Does erecting a galvanized steel pole on your roof increase the chance of lightning strikes? Are grounding procedures necessary?
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It actually won’t be too difficult. Since the poles are segmented, I can climb on a 10’ ladder to remove the pole from the bottom-most segment. I’m more concerned that there may be too much vibration from the wind on the pole. I guess I’ll see if I have any false rain indications from rain once I finally get my Sky.
@kpardue - My $0.02 is to lose the J-mount and use a mast that reaches the ground. Put straps or another appropriate anchor at the bottom and top of the fence post to hold the mast vertical. You may need to use a few blocks of scrap wood attached to the post to get it perfectly vertical.
The shade tree engineering logic behind this is that having two anchors on the mast will surely be better than just one, and allow you to go higher without movement/twisting. I personally have had two of the Home Depot 10-foot fence rails clamped together (20 feet high), and up the entire winter by nothing more than contact with the ground and a single screw into my deck railing 7 feet above the ground using one of these electrical conduit straps:
It had held up to 30+ MPH winds and several nor’easters without incident, and a similar mast right next to it with an Acu-Rite 5-in-1 on top and held vertical with two clamps and ground contact has been up for 6 years now.
@rjfox - If you are in the USA, always follow NEC and local building codes to the letter. If your house is struck by lightning and it wasn’t installed to code, the insurance company could call it negligence and make collecting on your policy a hassle…
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Talking about the PVC tube - I don’t think I can find one (2+ metre long). Are you suggesting a standard tube for exhaust water? I’m afraid how it reacts to constant sun exposure. It could crack eventually, no?
unfortunately i don’t have the thickness guage to hand but its not a glossy water pipe type… most thick plastic tubiing has temperature rating stamped on it . example this one 65c or 149f
at 2 metres you would need to check for bending .
if you need to get it higher use a solid metal mast and clamp the plastic pvc pole to it. 
Here in the USA, big box home improvement stores sell patio furniture (chairs, etc) constructed with PVC tubing. If UV degradation is a concern, maybe a coat of white enamel would protect it? I know that there are special UV-protective paints used on carbon fiber and other composites when placed out in the sun.
Personally, I’d go with galvanized steel. My Sky is up on a 6 meter galvanized steel tube and it works well…
Thank you @Weather34 and @vreihen for suggestions. Right now I have a 27mm galvanized steel tube and a Vantage Pro2 anemometer on top. The Sky wouldn’t fit since the tube is too thin. I might start with a 2 metre PVC tube and stick it to the steel tube with metal straps (half of the PVC sticked to the steel tube and another half up in the air). I hope the wind gusts would break the PVC. We get something up to 40-50 mph gusts during thunderstorms. If it works fine, I will consider a 1" galvanized steel tube in one piece.
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Here is my Sky installation, 18’ high using the recommended fence toprail from Home Depot, the Sky fits the pipe perfectly.
I used the following standoffs to clear my roof’s overhang:
https://www.cableandwireshop.com/18-inch-telescopic-tv-antenna-mast-wall-mount-bracket.html
Fast and reasonably priced shipping from that company.
I cut off a few feet from the top section so that the joint between the two 10’ sections was just below the top support. I screwed the two 10’ sections together with self tapping screws and used the same screws to secure the pole to the support so it doesn’t rotate - the clamps have a pre-drilled hole for this purpose.
Its easy to put up and take down by yourself, doesn’t rotate and doesn’t vibrate or wobble in the wind. I could go much higher if I used guy wires but that would negate ease of putting it up and down to change battery’s, trouble shoot the unit or take it down when the inevitable hurricane comes our way here in Florida!
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Please do NOT take it down in the event of a hurricane! The most honorable death for any weather station is to perish trying to record extreme weather conditions. I could personally open a museum of dead PWS hardware from my own collection over the years…
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The radio range of the SKY is amazing! I installed my old “Field Tester” SKY (Rev 0 hardware) 600 feet from the hub and am getting reading updates just as good as a SKY that’s 25 feet from the hub. The photos below are of the production SKY mounted to my chimney and the original Field Tester just beyond the high tide level at the ocean. The Chimney mount is PVC electrical conduit, but I slipped a 3/4" thin-wall EMT conduit inside to make it rigid. Some may argue that I should mount it higher and away from the chimney, but it has a very clean wind fetch and I’m happy with the readings, so I’ll probably leave it at this height for easy maintenance. The SKY by the Ocean is mounted on a 12’ galvanized pipe that is cemented into a 5 gallon bucket and buried in the sand. This is also a popular area for Bald Eagles to perch, so I installed some temporary make-shift bird spikes from bamboo food skewers and duct tape.
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Awesome! Thanks for posting. It is great having real-time weather info when I want to determine if I want to go to the coast for the day. 
When I get mine you’ll be able to see what Kelso weather is like.
Dave, thanks for posting the installation photos. And man, what an incredible view! Clear shot of the ocean, and it doesn’t look like you’ve got many neighbors to contend with, either. I’m more than a little jealous.
Are you in Ocean Park, Maine? My wife and I honeymooned in Ogunquit and fell in love with New England. We leaf peeped through Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. If we ever left California, Maine would be high on the list.
Cheers!
Actually, it’s Ocean Park Washington. It’s a fairly sleepy community just up the coast from you:-) Measuring wind speed for our walks on the beach is what motivated me to start searching for a good weather station a few years ago.
Well, wherever you are, that’s one heck of a view!
And Dave, your comment reminds me that I started on this quest for a good weather station years ago myself. But everything I looked at just didn’t feel right – either it seemed dated, or too expensive, or too cheaply made. It wasn’t until I came across the WeatherFlow station that things felt juuuuuuust right. So yeah, having to wait a bit longer for my dream station to arrive is no big deal. After such a long search, I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait.
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I like your mounting, but can I know the result?, if you have a false rain.
I’m up !! And heavy rain is in the forecast.
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Installed my Sky this afternoon and just trying to get everything else set up. 
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Would this mount work on a chimney that does lot work and is made of wood instead of bricks?
If so where can I buy it?
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I fabricated the mount I’m using from bar stock and pipe. A chimney antenna mount is very similar and they can be purchased from a verity of online sources for TV antennas.
A wooden chimney??
Here is a picture of what I am talking about.
I would like to put a pole mount on that side. Is there a mount that I can order off amazon?
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