Topic: Blitzortung System RED is on order!

[miraculon]

From Cutty Sark's video, it looks like the LCD display is green.
There are options for amber and blue.
Is everyone getting the green background/lighting display?

Greg H.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

From Cutty Sark's video, it looks like the LCD display is green.
There are options for amber and blue.
Is everyone getting the green background/lighting display?

Greg H.

Yessir, that's green... I think that's default display,  I believe you have to request a different one when you order... 

[miraculon]

OK, thanks. I just didn't want to misconfigure the jumper.

I got my amplifier board built up tonight. The LEDS flash four times and then respond to the pot like some kind of science project binary counter.

Greg H.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

 

OK, thanks. I just didn't want to misconfigure the jumper.

I got my amplifier board built up tonight. The LEDS flash four times and then respond to the pot like some kind of science project binary counter.

Greg H.

And online, with the controller doing the work, you set the gain right through the interface... that takes away the amp's Purdy lil blinkers. 

[miraculon]

Built up the controller board tonight!

Getting very close, seems that I have lost a 10 Ohm resistor for R51. I'll need to make a Radio Shack run (or the local Electronics store) for one.

Fired it up without the ST daughter board. Managed to get a GPS fix (judging from the LED) after a few minutes. I even tried the Tram antenna and got a fix OK. This was through the window glass inside, so I am sure it is going to work fine. I'll check it with those nice diagnostics once I finish it.

I have the Bud box for the controller already, ETA is tomorrow afternoon on the box for the amplifier. I went a clear box so I can see the gain LEDs from below. The amplifier box will mount to the bottom pull box on the loop antennas.

Still need to finish with the copper tape on the loop antennas for shielding.

I paralleled the input connectors with a resistor resulting in 325 Ohms terminating resistance.

Greg H.

[dfroula]

Greg, I'm curious which boxes you ordered. I just purchased a pair of NEMA boxes from Bud Industries with transparent lids.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T79SIY/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005T7ASJC/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For the controller case, I planned to mount two extension buttons for the daughter board on the case so I can reset and control the LCD without opening the case.

Don

[miraculon]

I ordered similar boxes.

The one for the antenna board is http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?R=PN-1338-Cvirtualkey56310000virtualkey563-PN1338C I cancelled my Amazon order since the ETA was going to be as late as August 23rd. Mouser had one in stock, so I grabbed it.

The controller board will go into: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UPNE8A/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This seems to be the same box without the mounting flanges. I just reordered the same boxes as I used previously, but I could have gotten the one without the flanges like yours.

Greg H.

[miraculon]

Built up the controller board tonight!

Getting very close, seems that I have lost a 10 Ohm resistor for R51. I'll need to make a Radio Shack run (or the local Electronics store) for one.

Fired it up without the ST daughter board. Managed to get a GPS fix (judging from the LED) after a few minutes. I even tried the Tram antenna and got a fix OK. This was through the window glass inside, so I am sure it is going to work fine. I'll check it with those nice diagnostics once I finish it.

I have the Bud box for the controller already, ETA is tomorrow afternoon on the box for the amplifier. I went a clear box so I can see the gain LEDs from below. The amplifier box will mount to the bottom pull box on the loop antennas.

Still need to finish with the copper tape on the loop antennas for shielding.

I paralleled the input connectors with a resistor resulting in 325 Ohms terminating resistance.

Greg H.

Arrgh!
It was getting late last night and I forgot all about the 100uF caps needing to be laid down. They are vertical and will hit the ST board.
Since the leads are now cut off, I am going to have to get new ones. I have to get the 10 Ohm resistor anyways...

Greg H.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

Arrgh!
It was getting late last night and I forgot all about the 100uF caps needing to be laid down. They are vertical and will hit the ST board.
Since the leads are now cut off, I am going to have to get new ones. I have to get the 10 Ohm resistor anyways...

Greg H.

Can't you file 'em down??? 

[miraculon]

Arrgh!
It was getting late last night and I forgot all about the 100uF caps needing to be laid down. They are vertical and will hit the ST board.
Since the leads are now cut off, I am going to have to get new ones. I have to get the 10 Ohm resistor anyways...

Greg H.

Can't you file 'em down??? 

It seems to let the magic electrolyte juice out...

Greg H.

[miraculon]

Got the replacement caps, 10 Ohm resistor. Gave it the old smoke test.

I am also seeing crazy high noise, especially with the default 10x10 gain. I reset it to 2x1 and put the thresholds to +/-350mV.
This was just a lash-up in the kitchen to see if it all works. It does.

Now to finish the copper tape on the loop antennas, mount the boards in their respective boxes (antenna amp will be tomorrow probably), etc.

The RED will be station #706, my "green" one is #668. Once I get this all installed, it will be interesting to see how it responds to my "bad neighbor" noise (wherever he is) and how the adjustable gains/thresholds deal with that.

I hope to get it fully operating some time this weekend.

Greg H.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

You're may have something like 82KHz, or 82MHz showing on live signals... or some weird AC signal... never could figure out exactly what freg, didn't really care. But its coming from proximity to computers!... Drove me crazy for awhile...

[miraculon]

I do see a sine wave that is always present. I think that the sine wave is the culprit. Adjusting the gain/threshold gets it out of interference mode.

I have it up in the back bedroom rigged up for the night.

I plan on permanently installing it tomorrow (Sat).

