At METEOREX 2005, HMEI Members were the majority of the exhibitors there. The Association of HMEI, as a co-organizer of the exhibition, also had a booth at the exhibition, donated by the Romanian Met. Service organizers, and was able promote the

benefits of HMEI to visitors and exhibitors at the exhibition. Also it was, as always, a pleasure for the Secretariat staff to be able meet up with HMEI members at the exhibition.

Pictured left is the executive Secretary Bruce Sumner with the Technical Director of AMDAR Jeff Stickland at the HMEI booth.

Adolf Thies Gmbh	almos systems
ams gematronik gmbh	Baron services inc.
biral	campbell scientific
casella cel	Coastal environmental systems
Davis Instruments	Degreane Horizon
Eijkelkamp agrisearch equipment	eko instruments co., ltd.
gamic mbh	geonor as
Gill Instruments Ltd.	IBL Software Engineering
Intermet Systems	IPS Meteostar
Kipp & Zonen BV	Lockheed Martin and Lockheed Martin/Sippican
Logotronic	metek gmbh
Meteoloabor	microstep mis
MPS System	Modem
Muir Matheson	Ott Messtechnik
PawaN Exports	Radiometrics
Remtech	R M Young
Rotronic ag	Sagim sa
Scintec ag	Seba Hydrometrie gmbh
Siap + Micros	The Republic Group and EEC
Vaisala oyj	Weather Decision Technologies, Inc.
Wilh. Lambrecht Gmbh

HMEI thanks the organizers of the exhibition for donating the booth to HMEI. The Secretariat would also like to thank those in the HMEI Council who sponsored the HMEI booth and Secretariat's presence at METEOREX/TECO 2005.

Gary Wagner, All Weather, USA
Ulrich Nellen, AMS-Gematronik, Germany
Dusan Mazurek, Microstep-MIS, Slovak Republic
Toshikazu Hasegawa, EKO, Japan
Joseph Parini, InterMet Systems, USA
Kevin Klustner, Coastal Environment, USA
Lu Hui Guo, Tianjin Meteorological Instr. Works, China
Robert Rissland, The Republic Group, USA
Ben Dieterink, Kipp & Zonen, Netherlands
Jan Hörhammer, Vaisala, Finland

The re-elected Chairman and Vice Chairman of HMEI are Ben Dieterink, Kipp & Zonen, Netherlands and Jan Hörhammer, Vaisala, Finland.

The HMEI General Assembly, held at the Press Center Conference Room of the “ROMEXPO S.A” Congress and Conference Center in Romania, Bucharest, was attended by 40 HMEI members and guests including, CIMO Acting President Ray Canterford, ISO Representative Paul Fransioli, World Weather Watch Director Dieter Schiessl. The meeting lasted 2 hours and featured addresses by Mr. Schiessl and Mr. Fransioli.

The voting for the new HMEI Chairman, Vice Chairman and Council resulted in the Chairman and Vice Chairman being returned unopposed for a further four year period. The Council was, by general agreement expanded to 10 people. The Council for the next four years is listed in the item above.

The General Assembly brought to the fore three particular issues, which were later followed up in the Council Meeting held on Thursday 5th May 2005, at the Romexpo Press Center's Small Conference Room. The issues namely were: HMEI special committees to deal with the increasing participation in WMO expert teams, expansion of the member products catalogue and looking at the HMEI membership fees. These items are reported on in this newsletter.

The Council has asked the Executive Secretary to provide a list of Expert Teams in all the WMO Technical Commissions to which it would be appropriate for HMEI to send representatives. The Executive Secretary is currently approaching all Presidents of the Technical Commissions and has already started asking for expressions of interest from HMEI Members wishing to act as HMEI representatives.

The results of these investigations will be passed to the Council, so that they can decide what Special Committees need to be set up to manage the representations to the various meetings.

The HMEI Catalogue will be undergoing an expansion in the next months. The Council have decided to include an addition to the Catalogue, which will see the Catalogue including a section with information in a format compatible with WMO requirements.

This will be advantageous to members as the WMO have indicated their willingness to recommend the HMEI Catalogue, modified in this way, for use by the WMO members when looking for anything to do with Meteorological and Hydrological products. The Director of World Weather Watch Dieter Schiessl has indicated that he is impressed by the potential of the HMEI Catalogue, its quality, that it is always "live" and updated regularly.

