Author Topic: USPLN Sensor Request (Read 42972 times)

hankster · « **on:** October 03, 2016, 06:30:53 PM »

Has anyone ever had TOA Systems contact them with a request to place a USPLN sensor at their location?

Maumelle Weather · « **Reply #1 on:** October 03, 2016, 08:24:10 PM »

I have not, but if they were to ask, I would say Yes with the condition of me getting free data access. Especially if you are using my internet connection.

hankster · « **Reply #2 on:** October 04, 2016, 11:56:05 PM »

I talked with Tim Bent, the President TOA Systems, today and I'll be hosting a sensor station for them. They are contacting some people to help fill in some holes that they presently have in the US. In my case they are having issues with stations in the Keys and the Bahamas so my location will be filling in for those stations. I should be getting the hardware within a couple weeks.... as long as Hurricane Matthew doesn't put a delay in the schedule.

For hosting the sensor station I will get full access to their data throughout the world. Basically he said any info they have I will be able to access. I will not be able to use that live data on my web site. They do have some publically available information and we will look into being able to display some of that information on my site.

They are also working on some new 3D systems and I may also be able to work with them as they develop them. Should be interesting and exciting. Love playing with new toys!

CNYWeather · « **Reply #3 on:** October 05, 2016, 06:39:53 AM »

Sounds like a good deal you got there. I sure wouldnt mind doing that too.

hankster · « **Reply #4 on:** November 04, 2016, 07:40:44 PM »

I got all of the equipment today. Hope to get it installed this weekend. Problem is, not much lightning this time of year

hankster · « **Reply #5 on:** November 20, 2016, 09:09:51 PM »

Here are a couple pics. One of the Strike and GPS antenna mounted and the other of the sensor mounted inside a cabinet in my shed. The sensor is hooked to my network using an ethernet cable hooked to a WiFi extender.

miraculon · « **Reply #6 on:** November 21, 2016, 08:24:22 AM »

It appears to be an E-Field antenna, is that true? Any noise issues in that location? Can you monitor anything yourself, or is all the data sent to the "mother ship"?

Looks interesting, if you can post the data to your website, please let us know the URL.

Thanks,

Greg H.

hankster · « **Reply #7 on:** November 21, 2016, 05:02:39 PM »

I haven't really dug into any details since I finally got it setup and running. I did have to move the antenna as I had it too close to the weather station ISS and the pole was shielding the strike antenna. I'm going to see what other details I can get since things are pretty quiet this time of year.

I only have two different viewing options. One is a public gif that everyone can see and the other is a secure site that uses Google Earth to display the lightning. I can not use the Google Earth view on a public web site, only the public gif. The Google Earth is real time (updated every 15 seconds) and I can rotate, zoom in/out and view any place on earth for lightning using the normal GE controls. I'll post a couple screen shots.

1st is the public gif. Pretty simple and easy to understand.

2nd is Google Earth that is zoomed out. The larger icons makes it easy to find where lightning is happening as you look for it. The top left graph is total strikes in the system overall. The lower left graph is lightning within 12 miles of my location.

3rd is zoomed in some. Here it shows positive CG as a + , negative CG as a dot and CC is an X. Color coded for time intervals.

Note that at any time there is info in a sidebar that gives the number of each kind of strike that is in the active Google Earth window.

Here is the public gif that is available to anyone. 2nd and 3rd are attached.

[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

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miraculon · « **Reply #8 on:** November 21, 2016, 05:37:13 PM »

How does one access that public gif? Are they by area like the one you show?
I have only ever been able to access this one, which covers the entire North American continent:

Greg H.

hankster · « **Reply #9 on:** November 21, 2016, 06:50:34 PM »

http://www.uspln.com/images/SER_animated.gif

http://www.uspln.com/images/NER_animated.gif

http://www.uspln.com/images/SWR_animated.gif

http://www.uspln.com/images/NWR_animated.gif

http://www.uspln.com/images/NCR_animated.gif

http://www.uspln.com/images/SCR_animated.gif

miraculon · « **Reply #10 on:** November 21, 2016, 07:28:15 PM »

Thanks for the links!!