That Tram GPS antenna works really well. Although I got a fix yesterday with it, tonight in the back BR I could not get a fix with the small patch antenna (remote). I hooked up the Tram and I had a fix in under a minute. This is INSIDE.

Once I get it installed outside it will work well I think. Now to find some room on my weather mast...

Greg H.

[miraculon]

Here are some pics of the amplifier enclosure being mounted on the antenna assembly.

I completed the Cu foil tape wrapping of the NM conduit. The black wires are to ground the shield.

Here is the NEMA box mounted on the octagonal box. The amplifier board has not been installed yet, but the location has been determined.



Side view of the same, showing how the amplifier NEMA box mounts. This is upside-down in this photo, when it is installed it will be facing down with the clear cover showing the LED status.



And here is the amplifier board as installed.



I'll try to get photos of the controller box and installation later this weekend.

Greg H.

[pvw]

Is it wrong that I consider that a work of art? 

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

Is it wrong that I consider that a work of art? 

Well, I consider it a work of art... so two of us can't be wrong. Wait... Greg does also.. 3 of us can't be wrong.

[miraculon]

Is it wrong that I consider that a work of art? 

Well, I consider it a work of art... so two of us can't be wrong. Wait... Greg does also.. 3 of us can't be wrong.

Art, whoever that is, had nothing to do with it. I built it all by myself.

Greg H.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

Is it wrong that I consider that a work of art? 

Well, I consider it a work of art... so two of us can't be wrong. Wait... Greg does also.. 3 of us can't be wrong.

Art, whoever that is, had nothing to do with it. I built it all by myself.

Greg H.

Ah! ...and, Remember, Grasshopper: "A real Master, by their very nature, must require all the credit. It behooves each of us to acknowledge such, so that we may benefit from their wisdom and experience when our own expression lacks inspiration, or technique."
 I humbly apologize for inadvertently crediting Art as the source of such wonderment... This is Truly the Creation of a Gregist, 'tis.

And therefore, it is a work of..Quickly, Grasshopper... I am in need of coffee this morning......

[SlowModem]

Art, whoever that is, had nothing to do with it. I built it all by myself.

Greg H.

Silly people, THIS is Art:

[DaleReid]

With all this wrapping with metallic tape and spraying foam board to afix Aluminum Foil (aka TinFoil from the kitchen), one wonders how much insulative effect or increase in resistance adhesive gives?  Will there be enough point to point contact with the overlapping wraps that the adhesive won't do the unsuspecting insulation effect? 

[miraculon]

With all this wrapping with metallic tape and spraying foam board to afix Aluminum Foil (aka TinFoil from the kitchen), one wonders how much insulative effect or increase in resistance adhesive gives?  Will there be enough point to point contact with the overlapping wraps that the adhesive won't do the unsuspecting insulation effect?

Absolutely. Even though it is "conductive adhesive", the overlapping armadillo effect was adding up to several ohms. If you look closely, you can see that I soldered each overlap. The resistance from end-to-end is almost as good as shorting the DMM leads together. 0.2 Ohms or so.

Greg H.

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

With all this wrapping with metallic tape and spraying foam board to afix Aluminum Foil (aka TinFoil from the kitchen), one wonders how much insulative effect or increase in resistance adhesive gives?  Will there be enough point to point contact with the overlapping wraps that the adhesive won't do the unsuspecting insulation effect?  

The foam pieces likely don't have real aluminum covering them, it's probably a mylar. Make sure your adhesive doesn't have acetone in it. The foam slabs are covered to form an E shield allowing only magnetic field reception. If in doubt about conductivity, strap a wire across it. Don't use regular Reynolds Wrap. Use the heavy duty, or the Extra heavy duty if you can find it.

[miraculon]

I finally got it all installed today. The GPS antenna is on the Wx mast just above the H-B lightning detector arm. That went OK. The loop antennas are now hanging in the garage rafters at the far end away from the house. This seems to have paid off, I was able to increase the gain to 10x2 (x40) for a total gain of 800. It is staying out of interference mode and my "efficiency" is increasing, topping my old "6.8 USB" system. (green board)

I wish I had checked the 30' CAT5 STP cable when it arrived. Turns out it was bad and I got errors about the amplifier being disconnected. Sure enough, the gain LEDs were on the potentiometer setting mode, not remote. I thought that I had identified the end with the bad crimp (I did), but my tester showed my re-crimp was bad too. Then I checked known good cables and it said that the same pair was open. I chucked out my last CAT5 tester when it sent me on a "wild goose chase", I think that this one is going to join it in the trash can. I just love "double problems".

I'll try to upload some pics when I get a chance.

Greg H.

[miraculon]

With all this wrapping with metallic tape and spraying foam board to afix Aluminum Foil (aka TinFoil from the kitchen), one wonders how much insulative effect or increase in resistance adhesive gives?  Will there be enough point to point contact with the overlapping wraps that the adhesive won't do the unsuspecting insulation effect?  

The foam pieces likely don't have real aluminum covering them, it's probably a mylar. Make sure your adhesive doesn't have acetone in it. The foam slabs are covered to form an E shield allowing only magnetic field reception. If in doubt about conductivity, strap a wire across it. Don't use regular Reynolds Wrap. Use the heavy duty, or the Extra heavy duty if you can find it.

Sorry, I thought that this was about my copper covered loops. (sounds like a breakfast cereal)

[Cutty Sark Sailor]

  Maybe it was! I just assumed the flat panel build... guess I'm following too many threads... sorry