Author Topic: Higher interference mode thresholds available!  (Read 12112 times)

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Offline dfroula

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Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« on: June 22, 2014, 11:38:21 AM »
Tobi just posted this:

The new thresholds were available for my station this morning.

Don
WD9DMP

========================================================

"Hi,

we've recognized, that several stations could receive more good stroke signals, but the interference mode is limiting the rates. We want to avoid raising the original (hard coded) interference mode limits, but there's another solution now: Stations which are "not too bad", will get a higher limit by the remote control server. There's no exact definition of "not too bad", just don't send too much noise.

The new limits are 30 and 60 signals/s, the normal ones are 15 and 30 signals/s. You can check them at the bottom of the controllers status page. If your station got the higher limits, you can try to increase the gain values one or two steps.

This new behavior might increase stroke rates especially in America and Australia, as the lightning density in most areas there is much higher compared to boring Europe here Dodgy ."

Offline Jumpin Joe

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2014, 11:44:08 AM »
Same for me.

Joe
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Offline JonathanW

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2014, 12:03:13 PM »
I'm actually seeing 60 sigs/2 sec, and 40 sigs in 60 secs.

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2014, 12:06:16 PM »
 \:D/ YAY   =D>
Can't wait to give them dang axle factory welders a lickin'...
 


Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2014, 01:20:51 PM »
And the stroke counts went ballistic!!!! Wow...
 


Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2014, 01:36:09 PM »
OOPS
 If the system is reset, the new parameters are lost... ????  :sad:
 


Offline JonathanW

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2014, 01:43:36 PM »
Unless I'm reading it wrong, the interference thresholds continue to change.  Right now, mine are at:

BurstWhen > 60sig/s in 2s average. Disable when 50% below threshold
NormalWhen > 50sig/s in 60s average. Disable when 30% below threshold

Perhaps Tobi is continuing to modify them?

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2014, 01:55:00 PM »
Unless I'm reading it wrong, the interference thresholds continue to change.  Right now, mine are at:

BurstWhen > 60sig/s in 2s average. Disable when 50% below threshold
NormalWhen > 50sig/s in 60s average. Disable when 30% below threshold

Perhaps Tobi is continuing to modify them?
Oh, I suspect they'll be dynamic and situational... mine returned to the 'new normal' after several minutes... don't know if it was 'manual' or through algorithm... suspect the latter, after server communication.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2014, 01:56:40 PM by Cutty Sark Sailor »
 


Offline JonathanW

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2014, 02:03:41 PM »
With the changes in interference modes, I'm leaving my station on fully auto for a bit.

Offline Dr Obbins

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2014, 03:59:13 PM »
I don't remember seeing such high strike counts before.
Great change!

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #10 on: June 22, 2014, 05:29:34 PM »
689 hit 198 strokes (NOT signals!) per minute, moments ago!   WOW!
 


Offline JonathanW

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #11 on: June 22, 2014, 05:54:38 PM »
Look at the detections in the western U.S. and Canada!!  between the greater interference thresholds and the new stations that recently came online, the west and north have awoken. =D>

Offline DaleReid

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #12 on: June 22, 2014, 06:01:06 PM »
I see it must be thunderstorm season up north of the border, up Canada way, with all the dots appearing and lines darting up there.

Oh, What's that?  They've always had storms, we just weren't seeing them before, and now it's just the new station bringing enough reports to validate the other stations?

Well, I'll be darned.  Good to have these constant improvements and more stations coming on line.  Now when AZ and CO get lit up....

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Offline JonathanW

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #13 on: June 22, 2014, 06:42:46 PM »
I really should have guessed that this was another reason why detections were lower in the U.S. than in Europe.  In addition to the "too weak to be picked up by 6 stations" theory, Tobi et. al correctly surmised that the existing N. American stations were simply being swamped by signals, configured as most of them are for long distance detection.  With the old interference mode settings, we either had to dial back the gain/threshold settings (making the "too weak to be picked up" effect happen), or go into interference mode.

