Author Topic: What's new at Boltek....  (Read 12245 times)

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Offline capeweather

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What's new at Boltek....
« on: February 09, 2008, 10:09:26 PM »
Couple of new options available from Boltek incase anybody hasn't been following their site. The link is posted below. I'm glad Boltek finally came out with a stock enclosure that customers can purchase to site the antenna outside. It has a fairly decent price too. Now the LTS-2 GPS Timestamp option board...WAY to expensive IMO!! Isn't the technology they are referring to already being implemented in Strikestar? The description sounds very familiar.

http://www.boltek.com/whats_new.html


LTS-2 GPS Timestamp option board





ENC-1 Antenna Enclosure with GPS Receiver mounted on an Antenna Tripod

Chris
Cape Coral, Florida
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Offline neondesert

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2008, 01:23:27 AM »
Now the LTS-2 GPS Timestamp option board...WAY to expensive IMO!!

I agree Chris! Only $1,499.00, what a bargain!  :roll:

I'm glad Boltek finally came out with a stock enclosure that customers can purchase to site the antenna outside. It has a fairly decent price too.

The price of the enclosure isn't too bad.  Though a homemade pvc pipe enclosure isn't hard to make and doesn't cost $99.00.  ;)

Larry
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jwyman

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2008, 03:08:30 PM »
The only reason I would see the advantage in getting this unit is to help in the correlation of lightning data. IMHO, the siting of these detectors by most people is not sufficient enough to warrant timestamps of this magnitude. It does no one any good when your LAT/LONG AND altitude are not precisely entered into the system. And I mean precisely. This is something we experience with multiple radar/IFF and other input sensors aboard US Navy ships. The have to be sited to the nat's as.  this is due to the fact of having the requirement of putting weapons on targets miles away.. or even very close in....


v/r,

Jim

Offline MesquiteWx

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2008, 06:46:33 PM »
The price of the enclosure isn't too bad.  Though a homemade pvc pipe enclosure isn't hard to make and doesn't cost $99.00.  ;)

When It comes to PVC I am the king... :lol: I use so much stuff in my Christmas and Halloween Display made out of PVC it would make a plumber jealous.

That enclosure only costs about $4.00 to make. I am guessing on the size from what I can see and I am sure it is smaller in person then that pictures shows. Looks like 2" schd 40 which I would use nothing less. Then a 2" reducer with a cap between the camp and the reducer is a probably 3" of 2' PVC to hold the reducer and cap together. That would definitely be a orange box project you could do yourself and save you 20 bucks.

Offline neondesert

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2008, 10:53:13 PM »
Quote
That enclosure only costs about $4.00 to make. I am guessing on the size from what I can see and I am sure it is smaller in person then that pictures shows. Looks like 2" schd 40 which I would use nothing less. Then a 2" reducer with a cap between the camp and the reducer is a probably 3" of 2' PVC to hold the reducer and cap together. That would definitely be a orange box project you could do yourself and save you 20 bucks.

Yeah, on second thought the $99.00 price tag is rather steep for what you're getting.



Larry
"But it's a DRY Heat!"


Offline NoQuitters

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2008, 07:38:08 AM »
Agreed, considering I just made one yesterday for the portable station I put together. $12 in parts and about 10 minutes of my time. I already had the pipe cleaner and cement.  :lol:

It's a 3 inch cap, sleeve in between, and a 3 to 1 1/2 reducer and then the down tube.

Offline MesquiteWx

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2008, 08:22:02 AM »
See I told ya I was the PVC king, I was right on with the parts and I am not even a plumber... :lol:

How much wiggle room does the antenna have in the reduce with the cap over it using the 3"?

Did you attach it to the inside some how how does it sit snug in there? I have an idea how to attach it it I need to. When I get mine I will take some pictures to build one. Heck might do it this weekend.



Offline NoQuitters

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2008, 09:55:35 AM »
There is about a 1/2 inch on all sides. I used high density foam on all 4 sides and cut a rounded piece to fit in the cap. It is a tight fit and doesn't move at all. The idea was gratuitously borrowed from a fellow forum member.  =D> Tobaccoville Weather

I'll take some pics of the whole station and post them tonight.

jwyman

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #8 on: March 05, 2008, 01:49:34 PM »
You guys have it all together! I got my Boltek last night and tried it out. Can't wait to find a permanent place for it. The attic is looking like the place to go but now it's hard trying to figure out how to route the cable from my study on the ground floor to the attic...... ](*,)

Jim

Offline MesquiteWx

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #9 on: March 05, 2008, 07:44:07 PM »
Wow I didn't think that antenna was that big. I looked at the 3" reducer and cap today killing some time at the depot. The foam is a good idea, so I guess it doesn't interfere with the reading of the data? That is a really good idea though to keep it from moving around. I was curious what you were gluing since the only thing that really needed gluing was the reducer to the man pipe. Probably really didn't even need to glue that. I never use glue with PVC creations in case I need to change out something I don't have to rebuild the whole thing to do it. Most of the time the pvc stays together really good on its own. Now if I could just figure out which one to get.

