Hey Rob, if you just want windspeed, and if you (or a friend) have any electronics experience at all, there is a great anemometer project out on the net. It uses Easter eggs for wind cups and a one IC circuit ( plus 3 resisters and 3 capacitors) The chip is a frequency to voltage converter and is able to count pulses and turn them into a varying voltage gate to drive a meter. I used acetylene welding filler rod for my egg rotor frame and a motor from a CD-ROM drive for a combination bearing and signal source for the IC and it works great. Each turn of the motor (now wind vane) sends a pulse to the chip, the faster the pulse, the more voltage is allowed (from a 9v battery) to the meter. it deflects a needle on a micro-ammeter that I have calibrated from 30+ (pegs the needle) down to about 6 MPH (the lower limit for mine) which is well within limits of flying so I really don't need much more sensitivity. It cost me all of about $7 for the parts and would fit in the space of a basketball. I mounted the cd-rom motor onto a hunk of wood for a handle and the circuit is small enough that fits just nest to the rotor assembly at the top of the wood hunk. If windspeed is really all you are after, you want the windspeed where you're flying! Here is the link to the Easter egg anemometer project:

http://www.otherpower.com/anemometer.html

I have a friend that owns an old '60s wind guage that utilizes the floating ball technique. It is made of clear plastic and has several balls in a tube with a hole at the bottom and top. The wind goes through and depending on how many balls float you get your windspeed, from 5 to up to 30 MPH! It's the perfect guage for an r/cer but it's no longer available.[] If a fellow could stumble upon a box of those! Let's just say I'd trade my wife for two, one if that's all you had!

Hope someone likes the project!

Blisster