PortaTree Weather Deluxe Hardware - Manual (Page 11)

Race Track Orientation
The best way to determine the effect of wind on your race vehicle is to have
the wind unit located in the direction of the racetrack. The mounting arm should
be located parallel to the racetrack and the arm should face the direction that you
are racing. You can keep track of head, tail, and cross winds. The Light pink
arrow indicates the wind on the race vehicle where the Dark Blue arrow points
where the wind is coming from.
The wind effect will only be displayed if you are using the wind instrument to
show wind relative to the race track. Clicking on the ‘Wind Effect’ text will bring up
a screen allowing you to specify the magnitude of the wind effect on your car. The
value you specify is the amount of time a 15 MPH headwind will affect your car on
a known good run. The software will scale this based on wind speed and also
based on the cosine of the angle to your car. This means a headwind will ADD to
your ET, and a tailwind will LOWER your ET. (There is also a wind effect
calculator in the main screen tools option to let you play with what wind effect.)
There is also a ‘calibration’ button on the weather screen. The wind unit has
to know where it is pointing. Pressing the calibration button will bring up a screen
to help you align the direction of the wind unit easily and automatically. However,
this calibration MUST be done ‘on the ground’ where you can hold the wind vane
in a set position while doing the test.
Weather Data
On the P.C. Operations page, "Click on" Weather Data and the enhanced
weather editor is displayed. This display allows you to load the weather
information on to a grid where you can review, graph, or edit the information.
Loading Files / Saving Files
If you "Click on" load, a screen pops up where you can search for weather
files in different locations on your computer or network. Once a folder has been
selected, the files fitting the *.da3 format appear in the list box on the right side of
the screen. Highlight the desired file and "Click on" the "Accept" button to load the
information into the grid. In Order to load another file, clear the Filename Edit Box
by using the "Back Space" Key and then "Click On" the "Load" button again. If
you edit a file, "Click On" the save key to permanently save the change.