Although I am not completely done (waiting on the Sparkfun BOB for the GPS...) I though that I would post photos of the build and install of the project.
Here is the amplifier board completed with headphones connected. You can hear noise and static. It is helpful to identify noisy locations not suitable to mounting the antennas.
I was testing the antenna and amplifier together. The default gain was too high, so I readjusted it to
a gain of 70
dB. It was quite responsive to the BBQ sparker. I was a little surprised at this.
Here is the completed controller board hanging precariously at the edge of the computer desk. The red daughter board is a Sparkfun Serial USB breakout board. This photo was taken during the testing in the above picture. Note the yellow LED indicating a "BBQ Strike".
Here is the controller board installed and mounted on the wall. Note the empty GPS header.
Finally, a of shot of the installed antenna/amplifier assembly. Although it isn't strictly required for TOA (Time of Arrival), it happens to be N-S and E-W orientated. The ferrite rod antennas slipped perfectly into the 1/2" PVC conduit. That is copper tape wrapped around the PVC tubes with a longitudinal gap to avoid a "shorted turn" for the ferrite coil. The black wires connect to the internal GND connection points. Preparing the ferrite rod antennas was the trickiest part since they have fairly delicate magnet wire brought out of their shrink tubing. I have soldered wire connections and several layers of shrink tubing to protect them. There is also a strain relief on the cables to protect them.
The PVC conduit ell was how I got 90-degree mounting for the antennas. Instead of using the cover, I drilled matching holes and the entire amplifier box becomes the "cover". The ell and antennas are mounted with the ell cover screws onto the amplifier cover.
Greg H