Offline ncpilot

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #10 on: March 06, 2008, 08:54:48 AM »
...Can't wait to find a permanent place for it. The attic is looking like the place to go but now it's hard trying to figure out how to route the cable from my study on the ground floor to the attic...... ](*,)

Jim



(wrong way to use drill bit--in case you needed more detailed instructions :))
Marc
Wilmington, NC
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jwyman

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2008, 09:12:41 AM »
Nice real nice!  :shock: :shock: :shock:

You may want to stick to weather stuff... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks for the drill tip ( no pun entended)


Jim :)

Offline capeweather

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #12 on: March 06, 2008, 12:03:31 PM »
You guys have it all together! I got my Boltek last night and tried it out. Can't wait to find a permanent place for it. The attic is looking like the place to go but now it's hard trying to figure out how to route the cable from my study on the ground floor to the attic...... ](*,)

Jim

I've had mine in the attic for about two years and haven't had a single problem. I initially thought the high temperatures during the summer would affect the output but it has been stable. I have it mounted on a PVC pipe anchored with nylon screws. No metal above or near the antenna. I just have to be careful not to bump into it when I'm up there because I only have a 4 foot crawl space. Very tight fit. I may eventually move it outdoors but that would require another calibration which I don't want to go through.

Chris
Cape Coral, Florida
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Offline SLOweather

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #13 on: March 06, 2008, 09:23:09 PM »
I started out with an enclosure made of ABS sewer pipe, and then moved up to a customized PVC design. Here's a picture of Rev. 2 of that, which I constructed for a client.

The top is a ring sawed from a 3" Schedule 40 white PVC cap. Those caps are domed, so I cut the ring and then glued in a top sawed from 3" white drain pipe cap to make a flat top. The flat top is necessary for the bracket detailed below.

The side of the ring is tapped for a 1/4-20 nylon hex head set screw so the top can be twisted to align it to north. There's a shallow saw kerf  across the diameter of the top to aid in aiming north.

The antenna is mounted with nylon screws and nuts to the underside of the top with a gusseted bracket made from a sawed down plastic project box.

The body is 3" clear PVC Schedule 40 pipe. There's no particular reason for clear except that I like seeing the antenna inside (and it makes the picture more interesting). White would work as well.

The base is another PVC ring cut from a fitting, probably a coupling. That's glued to the body tube and to a cut-down PVC reducing bushing.

Then there's another reducing bushing to get the ID size down to match the mast OD.

The mast is an old fiberglass two-way radio antenna about 4' long from which I stripped the guts and connector, leaving just the tube and metal mounting section. It's more rigid than PVC pipe.

The CAT5 cable runs from the antenna down through the mast and out the bottom.



Offline Curly

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #14 on: March 11, 2008, 12:12:57 PM »
Quote

I've had mine in the attic for about two years and haven't had a single problem. I initially thought the high temperatures during the summer would affect the output but it has been stable. I have it mounted on a PVC pipe anchored with nylon screws. No metal above or near the antenna. I just have to be careful not to bump into it when I'm up there because I only have a 4 foot crawl space. Very tight fit. I may eventually move it outdoors but that would require another calibration which I don't want to go through.

Is it a chore to do the calibration?

blackjack52

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #15 on: March 11, 2008, 12:31:37 PM »
I wouldn't say it's a chore because of the hobby aspect.  But it does take some time to get storms plotting accurately.  Documentation is very well written and the support forum is excellent in helping you do this.

Offline Curly

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #16 on: March 11, 2008, 05:18:24 PM »
I'll most likely have all sorts of questions next week.    \:D/

blackjack52

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #17 on: March 11, 2008, 05:24:32 PM »
That's cool.

Offline Curly

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #18 on: March 11, 2008, 07:11:53 PM »
Nice description and picture of the enclosure SLOweather. It looks bug proof.
It makes me wonder hot it can get inside there with the antenna temp and the sun beating down on it. Is the antenna enclosure vented?

Offline neondesert

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #19 on: March 12, 2008, 09:44:49 PM »
It makes me wonder hot it can get inside there with the antenna temp and the sun beating down on it. Is the antenna enclosure vented?

Can't speak for SLO's enclosure, but I opted to put 4 vent holes at the very bottom of mine.  It's been running nearly continuously for about 3 years now without any issues. (I hope I didn't jinx myself ;) )  As far as heat is concerned, it gets about as hot as the surface of the Sun here in the summer 115°F + .  :grin:   

Larry
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Offline SLOweather

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Re: What's new at Boltek....
« Reply #20 on: March 12, 2008, 11:25:28 PM »
Nice description and picture of the enclosure SLOweather. It looks bug proof.
It makes me wonder hot it can get inside there with the antenna temp and the sun beating down on it. Is the antenna enclosure vented?


Not my original 3" black ABS pipe enclosure, nor my Rev 1 PVC fittings and clear tubing enclosure, nor the Rev 2 enclosure are vented, except to be open at the bottom of the tube or mast for the cable to exit. Mainly, I tried to make them rain-tight. I figure 1) the antenna runs hot anyway, and 2) the enclosure probably doesn't get any hotter than an attic mount.

I've had the same antenna up, first in the ABS enclosure, and then in Rev 1, since at least July 2001. (That's the earliest ref to my lightning page I can find on archive.org. I probably had the unit running for a while before that before I figured out how to hack the map upload.)

Yup, if you do the math, I started out with that antenna on a Boltek ISA card, and then 3 years ago, upgraded the card to a PCI when I upgraded computers to a P4 without ISA slots. I still have the antenna that came with the PCI card as a spare and haven't needed yet.

 

anything