BY J. RONALD EYTON
■ PHOTO 4. Transmitters’ mounting
assembly.
■ PHOTO 5. Shelter placed in the yard next to a digital rain gauge.
Electronic Rain Chime
tables (Photo 2) were involved in the
construction of the shelter. I used the
table shown to the left in Photo 2 for the
base because the large scalloped corners allowed for better air circulation.
The other table (with the less scalloped
corners) was used (minus the legs) as
the roof of the shelter.
Because this shelter is intended
for transmitters only, no door is needed to access instruments on a daily
basis; instead, entry is gained through
the roof, which was attached to the
fiberglass shutter assembly using two
bolts, washers, and wing nuts. Photo 3
shows the completed unit and Photo
4 shows the transmitters mounting
assembly fabricated from two-inch
plumbing parts cemented to the plastic side table base. A 12-inch long PVC
plastic pipe was fitted with a PVC general-purpose area drain to act as the
base of the unit. (I used the PVC drain
because I couldn’t find a two-inch PVC
flange.) A two-inch to four-inch PVC
coupler was attached to the other end
of the pipe and provided the mounting surface for the transmitter holders.
I bolted the entire shelter to a 2’ x 2’ x
2” concrete garden pad placed in my
backyard (Photo 5). It’s functional, not
bad to look at, and best of all, is made
of non-weathering parts.
If you like the sound of rain falling
on a sheet metal roof, then this project
will satisfy that desire — even if you live
in a house with a shingle-covered
wooden roof. The electronic rain chime
shown in Photo 6 consists of a ceramic
microphone element (Electronic
Goldmine at www.goldmine-elec.com,
G5098) mounted beneath an inverted
stainless steel bowl that has been
attached to a four-inch PVC pipe
coupling using four-inch standoffs.
RG- 6 coaxial cable buried in the ground
was used to connect the microphone
element with an indoor amplifier and
speaker (Photo 7). I also used Electronic
Goldmine’s Megaphone Kit PA (C6746),
which is comprised of a high gain electric microphone coupled to an IC audio
amplifier, in a second rain chime that
works as well as, if not better than, the
ceramic microphone used in the prototype. Construction details are given in
Figure 1, and a photograph of the inside
of the “chime” head is presented in
Photo 8. The PVC connectors I used to
mount the head to two-inch PVC tubing
were parts I happened to have on hand.
Much easier coupling arrangements are
possible, as indicated in Figure 1. The
■ PHOTO 6. Completed rain chime.
■ PHOTO 7. Mini amplifier and speaker.
January 2006 39
