Author Topic: Blitzortung question  (Read 1890 times)

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Offline W3DRM

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Blitzortung question
« on: July 07, 2017, 11:27:25 AM »
This morning I am sitting here watching the realtime lightningmaps.org screen covering most of the USA and Europe and noticed something that I've seen previously. I see many lightning strikes here in the US being detected by numerous European BO stations. The display shows the detecting stations and the connecting lines to the point of the strike. My question is why are the European stations detecting lightning all over the world while most of the US stations are only reporting lightning within the western hemisphere?

See the attached map and you'll immediately notice the high concentration of lines coming from Europe for strikes totally out of the range that I would expect to see. Is this a station setup issue or server algorithm that allows strike detection to show so far away from the detecting station?
Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
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Offline DaleReid

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Re: Blitzortung question
« Reply #1 on: July 07, 2017, 12:45:35 PM »
Maybe they are testing the new "Purple" board, previously unknown and not announced?

I am of course being a wise-acher.

I have seen that occassionally, but not to the degree you captured.  Yes, it was a very hot night for electricity last night. 
I spent much of the evening around civil twilight until midnight feeding the mosquitoes and watching a slow moving series of thunderstorms that weren't embedded move through and try to get some pictures.

I'd be interested in knowing what settings those stations had. And if they were H field rather than E field detections.  Maybe the up-to-date hams that know a lot about low frequency propagation would know if the 'bands were open' or not. Not something that I've studied as a ham, but know there are 'conditions' better than others and maybe there was a lot of ducting to bring those in.  I recall when TV was FM, non-digital, that during nights like last night that we usually watched Channel 4 WCCO from Mpls/St.Paul with the beam pointed to the west to hear them from 90 miles away,and the signal would gradually degrade and then we'd begin to see a less powered channel 4 from somewhere out in the Dakotas if I recall come in for a brief time, then shift down and the 'CCO station would start to be visible in the noise.  Of course now all we see is pixelization when channels up in the UHF begin to drop below needed levels to decode.  But it still happens with weather that is hot and humid, and moreso when a storm is between us and the transmitter.  But not closer stations. 
ECWx.info
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ECWx.info/t/index.php

Offline W3DRM

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Re: Blitzortung question
« Reply #2 on: July 07, 2017, 04:29:30 PM »
Hi Dale,

I see this phenomenon quite bit so I doubt that it is ducting or propagation related. And, I see it throughout the day and night. It seems like the Euro stations are more sensitive to distant strikes than those stations in other parts of the world. Rarely do I see US stations picking-up strikes in Europe or Asia while European stations do on a regular basis. Just seems strange to me since all of us are using similar equipment and antennas. That's what makes me think it has something to do with the server algorithms for each region.
Don - W3DRM - Emmett, Idaho --- Blitzortung ID: 808 --- FlightRadar24 ID: F-KBOI7
Davis Wireless VP2, WD 10.37s150,
StartWatch, VirtualVP, VPLive, Win10 Pro
--- Logitech HD Pro C920 webcam (off-line)
--- RIPE Atlas Probe - 32849

Offline Cutty Sark Sailor

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Re: Blitzortung question
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2017, 07:25:31 PM »
They're doing a lot of 'cross region' processing... reporting to multiple regions... this has been anticipated especially with the advent of a few more 'coastal' receivers... trying to reach into very low density continental areas... and the vast expanses of water... e.g. Lonesome Stan in Hawaii is Oceania and North America... I suspect they've also thrown him into Asia also and we'll probably see this 'refined' somewhat over time, perhaps restricted to 'best data' edge-of-region stations....
 


 

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