Next project: Blitzortung

[miraculon]

Well, I just sent my money for the kits and antennas to build up a Blitzortung receiver. I'll try to cover how the project goes when it arrives.

The network is pretty sparse in the US, but there are many stations in Europe. It looks like fun and a good addition to my excessive collection of lightning detectors. 

Here is info about the project. (there has been some mention on WxForum in the past)

The USA side of the project: http://www.lrsatx.com/toa_info.htm

The home site: http://www.blitzortung.org/Webpages/index.php?lang=en&region=3&subpage_0=30 (should land on the US map) The tabs cover the various aspects.

I hope that I can fill in a gap in the system with a Michigan station.

Greg H

[Iceage]

Greg 

You'll never look back ! I am a blitzortung member and wish you a warm welcome to the network

Cheers

Andy

[miraculon]

Thanks, Andy.

I got my login for blitzortung.org today and downloaded the software.

Eton said that he sent out the kit today. I ordered the ferrite antennas, but I am pondering on whether to build up the loop antenna.

What are you running? Loop or Ferrite?

Greg H

[Bunty]

Greg 

You'll never look back ! I am a blitzortung member and wish you a warm welcome to the network

Cheers

Andy

Is it prone to giving false responses from wall, lamp and other switches in the house? 

[Iceage]

Hi Greg, Things are moving nicely for you then bet you can't wait

What are you running? Loop or Ferrite?

I have 12cm shielded ferrites as part of the kit and have confirmed detections at a range of 2,640 miles  I am thinking about building a frame antenna as they are low cost and seem to detect more strikes where used but the ferrites are definitely a good start whilst you tune up your detector.

Bunty

Is it prone to giving false responses from wall, lamp and other switches in the house?

The beauty of the time of arrival system that Blitzortung use is that unless at least 6 stations transmit the detection with the exact GPS timings then the interference is ignored, so should be good for the odd bit of local interference. I find that the received signals 541 with 18 confirmed strikes in the last hour is acceptable. In addition, I live on the west coast in the UK so there are detections out over the Atlantic that may be missed by the network but picked up as a signal too. I am looking at moving the receiver higher to reduce any false detections and improve on my stats the detector is on the kitchen windowsill. We could also do with  station or two in Iceland.....Help with the triangulation a tad.

They are currently working on extra fine tuning on the server software to increase accuracy also.

Please feel free to post any further questions.

Cheers

Andy

[miraculon]

Andy,

I have 12cm shielded ferrites as part of the kit and have confirmed detections at a range of 2,640 miles

Did you use the "ribbon cable" method outlined in the documentation to shield the ferrite rods? I was thinking of using aluminum foil and copper tape instead. Did you try it without the shield? It seems that the e-field shielding helps with local noise sources from what I have read.

Greg H

[miraculon]

Here is an interesting YouTube video showing the detector in operation. It shows actual lightning detection, GPS and uploading data to blitzortung.org.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly8CWGxNu6E by Joost Breed.

Greg H

[Bunty]

Hi Greg, Things are moving nicely for you then bet you can't wait

What are you running? Loop or Ferrite?

I have 12cm shielded ferrites as part of the kit and have confirmed detections at a range of 2,640 miles  I am thinking about building a frame antenna as they are low cost and seem to detect more strikes where used but the ferrites are definitely a good start whilst you tune up your detector.

Where do you have your currently used antenna installed?  Indoors?  Outdoors?

[Iceage]

Did you use the "ribbon cable" method outlined in the documentation to shield the ferrite rods? I was thinking of using aluminum foil and copper tape instead. Did you try it without the shield? It seems that the e-field shielding helps with local noise sources from what I have read.

Greg

I did use foil at the start around plastic plumbing pipe but wanted a tidier look so I have ordered my final version which will be using self adhesive copper plate from Ebay and using this. I have also an IP65 box for the receiver and a separate one for the GPS module so I can then choose where to place everything and have the flexibility and hopefully become more accurate in the process! The shield is off because it didn't seem (in my case) to make much of a difference and ended up making the ferrites a little awkward to arrange on the windowsill.

Where do you have your currently used antenna installed?  Indoors?  Outdoors?

Bunty

Currently at ground floor level inside on the kitchen windowsill whilst I gather everything together to case it up and move it.

[miraculon]

In contemplating this a bit more, it might be necessary to put a split or break in the foil longitudinally along the PVC. The copper could form a "shorted turn" transformer effect with the coil. It wasn't explicitly stated that this was the reason for the "ribbon cable shield", but it would avoid the shorted secondary effect.

For the large wire loop antennas, the shielded loop instructions make a point of not having the top/bottom of the copper tube tied together for this reason.

Greg H

[miraculon]

UPDATE (4/22): Finally got the breakout board for the GPS and shielded CAT5 jack. With the gain set to 28x, fully shielded wiring the nocturnal interference is under control. I am able to pick up strikes as far as eastern Nebraska and just off-shore of Virginia. It is working well and I am very impressed. I also installed "Lightning View" from Edmund Korffmann which is a good way to view the blitzortung data without a browser. (he also wrote the "tracker" program that handles GPS/strike uploads to the server.)

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UPDATE (4/13): The kit has been built up and is partially installed. I have the antenna/amplifier assembly mounted in an upstairs closet. I am still waiting on a shielded CAT5 Leviton block and the Sparkfun GPS breakout board. Without the GPS, I can't get it on line yet. The Yellow LED is highly responsive to my BBQ sparker. I had to tone down the gain since it was continuously triggering. It might be due to my regular temporary UTP CAT5 routing picking up noise.

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The kit came today from Germany. They are very nice circuit boards and all the parts look first-rate. The ferrite rod antennas slide perfectly into 1/2 inch PVC pipe. I hope to start building up this weekend, but I am going to take my time and do it right.

I also received today outdoor grade shielded CAT5 for the antenna cable. I am going to mount the antennas/amp in an upstairs closet and route the CAT5 antenna cable down the side of the house outdoors, then into the basement. I am going to install the controller near my other weather stuff in the computer/weather room in the basement. The controller will go in the same style NEMA box as the Eastern Voltage Research detector and look similar.

I received the GPS module and made up a 2" PVC housing for it with an end cap and short section of pipe. I'll try to document the bits as I put it together. The cable for the GPS will go directly outside with the GPS mounted on a bracket. The GPS breakout board is taking it's sweet time arriving though...

Greg H

[sacreyweather]

Hi Greg,

I am getting very interested in this project.  Would love to have a lightning detector again. A couple of questions, if you don't mind. Did you order all of the parts from Germany and, if so, what did it cost you approximately?

Next question is what kind of interference do you get?  I ask this because my next door neighbor has a 40' X 100' steel building about 50 feet from my house. It stands not quite 20' tall.

John