Greg H.

hankster · « **Reply #11 on:** November 28, 2016, 09:13:13 PM »

After playing with the display for a while I have found that if I zoom in close enough blue ellipticals appear around each strike. What they tell is that there is a 95% chance the lightning was within that area. Attached are a couple of examples. In these the smaller circles/ellipticals are 250m around, the more oblong ones are up to 1750m long. When looking at the detail data you can see the exact size of each one. Kind of cool that you get an idea of how accurate it is for each strike.

[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]

CNYWeather · « **Reply #12 on:** November 29, 2016, 06:30:38 AM »

Thats pretty cool!

Is that a horse racing track in the lower right corner of that map?

hankster · « **Reply #13 on:** November 29, 2016, 07:52:58 AM »

Don't know what that track is. Took that screenshot a couple days ago.

miraculon · « **Reply #14 on:** February 23, 2017, 09:25:43 AM »

TOA Systems contacted me and I signed up for a sensor system. I am looking forward to installing it.

Although they contacted me (via my website contact), I see that they now have a "Host a Sensor" contact form at http://toasystems.com/contact-us/host-a-sensor/.

I assume that it all depends on their coverage density and if they need a sensor in your location. They said that one was needed in my area.

I plan on retiring my old H-B one-wire detector and mounting it in the same location on the garage mast. I'll assess that location for noise.

hankster, for this comment:

Quote

I did have to move the antenna as I had it too close to the weather station ISS and the pole was shielding the strike antenna.

Do you think that it was just the pole, or was there interference from the ISS. I have a Davis long-range repeater that the output antenna will be fairly close to the TOA antenna. I discussed it with TOA and it should be far enough out of band that it won't be a problem, I hope. Was there a "blind spot" in plotted data in the pole direction that led you to this finding?

Greg H.

CNYWeather · « **Reply #15 on:** February 23, 2017, 02:12:43 PM »

Well gee. I signed up with the link in here today and got this already:

Quote

I have attached more information about our program as well as information about our sensor and antenna.
If you wish to participate in our sensor host program after reviewing this information, please access our online
site survey using the link below. After we review your survey, we will send you a hosting agreement via HelloSign.
This agreement basically states that TOA owns the sensor and antenna and you agree to host it.
Once the agreement is signed, we can proceed with shipping.

Maumelle Weather · « **Reply #16 on:** February 23, 2017, 04:04:31 PM »

I signed up as well. Waiting to see what transpires.

John

Bushman · « **Reply #17 on:** February 23, 2017, 04:11:57 PM »

I'm in! They replied in less than half an hour. My station is on a flight path to a major regional airport so that may be why. Looking forward to understanding how I can get the data for my purposes as well as the GLN. We get some serious storms in the Monsashees!

PaulMy · « **Reply #18 on:** February 23, 2017, 05:44:46 PM »

The request form doesn't seem to accept anything I type so maybe I am not in a needed area.

Paul

hankster · « **Reply #19 on:** February 23, 2017, 06:33:06 PM »

Quote from: miraculon on February 23, 2017, 09:25:43 AM

Do you think that it was just the pole, or was there interference from the ISS. I have a Davis long-range repeater that the output antenna will be fairly close to the TOA antenna. I discussed it with TOA and it should be far enough out of band that it won't be a problem, I hope. Was there a "blind spot" in plotted data in the pole direction that led you to this finding?