As it is, of course, this is partially a stopgap.  While it's true we have greater lightning activity here than in Europe, we definitely need more stations in Region 3, too!

Offline dfroula

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #14 on: June 22, 2014, 07:53:58 PM »
Pretty amazing, huh?!

Over 10,000 STRIKES (not signals) detected per hour for both your and my stations.

Tobi effectively increased the dynamic range of the system 5x. Amazing results!

Best,

Don

689 hit 198 strokes (NOT signals!) per minute, moments ago!   WOW!

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #15 on: June 22, 2014, 08:41:52 PM »
Pretty amazing, huh?!

Over 10,000 STRIKES (not signals) detected per hour for both your and my stations.

Tobi effectively increased the dynamic range of the system 5x. Amazing results!

Best,

Don

689 hit 198 strokes (NOT signals!) per minute, moments ago!   WOW!
:lol:
I'm not going to look it up, but long ago in a galaxy far, far away, you replied to a PM with,
"Crank it up, Mike! You oughtta be getting 30 signals a minute!"

Or something similar!
 =D>

 


Offline Dr Obbins

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #16 on: June 22, 2014, 08:58:19 PM »
He went about it a different way than I had suggested, but I knew there was a software solution to register more strikes. What I didn't know was that Canada has lightning.  ;) :grin:

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #17 on: June 22, 2014, 09:19:08 PM »
Region 3 peaked out today at 300 Strokes per minute. Unreal.  Prior to that we constantly struggled to get 80-100. Relaxing that threshold, and having a handful of newer stations allow us to register many, many more 'weaker' strikes previously un-validated, for one thing.

More surprises coming.  :roll:
 


Offline JonathanW

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #18 on: June 22, 2014, 09:24:11 PM »
My station had the highest stroke count per hour I've had so far - nearly 8000.  I think the repetitive noise/noise floor is still limiting my station somewhat.

Unfortunately, I'm off on a business trip again tomorrow, to return July 2nd.  So permanent siting will have to wait until I get back.

Offline Dr Obbins

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #19 on: June 22, 2014, 09:41:58 PM »
Modern Art:

Offline DaleReid

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #20 on: June 22, 2014, 09:51:01 PM »
With more stations and better 'geometry' has the size of the error circle decreased too, or is that just my fertile imagination?
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Offline W3DRM

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #21 on: June 22, 2014, 10:35:29 PM »
Well, it seems that I chose to move my antenna farm outside at the same time Tobi made his server changes!  ](*,)

So, I don't know if I am getting better results now or if it's Tobi's changes have made the difference. I'm see an incredible number of strikes from my system but not sure why. Anyone have any guesses?

My gains are higher than I've ever seen too. I've attached a screen shot of what I am seeing at the moment.
Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
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Offline JonathanW

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #22 on: June 23, 2014, 12:43:08 AM »
The only drawback I can see thus far is a greater displayed delay on the lightningmaps real-time page (up to 18 seconds now).   I'm not sure if that's due to greater demand on the server,  greater demand on my local machine for displaying the vastly increased lightning strikes,  or something else.

Offline W3DRM

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #23 on: June 23, 2014, 01:03:09 AM »
I noticed that too this evening. However, I observed delays of over 24.x seconds. Am wondering if it has anything to do with the extremely heavy lightning activity in north Texas and Oklahoma? There is an almost continuous bombardment of strikes in that area. My controller is in constant 'click' mode...
Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
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Offline dfroula

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Re: Higher interference mode thresholds available!
« Reply #24 on: June 23, 2014, 01:38:33 AM »
Don, you're running in full automatic mode, right?

I find with the expanded range that I can run aggressive gains in full manual mode without auto-noise adjust enabled. I no longer seem to need frequent gain readjustments through the day as the lightning rate increases. That assumes you have local noise under control and the added gain is not just sending more garbage.

My real-time delays don't go much above 6 seconds. 4 seconds is typical with the same Oklahoma storms you are seeing. It may be a function of browser/computer speed. Try using the latest Chrome, if you are not. It processes JavaScript and PHP scripts much faster.

Regards,

Don

 

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