Author Topic: Station 1002 has started (Read 2479 times)

92merc · « **on:** May 14, 2014, 02:42:01 PM »

Well, I've plugged everything in last night. I have tons of questions. But I'm going to start with the first couple of easy questions.

I'm station 1002. I'm not showing up yet on Blitortung or Lightningmaps sites yet. Will that take awhile?

Second, on the Blitzortung configuration page for my site, it has listed Input 0 through 5. Not sure what to put in those exactly. On my controller page, it shows 1A,1B,1C, and 2C all blank. 2A and 2B have signals. Is that what Input 0-5 is supposed to correspond to?

I still need to assign my device a static IP and a few other tweak. I'll get to that when I can.

dfroula · « **Reply #1 on:** May 14, 2014, 03:38:56 PM »

Your station should show up within 15 minutes or so of registering the station and feeding data, in my experience with three systems.

I don't see 1002 on the blitzortung.org Participants list or on the lightningmaps.org statistics pages yet. Are you sure you're feeding data?

Regards,

Don
WD9DMP

Silversword · « **Reply #2 on:** May 14, 2014, 03:39:56 PM »

Hi,

Congrats on your completion for your system.

I think that you and I are the newbies for this project. I too have a lot to learn with this.

As far as getting listed on the Blitzortung site, mine got there in about 12 hours or so.

All my configurations are set at default at the moment. Including the DHCP and not static for the IP at this time.

I did not do anything on the list of inputs, so don't know what that is either.

On the controller board:

Make sure that you got all the LED lights doing something. The light near the GPS should blink while getting signals and when it locks in, it should go off. The blue light should be blinking every second or so. The green light should be on steady. The other two may blink once in a while. I think that the red light nearer to the GPS might be blinking because the USB is not connected. The opposite red light should be on for the power indication.

On the amplifier board:

Only the red and green light should be on as the sensitivity is set to automatic. The yellow lights should be off. I have not seen those 4 LEDs come on yet.

I am getting ready to box the board up this weekend if time permits.

I have received a strike about 4,540 miles away near the Kentucky-West Virginia boarder. A couple here and there but not consistent in receiving things out here so far.

Are we having fun yet?

Regards,

--Stan Y.
KH6HHG
Maui, Hawaii

dfroula · « **Reply #3 on:** May 14, 2014, 03:44:06 PM »

Inputs 0 and 1 on the blitzortung.org "Services" tab correspond to Channels 1A and 1B of the Red controller. It sounds like you may have the amp plugged into the connector for the second amp.

Try moving the amp to the connector for amp 1 and be sure the "Don't send" boxes are not checked (if you are running the Beta firmware).

Regards,

Don
WD9DMP

92merc · « **Reply #4 on:** May 14, 2014, 03:54:50 PM »

I do believe I'm sending data. Once I got the long code entered into my user data, the webpage reported back my GPS coordinates.

But here is a quick snapshot of my main status page.

Silversword · « **Reply #5 on:** May 14, 2014, 04:17:31 PM »

Hi,

When you sign into your Blitzortung account do you see like what I have attached?

This might be and indication that they are getting something from your controller.

--Stan Y.
KH6HHG
Maui, Hawaii

dfroula · « **Reply #6 on:** May 14, 2014, 05:38:12 PM »

Well, you do have the amp plugged into the controller input for the second amplifier option. Move the RJ45 plug from the shielded amp CAT5 cable to the other connector on the same edge of the controller board and set your gains on amplifier 1.

I don't recall exactly, but I believe the servers (and possibly the firmware) expect signals from amplifier 1 if only one amplifier is connected. This may not be true, however, with recent firmware updates and server changes.

Regards,

Don
WD9DMP

92merc · « **Reply #7 on:** May 14, 2014, 05:55:55 PM »

Silversword: Yes, I had lat and long showing up. That's why I figured it was sending data.

dfroula: I just swapped the amp ports around. I'm showing signals on 1A and 1B

It's running 16*4*40 on A and 10*5*40 on B right now.

92merc · « **Reply #8 on:** May 14, 2014, 06:56:16 PM »

Blitz must not like my four digit station number. Still no data.

Wait until tomorrow I guess.

Silversword · « **Reply #9 on:** May 15, 2014, 05:54:38 PM »

Hi,

I see that you (1002) got something on the Blitzortung participation list now. It is on Idle mode for some reason.

A question for Don, over night on the Discovery board the green LED light LD7 came on. This is the one between the micro USB and the audio looking jack. What does this indicate? Do I need to be concerned with this?

Thanks for any input.

Regards,

--Stan Y.
KH6HHG
Maui, Hawaii

92merc · « **Reply #10 on:** May 15, 2014, 06:27:47 PM »

I posted a message on the BT internal forum. Tobi replied that he saw a problem. He must have at least partially fixed it. I'm registering, but not detecting any strikes yet. Of course there isn't much in my neighborhood at the moment though.

I'll give it a couple of days and see how it goes.

92merc · « **Reply #11 on:** May 15, 2014, 06:58:34 PM »

Now that I'm actually contributing some data, I thought I would post the work that I did. I took everyone's links that I used, and some of my own ideas, and put it all in one document so others can see what I did to build the system.

Plenty of pictures towards the end. Hopefully I can trigger some more ideas.

http://www.bismarckweather.net/Temp/Blitzortung_Build.pdf

DaleReid · « **Reply #12 on:** May 15, 2014, 11:19:55 PM »

Congratulations on getting the system together. I look forward to seeing your data flow in and track the storms especially with the new real time map display.