Yes, the pole would "shade" pulses coming from that direction that the pole was. They have a formula for how far away from tall objects the antenna has to be to eliminate any shading problems. They saw the issue when I sent them photos of the installation (a requirement when you agree to host a station). Here is what they said:

It just needs to be outside a 60 degree electrical shadow from the weather station. For example, if the top of the weather station pole is 10 feet from the roof line, multiply 10 by 1.73. 17.3 feet is the distance from the weather station pole you need to place the stroke antenna when the stroke antenna base is at the roofline. If you want to place the stroke antenna higher, you can place it closure to the weather station, just move the baseline up the weather station pole and multiply this new height by 1.73.

hankster · « **Reply #20 on:** February 23, 2017, 06:41:50 PM »

Quote from: Bushman on February 23, 2017, 04:11:57 PM

I'm in! They replied in less than half an hour. My station is on a flight path to a major regional airport so that may be why. Looking forward to understanding how I can get the data for my purposes as well as the GLN. We get some serious storms in the Monsashees!

You will get access to their data using a web site that displays the data on Google Earth. It will show where the strikes are, the kind of strike and an elliptic around the strike that shows the possible area the strike actually was (see my previous attachments). You don't have access to any real "raw" data that is downloadable and can not display any info on your own web site other than what they have publically available.

Bushman · « **Reply #21 on:** February 23, 2017, 07:16:19 PM »

Quote from: hankster on February 23, 2017, 06:41:50 PM

Quote from: Bushman on February 23, 2017, 04:11:57 PM
I'm in! They replied in less than half an hour. My station is on a flight path to a major regional airport so that may be why. Looking forward to understanding how I can get the data for my purposes as well as the GLN. We get some serious storms in the Monsashees!

You will get access to their data using a web site that displays the data on Google Earth. It will show where the strikes are, the kind of strike and an elliptic around the strike that shows the possible area the strike actually was (see my previous attachments). You don't have access to any real "raw" data that is downloadable and can not display any info on your own web site other than what they have publically available.

I see that now, HOWEVER I also get e-mail alerts which I will post-process with a little Python program I am whipping up and post wherever I want.

But seriously. I am more in it for me and my neighbours rather than trying to outdo EC.

hankster · « **Reply #22 on:** February 23, 2017, 07:19:31 PM »

Quote from: Bushman on February 23, 2017, 07:16:19 PM

Quote from: hankster on February 23, 2017, 06:41:50 PM
Quote from: Bushman on February 23, 2017, 04:11:57 PM
I'm in! They replied in less than half an hour. My station is on a flight path to a major regional airport so that may be why. Looking forward to understanding how I can get the data for my purposes as well as the GLN. We get some serious storms in the Monsashees!

You will get access to their data using a web site that displays the data on Google Earth. It will show where the strikes are, the kind of strike and an elliptic around the strike that shows the possible area the strike actually was (see my previous attachments). You don't have access to any real "raw" data that is downloadable and can not display any info on your own web site other than what they have publically available.

I see that now, HOWEVER I also get e-mail alerts which I will post-process with a little Python program I am whipping up and post wherever I want. But seriously. I am more in it for me and my neighbours rather than trying to outdo EC.

They will set up so you can get an email alert when a strike is within 10 miles (I believe) of your location.

miraculon · « **Reply #23 on:** March 10, 2017, 08:35:03 AM »

My sensor kit came the other day. I opened it up and everything seems to be in good shape, no damage. They included some good low-loss coax RG6 quad rated to 3.0GHz.
If the temperatures come up and the winds die down (

), I'll install it. I have to juggle things around out on the j-mast mounted on the garage. I am going to replace the Omni used for the transmit side of the Davis repeater with a small Yagi. I am also going to eliminate the old Hobby-Boards detector. This will clear up space on the mast to hold clamps for the TOASystems Stroke/GPS antennae.

Since they want photos of the installation, including the "view" from the antenna perspective in eight directions (compass points), I sent them photos of my current setup and outlined my plans. They said that my plan is OK.

Greg H.

CNYWeather · « **Reply #24 on:** March 10, 2017, 12:27:31 PM »

Mine shipped yesterday. Hoping for some more of this currently snowless March
so I can get it up on the mast next weekend.

News:

Author Topic: USPLN Sensor Request (Read 42972 times)