October 1972, 'BEVERLEY' arrived!
Beverley doesn't have any children, but she has a POSSE
of Irish Setters instead!
Maddie produced a litter of puppies in 2005, 2 remained with Beverley {Morgan
& Bailey} Another {Harvey} moved to Debbie & Duncan's house, and yet another
{Fergie} moved to live with my Niece in Aberdeen!
Beverley added yet another to her brood of setters
in October 2006, when she collected {Redley} from the North of Scotland.
These have recently been joined
by River,Ellie & Lexie! [Irish Setters] and Amber, a Golden Retriever...
Add to this, two super-cool felines who [sometimes]
answer to 'Murphy & MacKenzie', and who quite naturally think that they are dogs!
[I have even been known to bark whilst visiting this establishment!]
CHECK OUT THE OTHER PAGES OF THE
SITE, WHICH I HOPE YOU WILL FIND TO BE INFORMATIVE!
CLICK on the links on the left hand side of the page.
If you live locally, or have an interest
in our weather, then there's a MOUNTAIN of 'downloadable' information on our Portpatrick Weather
at frequent intervals [often less than 5 minutes] stretching back to June 2005.
The 'Current Weather' page is updated each
minute 24/7/365 [BT & Electricity supply permitting!] although I have a UPS which will keep the laptop and BT Internet
system going for around 90 minutes in the event of a power failure.
SO THERE IT IS! ......AND AS THEY SAY HERE IN PORTPATRICK......{Well, they used to!}
HASTE YE BACK!