The HMEI Executive Secretary and Council will be working together to arrange the format of the new section. Members will be informed further when the format of the new section is decided.

The Council in their meeting looked at the level of membership of HMEI and the realistic future budget requirements of the Association.

Their deliberations included consideration of the current and predicted future level of HMEI membership and the average size of Hydrological and Meteorological companies (which effects the companies' level of membership fees).

As a result it has been decided that to cover running costs of HMEI a rise of the membership fees of 25% would be necessary. The revised annual membership fees for HMEI available at the Joining HMEI page.

This rise became effective immediately as of the date of the Council Meeting, 5th May 2005. New HMEI members joining after this date will pay to the new rate and membership renewals due after that date will now also be at the revised rates.

HMEI received from the Procurement Office of WMO a request for a list of AWS manufacturers for upcoming sending out of invitations for the supply of 240 AWS within the framework of the ANEEL Project (Brazil).

HMEI has sent a list of all HMEI Members who have indicated to the HMEI Secretariat that they are suppliers of AWS. It is important that all HMEI Members ensure that the Secretariat has a complete knowledge of the company's products, for the HMEI Database, so that they are included in such requested procurement lists, which can be important sales opportunities for Members.

The Chinese Meteorological Agency have invited HMEI be a co-organizer for the 3rd China International Exhibition on Technology and Equipment for Meteorological and Hydrology to be held 26-28 October 2005, in Shanghai, China.

The co-sponsorship takes the form of HMEI informing its members of this exhibition opportunity and encouraging its members to participate. In return the organizers offered HMEI a free booth at the exhibition, a free color advert for HMEI in the exhibition catalogue and a 10% discount on booths spaces for HMEI members.

HMEI indicated to the exhibition organizers that a 10% discount was too low to encourage companies to exhibit. The organizers are now offering a 30% discount for HMEI member companies.

Currently three HMEI member companies have indicated that they will be exhibiting at the exhibition:

• Kipp & Zonen BV - Netherlands
• MPS System s.r.o. - Slovak Republic
• The Republic Group Corporation - USA

The funding for the HMEI Executive Secretary to attend and run the HMEI booth is currently looked into. One company has offered to contribute 20% of the cost and other companies willing to contribute similarly are sought, in order to be able to have an Association of HMEI booth at this exhibition.

Members who would like to support the Association of HMEI's presence at this exhibition, please contact the Executive Secretary at hmei@wmo.int

The HMEI Secretariat is currently attending the the WMO's 57th Executive Council (EC 57), which will be held in Geneva, 21 June to 1 July 2005 and will be making a report of items of interest to HMEI members.

Please contact the HMEI Secretariat at hmei@wmo.int if you would like a copy of the provisional agenda of EC 57.

The HMEI has the right to send observers to the 14^th session of the RA VI in Germany in September. Currently HMEI Councilor Ulrich Nellen from AMS-Gematronik has expressed interest in attending the meeting.

Or you can contact the Executive Secretary at hmei@wmo.int for a copy of the Agenda.

The 2nd Session of the Joint WMO/IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM) will be held 19-27 September in Halifax, Canada. This is an opportunity for HMEI Members with a focus on oceanographic instrumentation to become involved in working with this Commission and represent HMEI there.

Please contact the Executive Secretary at hmei@wmo.int if you wish to represent HMEI at this meeting.

This is another new area for HMEI Members companies to become involved in, which supply products in this area

Or you can contact the Executive Secretary at hmei@wmo.int for a copy of the Agenda.

This Working Group of the Commission for Hydrology (CHy), was held in Prague, Czech Republic, 4-7 May 2005.

HMEI member representatives who attended this meeting were:
• Rudolf Duster - SEBA Hydrometrie GmbH
and
• Luis Gomez - SIAP + MICROS s.r.l.

Mr. Duster and Mr. Gomez are currently preparing the HMEI report on this meeting.

The results of the WMO Intercomparison of High Quality Radiosonde Systems in Mauritius, February 2005, which seven of our members were involved with, was reported on at TECO/METEOREX 2005.

The role of HMEI in facilitating this Intercomparison was recognized by WMO in a letter of thanks sent to the HMEI Chairman. This letter further thanked the HMEI manufacturers involved in the Intercomparison for their hard work, support and collaboration.

