Hi guys
I'm looking out the window thinking about my job tomorrow....... I'll happily work in the rain but as you know the wind can blow your tripods over!
Typically above what wind speeds do you not work in?
Cheers, Andrew
I work in rain, some.
Wind, I work til my gps base blows over.... Happened once!
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In Florida there??s more wind in the winter (2-3 months) which can vary substantially at 0-20mph. In the summer what small breezes there are feel like someone is holding a hair dryer on high at your face. ?????ÿ
Not sure how windy it must be to curtail good work.?ÿ Generally will head for locations where there may be a good deal of blockage to slow it down on exceptionally windy days.?ÿ Another good practice is to go do things that don't require a set up in the first place, such as searching for and digging out monuments or heading for the courthouse.?ÿ We can work around it.
I do remember a day in about 1995 when we had trouble digging holes in the road to find section corner markers because the wind was kicking up so much dust and tiny bits of crushed rock into our eyes we couldn't see what we were doing.
one of my tripods blew over in 40mph. Fortunately it "only" has a prism on it.
I've set out work in 35mph but I had the instrument set at about 4ft of the ground
I work quite a bit in the wind. After having my GPS base station blow over many years ago on Windy Ridge (I kid you not), I learned my lesson.?ÿ I drive 3 no. 5 rebar next to the tripod legs and wire them to the legs. I've never had an issue since.
Well, I shouldn't say never. I was working yesterday with a Leica robot and the wind was gusting to 30 mph. I received a message on the controller that the instrument needed to be leveled, so I've added checking the backsight more often to my field procedures.
And yes, @holycow, I was working yesterday in an area where there's lots of gneiss, more particularly, quartz, biotite gneiss. There were even some good examples of banded schists, not to mention a bull and cow moose about 25 yards from me.
We work in wind out in the high plains. It's important to rock or stake down your base and particularly a robot. There are many ways to do that from rebar driven next to the tripod foot, rocks piled on it, snow packed around it, it depends on the situation.?ÿ
Always think about the environment you're working in a proceed accordingly. Winds were up last week over 30mph at times. Getting over 50 and then you need to think about maybe calling it a day, but it depends on what you are doing.?ÿ
A big challenge is being certain the rod is truly level when the shot is taken.?ÿ Heck, making sure the surveyor is upright can be a problem.
sandbags work wonders.?ÿ on the Bipod, tripod, etc.
I use velcro to secure the cables/shoulder straps( if not using Bluetooth nowadays) to the tripod to avoid the random vibrations and movement.?ÿ In winds gusting up to 60mph + only thing stopping work is like Holy Cow said, cant see or breathe, time to go to truck or home.
Zephyr Geodetic has a substantial?ÿ angle of attack if the rig isn't securely weighted down. Or locked into the tribrach.?ÿ ;)?ÿ
We work in an area where wind (and water) is something to deal with often. As others have said, sand bags and bailing/tie wire can solve most problems. This year I have dug holes to bury the tripod legs in when using the same base station for many days. We use a Tri-Max tripod for the GPS base station and have noticed poor gps data when the winds start gusting above 40 knots. The base will still be level and on target at the end of day, but collected data is not clean enough for OPUS. A bi-pod is necessary on all rods.
When my father was working with the highway department pulling chain he mentioned they would stop when they it was 3/8's wind. I asked what is 3/8's wind and he replied that was the size of rock being tossed about.
As mentioned above I stop when the base starts to dance.
I remember working in Nebraska, one winter; we'd dig up a property corner and come back later, to measure from it, and wind blew the snow back over it so you didn't know where it was...
good times!
I have regretted working in high wind more than I have regretted stopping work in high wind.
It really only makes sense if it is time sensitive enough to warrant all the extra effort.
Side note:?ÿ I notice( not paranoid that i or anyone else can prove yet...) then when we have particularly windy days, that the VRS goes to crap. And I understand that the antennae are supposed to be stable, etc etc etc.?ÿ Its just too consistent with the induction deduction of the wind = crappy VRS.
I'd like to visit the sites and see what they are really attached to to confirm building flex, tower twisting, etc etc.?ÿ My inquiring mind wants to know Dangit!
anything with sustained winds over 40 and/or gusts over 60 makes it real hard to keep a base station tied down.?ÿ
I grew up in North Dakota and came to hate the wind.?ÿ So what wind do I work in??ÿ Preferably none.?ÿ ?????ÿ
I figured out several years ago that my limit is 23 mph if I am trying to get anything reasonably accurate with a rover pole.
We will not leave the office if wind is around 30 mph. Its not the wind that is hazardous but falling branches/cones and blowing garbage cans and other debris is. We work in the woods a lot and when you start hearing that "craaack" you pack up and leave.?ÿ?ÿ