I also am amazed at the patience it took to make notes and put them together in your pdf you pointed to. I like all the options and ideas that people have suggested and you could incorporate many into what worked for you.

Pictures are always great. One of the Cub Cadet boards I look at has a canned message that says something to the effect "this thread is useless without pictures." Not quite the case here but what images people share are frequently worth a thousand words.

Hope the glitch at headquarters gets ironed out soon.

Dale

corwyyn · « **Reply #13 on:** May 16, 2014, 05:53:06 PM »

Looks like they got it fixed, I was just looking at the real-time map and noticed station 1002 was seeing the strikes happening out west then I clicked on the station and got the page chock full o' information.

Cutty Sark Sailor · « **Reply #14 on:** May 16, 2014, 06:13:50 PM »

Welcome! Great location, also...

Mike

92merc · « **Reply #15 on:** May 16, 2014, 06:19:32 PM »

I just got home from work and noticed Tobi responded to me on the BT forum. So yeah, he fixed something. I'm just glad it was something on their end. I thought I was meticulous in putting my system together. But you never know with something new.

But yeah, I just saw lightning in Wyoming too from my site on the new live page. Sweet! I might have to get working on buying the E Field detector soon!

Hey Dale, funny you mentioned the Cub Cadet. You belong to MTF too? I'm on there as 92Merc also.

DaleReid · « **Reply #16 on:** May 24, 2014, 07:29:34 PM »

Merc92

Looking at the map this afternoon and early evening, it looks like you are surrounded!

Run!

RED doesn't know which way to turn.

W3DRM · « **Reply #17 on:** May 24, 2014, 11:21:03 PM »

Dale Z.

Great work on your system and the documentation - congratulations

I've been wanting to get a magnifying lens for SMD work. Your suggested item (the SE MH1047L Illuminated Multipower LED Binohead Magnifier) from Amazon was exactly what I was looking for. I just place my order for one...

Looking at your stats, your system is working great!

92merc · « **Reply #18 on:** May 25, 2014, 12:28:35 PM »

Thanks guys. It's taking some constant tweaking to keep running. Two nights ago had a decent local storm on all sides of me. Had to drop from my usual 10*10 setting all the way down to 8*4 to stay out of interference.

Last night, similar situation. But wasn't quite as close to me. Still took 10*2. So I guess I'm going to have to keep an eye on the system.

I run a motorcycle forum. So I've learned the importance of documentation over the years. And I'm glad to help out where I can. So I'm just adding another hobby to document.

W3DRM · « **Reply #19 on:** June 04, 2014, 12:59:19 PM »

Quote from: W3DRM on May 24, 2014, 11:21:03 PM

Dale Z.

Great work on your system and the documentation - congratulations

I've been wanting to get a magnifying lens for SMD work. Your suggested item (the SE MH1047L Illuminated Multipower LED Binohead Magnifier) from Amazon was exactly what I was looking for. I just place my order for one...

Looking at your stats, your system is working great!

I received my order for the above magnifier that was suggested. Not to be too critical, but I think I have wasted my money on this product. At $9.95, it appeared to be a good deal. The problem is that the magnification lens is only 1.5X which means that it barely magnifies above the normal eye-sight and IMHO is mostly useless for the close-in work needed in our assembly/soldering work. The swing down eye-loop is also 1.5X which gives you a total of 3.0X magnification with both.

Sorry, but I cannot recommend this item and will most likely now order one of the Donegan Optivisor magnifiers. Maybe it's just my old and tired eyes. The question is, does anyone have a preference as to power and working distance? I see Optivisor offers quite a few different levels of magnification.

92merc · « **Reply #20 on:** June 04, 2014, 01:09:32 PM »

There should be two binocular magnifiers, plus the 10x loop. One binocular flips towards your face to be up and out of the way. I used just the single fixed binocular to do the 300mm windings. Having both binocular ones worked fine for me for soldering. I only needed the last monocle down for the GPS inspection.

For some background, I'm 44. I don't need reading glasses, but I wear contacts. My eyes are bad enough I can't drive without contacts. I used to be able to do soldering 20 years ago with just contacts. Not anymore. So this headpiece worked well for me. And the LED on the head was bright enough for the regular soldering. But I needed more light for the GPS chip inspection.

But if you need more light or magnification, then a swinarm magnifier or something similar might work better for others.

W3DRM · « **Reply #21 on:** June 04, 2014, 01:28:09 PM »

As I said, in my case they just didn't work out for me. I have to wear either contacts or glasses. Uncorrected, my eyesight is horrible (I'm legally blind without glasses - I'm over 20-400 in both eyes without correction plus I have pretty bad astigmatism). I need plenty of light and good magnification for detailed work like SMD soldering. The lenses you recommended would probably be fine for someone with decent eyesight.

SLOweather · « **Reply #22 on:** June 04, 2014, 01:28:59 PM »

I wear the binocs over glasses just fine...

JonathanW · « **Reply #23 on:** June 04, 2014, 01:31:03 PM »

Quote from: W3DRM on June 04, 2014, 01:28:09 PM

As I said, in my case they just didn't work out for me. I have to wear either contacts or glasses. Uncorrected, my eyesight is horrible (I'm legally blind without glasses - I'm over 20-400 in both eyes without correction plus I have pretty bad astigmatism). I need plenty of light and good magnification for detailed work like SMD soldering. The lenses you recommended would probably be fine for someone with decent eyesight.

I wear glasses for reading, as well (getting worse!). For me, a swingarm magnifying lamp in addition has worked very well.

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Author Topic: Station 1002 has started (Read 2479 times)