HMEI NEW MEMBERS
The Association of Hydro-Meteorological Equipment Industry welcomes the following companies as new HMEI members:

New Member Information
This section provides information supplied by the member companies themselves. HMEI bears no responsibility for this information.

3SI
3SI is a meteorological workstation provider and weather data integrator. The company sells its suite of METLAB products to government, military, commercial, and aviation customers. METLAB is the backbone of critical operations, such as the World Area Forecast System (WAFS) for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and METLAB is the premiere analysis and forecasting platform at dozens of agencies worldwide. 3SI also markets automatic product generation and pilot briefing systems, as well as integrates specific functionality or data per user requirements or needs.

AANDERAA DATA
Aanderaa produces Automatic Weather Stations, Hydrological Stations with sensors such as Water Level, Oxygen, Conductivity, Turbidity, Current Speed&Direction, Wave measurement. Also Road Traffic & Weather Stations

BELFORT INSTRUMENt orporation
Belfort Instrument offers a wide range of meteorological and environmental instruments for both research and repetitive weather observations. Because of their reliability and accuracy, Belfort products are being utilized throughout the world. Belfort is a leading provider of weather instruments to the government, professional meteorology and aviation markets. From wind sensors for the Wright Brothers to state-of-the-art weather instruments for the ASOS (Automated Surface Observation System) platform and all US Navy aircraft carriers worldwide, Belfort has been setting the "Standard of Measurement" for over 128 years!

CIMEL ELECTRONIQUE
CIMEL Electronique is specialized in low-level signal measurements. Since 1965, the company has been conceiving and manufacturing a broad range of instruments dedicated in different fields such as meteorology, climatology, agricultural and airport meteorology, environment, hydrology and remote sensing. CIMEL Electronique manufactures instrumentations for surface meteorology (Automatic Weather Stations with associated sensors), Remote Sensing Instruments: Photometers (Automatic sun tracking systems for measurement of aerosols in the atmosphere) Infrared Radiometers (with an airborne version) and Lidars

DAVIS INSTRUMENTS
Davis Instruments manufactures a complete line of professional weather stations for home and industry. Our Agricultural line has helped growers and irrigators resist frost, fight pests, and minimize water use for years. Our new Vantage Pro2 adds the benefits of soil moisture monitoring and long-range wireless data transmission to our offerings. Davis Instruments sensors are manufactured to strict specifications for accuracy and durability. Most can also be purchased with a NIST certificate of accuracy.

Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Davis Instruments handles all customer service, product development, and manufacturing and assembly on site. You'll find our products in use around the world, from Europe to Asia, and from far northern Finland to the tip of South America. And you'll find them used by boaters, meteorologists, educators, moms and dads, farmers, truck drivers, and more. Whoever you are, chances are there's a Davis product just for you.

SUTRON CORPORATION
Cutting-edge innovation fused with 30 years of experience and over 35,000 environmental stations worldwide are why Sutron Corporation is a leader in Real-Time Meteorological Monitoring. Sutron provides Meteorological Systems, Stations, Software and Services to collect, store, transmit and/or host real-time data from extreme, remote sites to Pocket, Desktop, or Laptop PCs anywhere on the planet. Using Satellite, Internet, LOS Radio and Telephone Communications, Sutron designs, manufactures, installs, services and supports Hydro-Met Solutions including (but not limited to) the following station configurations:

*Certified for GOES, METEOSAT-MSG, INSAT, GMS, ARGOS/SCD, FY2 Weather Satellites

HMEI in its Exhibitions page has a brief description and contact information of exhibitions which come to our attention which would be of interest to our members.
Currently the page has information links regarding upcoming exhibitions including:

9th International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences (IAMAS) Scientific Assembly, 2-11 August 2005, Beijing, China.

The Royal Meteorological Society Conference 2005, University of Exeter UK, 11 - 16 September 2005.

The 5th Annual Meeting of the European Meteorological Society, 12-16 September 2005, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

The 3rd China International Exhibition on Meteorological Technology and Equipment and The China Forum and Exhibition on Lightning Protection Technology and Equipment, 26-28 October 2005, Shanghai, China.

For updated information on these exhibitions please go to the HMEI website Exhibitions page.

If you know of an exhibition of interest to our members, please email details to the HMEI Administrator at hmei@wmo.int